Chapter One Coffee House

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

It would be incredibly easy to accidentally pass by Chapter One Coffee House. The interior is hidden behind a frosted-glass front that seems to suggest more administrative goings-on inside. Its true identity is denoted only by a lower-case rendering of its name above the door. Once inside, however, the frosted-glass provides a bubble-like sanctuary from the Hyndland schoolchildren who are often found strewn around neighbouring streets at lunchtime. Although the menu toils in the familiar café territory of soup, sandwiches and cakes, it does so with an attention to high-quality, organic ingredients. The spiced carrot and parsnip soup is smooth and densely packed with flavour. Expectations are also exceeded with an impressively wide cake selection, a surprise highlight of which is a banana sponge cake which succeeds in tasting more banana than sponge cake, and is as light and airy as one might hope. Chapter One lives up to its bookish name, with shelves of classic books for customers to borrow if the first chapter leaves them particularly keen. There are literary accents elsewhere, with framed famous page-ones providing high-brow adornment for the toilet walls. Perhaps most importantly Chapter One proves the relevance of perhaps the oldest literary adage – you should never judge a book by its cover.

• High point: High-quality cake selection
• Low point: Easy to pass by