27 Simpson Loan, Edinburgh 0131 228 5876 Style: Scandinavian minimalism Food: Snacks, soups and sandwiches Price: About £6.50 for coffee and soup Wheelchair access: Yes In common, I suspect, with many of my fellow Scots, my experience of Swedish cuisine has been largely confined to that well-known Mecca of culinary delights, the restaurant at Ikea. The Swedish meatballs are fairly bland but they are strangely comforting after the trauma of an Ikea shopping experience - not to mention cheap.
Peter's Yard might also have Swedish roots, but whatever the shared national connection, the only thing it really has in common with the superstore cafe is the cutlery (all clearly bearing the Ikea hallmark). Edinburgh's first (and, as far as I'm aware, only) artisan Swedish bakery and cafe is a decidedly upmarket venture as befits its location.
This recent addition to the Edinburgh cafe scene is the first retail unit to open in Quartermile, the multi-million pound redevelopment of the site of the former Royal Infirmary, a project notable for the astronomical prices of its apartments as well as the ultra-modern glass and steel additions to the listed Victorian infirmary buildings. Peter's Yard is on the ground floor of one such modish add-on. The plate glass walls and minimal lines of the designer Swedish furniture is the kind of decor you associate more with trendy hangouts in London than with homely old Edinburgh.
The cafe space of the premises (the kitchen takes up a sizeable portion of the unit) is partitioned into two by a large display bookcase (clean lines, pale wood, naturally), the front area containing the bakery produce and the service counter as well as a handful of tables. The bread, along with the impetus for the cafe in general, is the work of Swedish master baker Jan Hedh, who has written several books on the art of baking as well as on the subject of chocolate.
The fruits of his expertise are the breads made on the premises by Hedh's Swedish staff. At £2.90 a pop, this stuff isn't all that cheap, but the sourdough-based loaves - some containing fruit and nuts - are pretty good.
As for the food in the cafe, there are all kinds of pastries, muffins and cakes, including an intriguing parsnip cake topped with kumquats (£1.90), which turns out to be a slightly richer alternative to carrot cake with an interesting texture due to the chopped almonds in the mix. There are various kinds of sandwiches on offer, not the thinly-sliced-meat-pressed-between-two-pieces-of-sliced-loaf variety, but rather more full-on affairs such crayfish on focaccia or salami and brie in a crusty roll.
On both occasions that I've ventured in for lunch, however, I've opted for the soup of the day (£4.30), a huge bowl with a generous helping of the artisan bread. On the first visit it was an eye-wateringly spicy red pepper soup (washed down with the entire carafe of water that comes to the table as standard, a nice touch). Somewhat more comforting on a cold winter day was the ham and cabbage, a wholesome affair full not just of chunks of meat and strips of Savoy cabbage but also lentils and carrots. Unusually, it was made on a tomato base - a kind of Swedish variant of a British standard.
Peter's Yard is easy to miss; it's off the main road on Middle Meadow Walk, but it already seems to have a pretty regular clientele, many of them from nearby Edinburgh University to judge by the percentage of floppy-haired, Ugg-booted types loading up on lattes and designer teas. Once the Quartermile development is finished it will doubtless be full of suited business types glued to their Blackberries over coffee. Then it really will feel just like London.
