Dobbies Garden World, Milngavie

We decided to combine morning coffee with a bit of plant shopping and headed out to the countryside between Milngavie and Bearsden. This Centre is part of a chain but has a much nicer layout than most other Dobbies Centres with a vast area for plants, gifts and a large cafe and children's play area. They were in the process of moving out the summer garden furniture and setting up the Xmas shop which I love! Although maybe just a little too early!
FOOD
They have the most amazing cinnamon and apple scones - our personal favourite but the wholewheat, fruit, cheese etc are all great too. Be a devil and have one with cream and jam and I dare you not to lust after the enormous meringues! Baking is excellent lots of tray bakes, sponges, muffins, biscuits as well as the usual hot meals, homemade soups,salads, sandwiches etc They do a very nice Festive menu too.
Tetley tea, Speciality teas C. Violet loves the 15 Minutes Organic Peppermint and Liquorice -Ugh!, Fresh Juice.
AMENITIES
Large selection of gifts, cards, toys, gardening tools, indoor and outdoor plants, garden furniture in summer and Xmas shop from September on, Aquatics centre, water features
Food Hall has the best deli selection outside the West End, John Brown Buchlyvie traditional butchers - quality meat try the haggis. Great selection of local produce, cheese counter, fresh fruit + veg, frozen foods, cakes and scones, wine. Great for foodie gifts.
Huge car park, flat and level, easy access for wheelchairs and buggies. Gets very busy at weekends. Across the car park there is a country style chain pub -The Tickled Trout, Eqi-Store selling riding equipment, Kaleidoscope- quilt + patchwork materials and PD Stokes Landscapes.
SERVICE
Was good, although not always easy to find a clean table.
VERDICT
Good atmosphere, great scones, nice place to spend a morning , worth the trip, esp nice at Xmas with Santa for the children.

The Oakwood Eatery Killearn Stirlingshire

Had a trip yesterday to the Oakwood Garden Centre near Killearn Village, a short drive from Glasgow. This has been around for a few years now and is very popular for lunch and coffee. We know this as we had to queue for 10 minutes for a table! It is definately a cut above the usual garden centre cafes.
LOCATION
The most amazing views of the Campsies and a bright and spacious area within the garden centre but the window tables are always the first to go. However, if you phone first thing in the morning you can book one! Will remember to do that next time!
FOOD
We had a selection of teas, Tetley, Twinings Speciality and Thomson's Coffee, all very nice. Scones were good but a bit crispy on the outside. The rest of the baking looked lovely, lots of sponge cakes, Coffee, Chocolate and Victoria and Empire Biscuits, Caramel Shortcake, fruit scones and tray bakes. Will try on next visit.
Lunch looked so good we decided to indulge. There was a choice of three soups, Ploughman's platter, fab sandwiches and a selection of hot dishes.
AMENITIES
Light and spacious with easy access for buggies or wheelchairs. Toilets were very designer, clean and modern. Easy car parking outside the garden centre. The centre itself had a good selection of gifts, cards, gardening tools and plants. The village of Killearn is 5 minutes drive away with a good gallery, gift shops an excellent pharmacist and other local shops. Well worth a walk around. Whisky tours available at Glengoyne Distillery nearby and some nice walks.
SERVICE
Staff were helpful and polite.
VERDICT
Great place for tea or lunch. Really outstanding views and well worth a drive to find it.

Cherry Tart

Beanscene Cresswell Lane Glasgow

ATMOSPHERE
Popped into Beanscene Saturday lunchtime. Lively trendy west end coffee shop with a cosy but noisy atmosphere. Large comfy sofas and well spaced out tables. Very busy and mix of music to appeal to younger customers. Full of students, teenagers, young mums with babies and small children as well as a few professionals.
LOCATION
Great position in heart of west end. Quaint quiet cobbled lane behind Byres Road. Near loads of gift shops, charity and junk shops and lots of nice cafes and restaurants. Kelvingrove Museum and Art Galleries, Transport Museum and Huntarian Museum nearby. Botanic Gardens handy to walk off the scones after!
FOOD
Blackboard menu with specials. Lunch menu with large portions obviously catering for the large local student population. A good selection of antipasti, nachos chilli, pizza, crepes and veggie options. We had tea and scones which were a bit dry and not up to our usual exacting standards. Muffins and pastries looked much nicer and I wished I'd had them. (Toffee Apple Muffins looked amazing and Blueberry looked pretty good too) Fairtrade products, teas and a good range of coffees and hot chocolate. Large range of milkshakes and iced drinks looked tempting on a hot day.
AMENITIES
Toilet facilities were not quite up to the volume of customers passing through but I might have hit a bad day. Self service but staff did bring over drinks. Staff were young, friendly and helpful. Loads of papers to read and lots of whats-on leaflets.
VERDICT
Not my scene but ok for lunch with a hungry student son or a quick cuppa.
Cherry Tart


