Café Alba

Visiting Scotland for the first time, this was the first restaurant my fiancée and I went to. It is a quaint little café with a few tables and a glass counter filled with food in the back. I think they had an upstairs section, but not sure. Free wifi is available upon request (standard for almost any eatery in the UK).
The food was absolutely wonderful. I ordered a link sausage morning roll, with a side of coleslaw and rocket. Rocket for Americans is essentially arugula salad. Not only was it absolutely tasty, the portion was perfect. No overstuffing, no groaning belly. I forget what my fiancée ordered, but I do remember the latte she got. Best latte she had in the UK, hands down.
I don’t know if it’s because this was the first restaurant we found, but it was one of the most memorable. I’d absolutely go there again.
FYI, it’s a cash only establishment. Luckily there’s an ATM across the street.

We were on this particular section of GWR a bit unsure where to go for lunch — doing our usual hesitant walking around aimlessly routine. Somewhere like Alba was what I had in mind but it wasn’t until I walked past that I remembered that this new little place had popped up. I almost didn’t stop, thinking that it was mainly a sandwich shop with very little seating but it did look like the sort of place I had in mind. After reporcessing the fact that there were spare seats and that the sign on the door said «Seating upstairs» I am glad to say that we did stop…
The place was very clean and very freshly decorated inside, much to my taste. Modern, but traditional. The selection of food was exactly what I would want from a modern, independent café/​coffee shop. Interesting sandwiches, homemade soups, quiche tarlets and other little pastry things, Italian sausage rolls and more! To go with the coffee there was also a very satisfactory selection of homemade cakes!
I can appreciate that someone going in for a quick coffee, especially if the place was busy, might not appreciate table service but I did appreciate it. It wasn’t hugely busy but not too quiet either and we were served promptly, our food arrived quickly and the staff (owners I presume) were very much in control of the comings and goings of customers and orders and were pleasant and polite.
I also took note of the little receptacle provided for the tea-​bag!
I think the owners/​operators have got this place just right. I hope they carry on doing things this way for a long time.
I will be back!

One of the few places I have encountered where they give you a receptacle for the tea bag!

I’m not a fan of table service in cafés cos good service is something completely alien to the UK and this place epitomises it. Popping in for a quick coffee, I had to wait 20min for my order to even be taken. When my impeccably presented mocha eventually arrived it tasted of absolutely nothing, quite a feat. As much as I want to support independent businesses it’s places like this that allow the Starbucks of the world to thrive, as I had to walk straight out and get a coffee at the neighbouring Costa. Perhaps their lunch service is better but I won’t be rushing to try it out.