F... & DRINK
Cafe cultured
An engrossing book and a cup of fine coffee is about as goo! as life gets while keeping on the right side of the law. Two new premises are approaching the union of cafe culture and book retail from different angles. Words: Jonathan Trew
There's something inviting about the smell of new books mixed with that of fresh coffee. The scent of new ink and crisp white paper promises the thrill of unexplored territories while the pungent aroma of ground coffee is at
One slight word of caution for those with bird-like appetites: the large cappuccinos come in bowls big enough to float ships in.
once sharp and warming, both a stimulant and a comfort. That books and coffee go together like port and Stilton is something that readers have known since Gutenberg's times but it’s only in the last few years that
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booksellers have cottoned on to this fact and have started to install coffee bars amid the shelves of books.
Waterstone’s has just launched a huge, multi-storey flagship of a bookshop on Glasgow's Sauchiehall Street and nestling on the basement floor, among the books on popular psychology, travel and, appropriately enough, food and drink, lies its cafe. Vibrantly coloured, comfy seats are dotted around low-slung tables populated by browsers sunk deep in whatever tomes have pricked their interest.
The cafe is run by the Costa Coffee people and, as well as offering the usual extensive range of cappuccinos, espressos, flavoured coffees and teas, it also offers a good line in cakes, Italian brioches and more sticky, sugary delights. One slight word of caution for those with bird-like appetites: the large cappuccinos come in bowls big enough to float ships in. Polishing off one of these babies doesn't so much give you time to skim through a novella as to translate The Bible from Hebrew
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country and at the opposite end of the scale in terms of size, The Bookstop Cafe opened recently on Edinburgh's Teviot Place. An independent concern run by Susan Dunlop, The Bookstop
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24 DEANHAUGH STREET, STOCKBRIDGE 332 4476
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110 THE LIST 10 Oct—23 Oct 1997
Bookstop Cafe: books, bagels and savoury muffins
Cafe feels like a bookshop built around a c05y home kitchen. Steam billows from the coffee machine and forms a mist on the windows. There’s a gentle murmur of conversation and the rustle of pages turned over the hiss and splutter of milk being frothed.
Where Waterstone’s stocks more books than you could read in ten lifetimes, the selection in The Bookstop Cafe is more idiosyncratic. ‘lt’s my perfect reading list but broadened out slightly to appeal to other people,’ explains Dunlop. 'We stock fiction, cookery, travel writing and biography, with a bias towards contemporary fiction.’
There's a bias towards contemporary food as well, With a menu which takes in salads and sandWiches made from a selection of bagels, nut olive bread and baguettes Studded With Sun-dried tomatoes and freshly filled from a deli-
like chOice of pastrami, dill, jarlsberg, dolcelatte and the like. More unusually, Dunlop also makes savoury muffins from a reCipe which she picked up while travelling in New Zealand. Apparently they’ve been a little slow to catch on but are steadily winning over devotees. Cakes, pastries and cookies complement the espressos, lattes and cappuccinos, while smoothies and fruit JUICQS are to hand for those who want refreshment without a caffeine kick.
As well as travelling, writing for Jack/e magazine, working in the arts and in industry, Dunlop also did a stint in marketing; an experience which manifests itself in Bookstop's offer of a free coffee With every book sold.
Bookstop Cafe, 4 Teviot Place, Edinburgh, 225 5298. Waterstone's, 153—157 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, 332 9105.
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12 ASHTON LANE
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25 years of traditional Scottish cooking
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Tel 0141-334 5007