The Doocot Café and Bar

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• What are these?

• Average price 2 courses: £13.50 (lunch)
• House wine: £13.95 per bottle

• High point: Inspirational surroundings
• Low point: Rather uninspired food
• Food served: Mon–Sat 11.30am–4pm; Sun noon–4pm
• Open since: 1999
• Also offers: Vegetarian options (at least 25% of main courses), Children's portions, Children's high chairs, Wheelchair access

This review appears in the The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008
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As you might expect from The Lighthouse, Scotland's centre for architecture and design, there's a breezy sophistication to be found in its stylish café bar. The Doocot is a bright, almost dazzling space, even on the dullest days, with prints of clouds on the walls adding to the airy ambience. A makeover in 2007, with assistance from Swiss company Vitra, has put the emphasis on comfort as much as quality design. There's even 'designed' music – a bespoke audio service quietly streams contemporary Scottish tunes in the background. There is also a national provenance to the food – while there are sandwiches and salads, the menu has a lot of hearty, rustic fare like woodland mushroom risotto and 'Burns Country' steak and chips. Slightly cloying cream sauces seem to be a favourite – oddly, to a repetitious degree: the chicken and leek pie has a suspiciously similar sauce to that in a starter of scallops with black pudding. It turns up again in one of the daily specials, which, nevertheless, are admirably strong on fish and avoid the predictable – a delicately flaky fillet of tilapia, on this occasion. Coffee and pastries are served from 10.30am and meals from 11.30am. The Doocot is closed in the evenings.