Christmas Lunch

My wee sister Alice and I decided to treat ourselves to Christmas lunch in Dundee before we set off for the Christmas hols. We saw the menu at Chambers Coffee Shop in South Tay Street, a regular haunt, and it sounded really good and also good value for money in these credit crunch times.

We pitched up on Saturday lunchtime and it turned out we were the only ones having the Christmas menue. Having been in during the week when the place was packed with Christmas revellers I can only guess this is because all the work lunches were pretty much finished and didn't occur much on a Saturday! So we had a table for two that stood out with its fancy napkins and Christmas crackers which made us feel quite special!



We went for two courses, so that we could fit in pudding and not over indulge on the starter and also because with an afternoon of shopping planned three courses could have led to us falling asleep in a sated stupor.

Often Christmas lunches resemble school dinners and have little flair. Well, for a small coffee shop we were very impressed by our turkey lunch. It was a rolled turkey breast with stuffing and wrapped in bacon and the meat was very tender. The turkey certainly wasn't dry like you might suspect. The veggies were also good - cooked well and none of the soggy 'sitting in food warmers' effect I have often experienced.

The puddings were worth sacrificing the starters for.My profiteroles were a heady mix of cream, chocolate and light pastry and were much better quality than I have had in eateries professing themselves to be upmarket. Alice had an apple pie with ice cream and looked very happy with her choice.

The staff are also a strong point - being attentive but without you feeling rushed and you get the feeling they really do care that you have a good experience.

So our shopping was well fuelled and I don't think there will be any argument as to where we will be having next years Christmas lunch!