Beanscene
DE Courcy's Arcade
5-21 Cresswell Lane
Off Byres Road
Glasgow G12

Scone Secrets

Decided to share my scone making secrets with you! I adore (as does C. Violet) treacle scones and can say without too much boasting that mine are very, very good! Here are the basic rules - never roll out scone dough - use your hands but handle as little as possible. Keep the mix very moist, better to add more flour at the rolling out stage if it's too liquidy. Use the biggest cutter you've got - who wants tiny scones for goodness sake!! Have them for lunch if you're dieting then you don't feel at all guilty!
Treacle scones
Pre-heat oven 220 oC/ 425 oF, grease baking trays.
8oz(225g) self-raising flour, 2oz(50g) butter, 1 oz(25g) caster sugar, 1/2 teasp cinnamon, 2 tablesp treacle, pinch salt, 1/4 (150ml) milk. Sift flour & salt into very big bowl, rub in butter , mix in sugar, cinnamon, treacle and enough milk for a soft dough (bit like making mud pies). Knead till moist and elastic. Pat out with fingers. Use biggest cutter you have. Pop onto greased baking tray, brush with milk . Bake for 15-20 mins. Watch them closely and take out when golden brown. Serve with butter although I prefer any red jam! Enjoy!
Cherry Tart

Worst bloggers in the world!

Both now back from long holidays in Portugal having abandoned blogging in favour of eating Pastel Da Natas and lying in the sun. Tough choices had to be made, blogging about tearooms or relaxing and eating and drinking. No contest!!!
Back to business with a long list of tearooms signed up waiting for their reviews to appear. Well we ate the cakes didn't we!!
Starting with Cafe Review, in Milngavie, East Dunbartonshire. This was recommended to us by lots of ladies who lunch and on the day we visited to review we had a great cup of tea.
Tucked away at the back of Milngavie bookshop, this is small and cosy and has the added benefit of being surrounded by books. There is a small patio out the back for nice days if the sun ever shines again.
We had tea and some of the delicious teabread (coconut, banana or gingerbread) and a freshly made scone. The scone was not the best we have ever tasted (too small and dry) but the banana loaf was moist and yummy. The gingerbread looked very good as a second choice. We didn't visit at lunch time but preparations for lunch looked very promising. Homemade soup changes daily, salads looked fresh and innovative. Feta cheese and cherry tomato, couscous with pine nuts and a selection of sandwiches and toasties all looked fresh and tasty.
Access for wheelchair users would be possible and there was a table of young mums with small children in pushchairs.
Service was outstanding and many people have mentioned this as a positive. Although it is counter service the casual and friendly atmosphere made us feel reassured that less physically able customers would be well supported. Obviously the cafe was full of regular customers but the staff were friendly and attentive to everyone.
We thought that this great little cafe had lots of bonus points because of its location in a shopping centre. The bookshop is excellent and there is a great selection of cards and unusual stationery.
This area is the gateway to the West Highland Way and would be a good place to stock up on a few calories before the walk. The shopping centre includes a small Marks and Spencers, several chemists, Mackays, loads of excellent charity shops, a seriously good handbag shop and a great old fashioned department store as well all the usual gift shops.
Verdict Great place to go for lunch and worth trying for tea and cakes but get the scones sorted out, ladies!
Address: Cafe Review, Milngavie Bookshop,37 Douglas Street, Milngavie Glasgow G62

Pottery or Porcelain?

Being really busy at work is not really conducive to being a blogger but having morning coffee with friends yesterday made me think about it again. We had excellent tea and coffee with beautiful light home made scones and jam and enjoyed it so much we even had a second round. I love this coffee shop and the gift shop beside it is full of lovely things. (My second cuppa actually was peppermint, made with whole dried mint leaves and it was delicious if you love peppermint tea and its calming effect on the digestion.)
We had so much discussion on whether we like to drink our tea and coffee from a fine china cup or a big pottery mug that we began to wonder if we were getting old...But for those of us who are really picky about taste, we decided that a fine china cup is really essential!
Lots of coffee shops are now getting involved in this blog but all are so protective of their very special businesses that pictures have to be perfect, reviews have to be on just the right day and well, I understand all that. When you put a lot of work into something really special it is only understandable to want to see it presented at its best. So watch this space. Things can only get busier.
Crystallized Violet

Doyle's Cafe and Deli

Good Monday morning so far! Nipped out for some bin bags and ended up buying lunch to go from my local cafe and deli.(Cupboards are very bare in my house, no time to shop!) Came home and immediately ate the Paradise Slice with my morning coffee sitting in the garden. There are no words.....well, plenty obviously, but it was a fine piece of cake, Cherry Tart, sorry you weren't here!. Moist and juicy and full of cherries and such like with sugar on top. The cafe is delightful and service impeccable. Exactly the kind of place Cherry Tart and I are tracking down so relentlessly. More on this to come but if I tell you that their lemon drizzle cake and chocolate rum cake are also divine and at Christmas time they sold the best truffles I have ever tasted....Well worth a review I think. One of my personal best in Scotland and in a gorgeous rural setting. More on this to come and watch out for pictures. Sometimes I think I have the best job in the world....

Crystallized Violet