La Barantine

Small café offering a taste of France, the perfect spot for a morning coffee and a pastry.

The 2019/20 edition of The List's Eating & Drinking Guide is out now – only £5.95 (+p&p).

With four branches across the city, each La Barantine has an unmistakeably French air. Exquisite patisserie is prepared daily by pastry chef Vincent Aplincourt and team at La Boulange, their bakery unit and takeaway shop at 10 Bruntsfield Place. The three cafés (202 Bruntsfield Place, West Bow and Raeburn Place) are popular local spots for lingering with a morning coffee and a pastry with the papers, through to lunch, and then on to afternoon tea. Simple lunches of soup, sandwiches and a cracking quiche lorraine are good value and made with the same exacting care as the patisserie. A steady stream succumb to the brightly coloured macarons, all beautifully presented in a clear box to take away (for those who wish to master the art, macaron courses are available throughout the year). And of course there’s no better way to banish the blues on a wet, windy Edinburgh day than with a single madeleine consumed with a difficult novel and a winsome sigh. C’est vrai!