Sunshine on Leith

I was treated to lunch through in Leith today by one of my friends from the village. Sue had a voucher for a lovely wee Chinese restaurant called ‘Chop Chop’, which had probably the best spare ribs I’ve ever tasted! Not only was the food delicious and the company great, it was such a nice place to spend a sunny Friday afternoon. Commercial Quay is the old, reclaimed dockland area of Leith and it really has scrubbed up well. There’s a long cobbled walkway that runs the length of the bonded warehouses – which have all been converted into wee trendy shops or nice places to eat – and is the site of some pretty impressive buildings, such as the one housing the Scottish Executive.

Sue’s a bit of a discerning diner, so ‘Chop Chop’ did well to get her seal of approval; as a successful Deli-chain co-owner, she knows a thing or two about good food! The first ‘Berits & Brown’ opened in 2004 when Sue (Berits) and her good friend Pete (Brown) took the plunge and combined their love of food and knowledge of fine wines to establish a much-needed local deli and coffee-shop in Kippen.  It’s a lovely, friendly wee place, full of goodies and is always busy – especially at lunchtimes. Other folk have been inspired to take up the ‘Berits and Brown’ mantel, and there’s now a small chain of franchises in operation. The latest shop to open is in Leith Walk and it looks brilliant. I say looks brilliant because I haven’t actually been in it yet. Even though we were just a wee bit down the road from Leith Walk today, we didn’t quite make it in to the deli for our intended coffee and cake. However, I’ll be back through to Edinburgh in a few weeks time - for our annual visit to the Fringe - so I’ll definitely be popping in to check out the new deli then. If the other ‘Berits & Brown’ are anything to go by, it’ll definitely be worth a visit (here’s a link to the website if you fancy checking it out yourself).

So, although there was too much chit-chat in 'Chop Chop', causing us to lose track of time and miss out on a wee visit to the deli, there was plenty of Sunshine on Leith - and I had a great afternoon.