The Fruitmarket Gallery: Art, Coffee And Culture In Style In Edinburgh

 

The Fruitmarket Gallery Café. Delicious cakes for a perfectly relaxing tea and coffee afternoon!

At the end of August, I was lucky enough to experience the transition from summer to autumn while travelling in Scotland. Guitar Güero and I went on our two-week Scottish Summer Tour 2013 through Glasgow, Edinburgh and the Scottish Highlands.
 There was so much to see, take in and experience, and I – literally – ended up taking about a thousand photos from those trips. However, instead of boring you to tears by making a mega-monster-post about what we did – which was plenty – I decided to make just a couple or perhaps a few posts of some of the highlights and special places that we found there, and release them whenever it feels relevant.  

Still, here is a picture of my Edinburgh Day 1 Outfit, featuring my Bone Machine Leggings from Black Milk Clothing. Because that is totally relevant and useful.

 When planning a Holiday, I like to do a lot of research about places I want to visit and for options of charming cafés and restaurants to have out meals in*. My favorite source for that is personal blogs written either by locals or travelers, since usually they have much more complete and interesting information, along with beautiful and illustrative pictures of what the atmosphere of the places looks like. So, I thought I would make my contribution and share my own findings! 

The Fruitmarket Gallery and Café.

 One of my absolutely favorite stops during our stay in Edinburgh was The Fruitmarket Gallery. It is definitely not a “hidden secret” or off-the-beaten-path sort of place, since it is right next to the Waverley Train Station and thus has a very healthy influx of visitors. However, that very fact makes it an extremely convenient place to either have a welcoming, cozy lunch when arriving to the city by train, or to have a relaxing coffee time with cake to recharge batteries before you depart.     Even though it is a popular place, it doesn’t feel crowded and the atmosphere is tranquil and friendly. The decoration is all about bright, light colors with a pop touch, which makes for a nice visual pick-me-up.  Guitar Güero and I went there for lunch, and found that they had several delicious options; I took the Moroccan roasted squash soup – which is served with really nice crusty bread – and Guitar Güero ordered a smoked fish plate that we liked so much that we still find ourselves replicating it at home! Simple but very tasty.  

The perfect slice of cranberry- pistachio cake with a pot of hot Earl Grey. Heaven.

 For dessert, we shared a slice of Cranberry-pistachio zucchini cake, which was really moist and rich in flavor; absolutely delicious. They had many other equally deliciously-looking baked goods to choose from. For tea, I chose Earl Grey (of course!) which was of a very good quality and unexpectedly well prepared –it even came with a small sand-clock timer to know how long it should brew, which automatically gives them my seal of approval in the tea-snobbery department**.    

Past exhibitions? Fun fact: Guitar Güero's real name appears in this picture (although in a context unrelated to him), BUT YOU'LL NEVER KNOW WHICH ONE IT IS, MWAHAHAH!

 After having our energies restored by the meal, we proceeded to look at the exhibition, which surprisingly was by Gabriel Orozco, a local artist from my hometown in Mexico! (What are the odds?).     Finally, we spent a great deal of time perusing the carefully selected book collection The Fruitmarket Gallery has in store, which is composed of a wide arrange of unique, quirky and eye catching books,  many of which I had not seen anywhere else. The topics are very eclectic and diverse: art, literature, science, design, pop culture, history, poetry and assorted oddities; they also had a very special selection of cards and calendars with beautiful designs. In short, The Fruitmarket Gallery’s store is a great place to get a thoughtful gift for someone you really know and like, or to spoil yourself with some eccentric finds.  

Here is one of the numerous books full of beautiful illustrations that we found there.

 
 Definitely, a place to stop by if you find yourself in Edinburgh! Here are the details: Address:
45 Market St 
Edinburgh EH1 1DF, United Kingdom. Open:
Monday to Saturday 11:00 am – 6:00 pm 
Sunday 12:00–5:00 pm  *Note: The lunch menu is served only until 2:00-3:00 pm (and until 4:00 pm during the festival), so take that in count in order to avoid disappointment! Otherwise, you will be limited to cakes, desserts and baked treats to satisfy your appetite (oh, no!).  Have you been to The Fruitmarket Gallery? Do you agree with my review, or know any other similar places? Let us know in the comments section!  * For me that is a very important part of the trip! I cannot imagine myself being one of those backpackers feeding on sandwiches from Subway or subsisting on cheap junk street food while being in a foreign country. I prefer quality over quantity, anytime! I believe in splurging a bit on special food while I am abroad –preferably trying out the flavors of the local cuisine– as an essential part of the cultural experience. ** One of my biggest pet-peeves is that most places don’t know how to make proper tea. Even in the unlikely scenario where they have quality tea to start with, the water they use is never at the right temperature – you can tell because the tea either has a burnt flavor or because it just tastes like the essence wasn’t properly released in the water – and they usually serve it without any indication of how long your tea has been in the water. Anyway, my tea drinking habits and preferences are a whole subject on its own and will have its own post eventually. 
Thanks for Reading!