One of the great things about the Milk Café at the Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop is that you are away from the busy city centre and there’s an outside seating area. Balanced between the two halves of the low-lying studio complex, tables are on two levels which catch the sun at most times of the day and overlook the silver birches of the Hawthornvale Cycle Path (Lindsay Road / Anchorfield to Five Ways Junction). If it’s too cold to breathe fresh air, the café is bright and light.
Open seven days a week, the seasonal menu is varied and interesting, ranging from breakfast and lunch to coffee/cakes or tea/scones. Try rose and pistachio granola with Greek yoghurt and seasonal fruit compote for a healthy start; kale, wild garlic and feta frittata with a green salad for lunch; original scone recipes, and for drinks, the selection of loose leaf tea and refreshing house-made rhubarb cordial fizz.
You can get deliveries, like a Sunday Brunch bo, and buy whole cakes for special occasions. It’s at the higher end price-wise, but the quality is high and I have never been asked to leave, even when I had my laptop with me. Staff are always charming and the music is ambient. You can buy bread and other bits and pieces from the selling-shelves, and there is, of course, art on the walls because these are, after all, artists’ studios first and foremost. With vegan and gluten-free options, and even dog biscuits.
