Claire Smith: Common-sense food without the eternal mayo!

Published on 26/05/2012 18:57

LATELY I’ve started to love lunchtimes again.

Two incredibly hard-working, funny and relentlessly cheerful Polish boys have set up shop opposite The Scotsman office selling soup, sandwiches, salads and coffees.

At any time of the day their sunny orange painted shop is full of workies from the building site next door, business suits from Holyrood and students from the university.

Michael and Peter will knock you out a bacon roll or rustle up a sandwich – but they also offer a selection of freshly-made salads, assembled before your eyes from a host of fresh ingredients.

I’m obsessed with their feta salad, but the beetroot and apple is also amazing. Their soups have become legendary – sometimes inspiring a clamour of customers trying to get their orders in before they run out,

They also offer some truly knock-your-socks-off coffees – including a delicious Vietnamese variety that has been known to induce the shakes if you drink too much of it.

What’s more, everything comes with a laugh and a smile which makes you look forward to lunch.

In case you think this is just me rambling about food, I do have a point.

I’m delighted to see someone supplying an alternative to the mayo-smothered sandwiches and salads offered by supermarkets.

When will big suppliers learn that not everyone wants to eat a whole heap of bread for lunch.

And why can’t we get away from the idea that every kind of salad has to be covered in huge, gloopy gobs of mayonnaise?

I am also heartily sick of being tempted by a hideously expensive pre-packed salad only to find a huge pile of clammy pasta concealed beneath the more glamourous ingredients on the top.

If you get the product right, people will come, and a friendly approach to your customers counts a lot.

Michael Karwat and Peter Balcer I salute you!