Croque Madame, Word of Mouth Cafe, Leith,

A damn fine Croque Madame can be found at Word of Mouth Cafe, an incredibly comfortable and chic cafe I was taken to walking up from Leith.

From the well oiled dark stained wooden tables to the soaps in the loo, the overall aesthetic of the cafe was incredibly convivial to a certain tempo in how I like to enjoy my meals and conversations.

The food was also exceptional, beginning with a very berry smoothie that reminds me of home, classic crispy frites which I never knew I missed until being only offered chunky rubbery chips, a light vinaigrette over the mixed salad, and a very well done croque madame, with the right saltiness of ham to cheese, with the egg seemingly embedded into the top of the really good thick slice of bread.

The clincher was the liberal use of dried parsley, which is a sight for sore eyes, dashed over everything hot and visually tied it all into the salad. Maybe the food in Scotland has just been really bad, but I went really wild for this meal as it's fresh and sophisticated, two words I haven't had to use much since I got here.

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