Spoon

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The 2011/12 edition of The List's Eating & Drinking Guide is out now – only £5.95 (+p&p).

New location: 6a Nicolson Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9DH

Spoon is a cut above what a café should be. Follow the sign from the Royal Mile to its modest home on Blackfriars Street and, within the bleached, minimal interior with its open plan kitchen, you will find meals that would win plaudits at any restaurant – and all at café prices. Chef/owner Richard Alexander prepares the food with skill and flair. Look out for the specials on the blackboard. A smooth, dense duck villete with sourdough bread is offset by sweet, sharp red cabbage and wafer thin slices of moist corn-fed chicken sit on a bed of crisp salad and firm rice. An array of treats you would never expect to find in a café is also available: wild mushroom broth, Arbroath smokies with fresh potato salad and shin of beef. Even the ginger beer and lemonade are home-brewed and tasty. Flourless orange and walnut cake melts in the mouth with a sweetness and tang, while chocolate and banana cake is light and crumbly. The attention to detail is extraordinary and the results a triumph. Beat a path to the door.

• High point: Flourless orange and walnut cake
• Low point: It's not open in the evenings