THIS caf is located in the basement of the Edinburgh Woollen Mill shop. Although there are stairs down, a lift provides alternative access.

Brightly lit with a shining wooden floor, this is a self-service venue. Ann occupied a table to give us the best view of what was going on while I queued to order. "Jacket potato with ..." "Sorry we are out of potatoes". "Well one soup". "Sorry there is no soup left." I returned to Ann. Do we cut our losses and go somewhere else?

Ann spotted the seasonal sandwich menu and decided to have one with turkey, bacon and tomato (£2.55). She had no regrets and said there was plenty of meat and the bread was soft. Disappointed that I could not have the festive soup and sandwich advertised at £3.95, I ended up with a perfectly acceptable plain ham sandwich. For some reason it appeared on our bill as tuna at £2.85.

Ann had a pot of tea (90p) which was offered with either fresh milk or a sachet. No prizes for guessing which she chose. However, the pot yielded only fractionally more than one cup.

Being a sucker for Christmas cake, I had a slice. It turned out to be better in looks than taste and in any case was described as carrot cake on the bill.

Many menu items were seasonal. Christmas panini filled with brie and cranberry and mince pies caught our eye. But there were many less exotic offerings such as omelette (£2.95), cheese toasties (£2.75) and muffin or crumpet with either tea or coffee (£1.75).

There was a display cabinet for calorie-rich cakes. Perhaps on another occasion we might try from the selection of mincemeat and coconut traybake, toffee bakewell, brandy fruit slice or a festive sultana and cherry scone.

There was an indoor window in the caf. Apparently when the basement was being constructed a Victorian kitchen was discovered. What might be described as a Mrs Beeton glory hole is visible through the window and worthy of a look.

Despite our initial disappointment, Ann's parting shot as we left was "I'd like to come back sometime". Was this because of the food or were the jumpers on display in the shop the magnet?

Updated: 09:27 Saturday, January 04, 2003