Tchai Ovna

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• What are these?

• Average price 2 courses:
   £7 (lunch)
   £7 (evening meal)

• High point: Spirited veggie food from every continent
• Low point: May be too alternative for some
• Food served: Mon-Sun 11am-11pm
• Private dining: Up to 4 covers
• Open since: 2004
• Also offers: Vegetarian options (at least 25% of menu), Childrens portions, Wheelchair access

The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 is now in the shops.

This review is from the 2007 edition.

There is nothing quite like the Tchai-Ovna House of Tea experience. From the outside, the Otago Lane café looks like a crooked fairytale house perched precariously on the banks of the River Kelvin. Walking inside is like travelling back in time to an east European salon where idealistic students and Kafka-loving characters might lounge on battered sofas, chatting over fragrant bowls of tea and spiky jazz. On the Southside, the Deanston Drive outlet has a more Arabic feel, with rugs on the wall and a Bedouin tent of a ceiling (and free wi-fi). Specialising in over 80 types of tea, both branches also share an eclectic vegetarian/vegan menu that changes regularly, scanning the globe for inspiration. Honey-roasted peppers, caramelised onion and melted feta give a spicy sweetness to the warm Corsican wrap. A robust Middle Eastern platter of delights is full of flavour and texture with rice dolmades, falafel and killer olives to dip in hummus and tzatziki. Puddings include home-made cheesecake or vegan baklava - a sticky pastry with pistachio nuts and syrup. Alternatively, the organic über slices are luxurious tray-bakes packed with nuts and seeds, topped with dark chocolate and coconut. Songsters and poets perform at regular soirées and guests can book shiatsu massages or smoke an African water pipe (a Shisha) on the Otago Lane veranda on a balmy summer evening.