Brekkie at The Flame Tree Café

I’m a total foodie. I mean, you can tell by looking at me that I like food (and chocolate), but so what? Eating is such an enjoyable experience, it should be celebrated! Especially sharing scrummy food with loved ones; family dinners, lunch with your other half, and tea and cake with your besties – what’s not to love?

Last summer I discovered that breakfast is another good excuse for socialising around food. What fun you can have when meeting friends for a chat over breakfast – you catch up, fill up, and still have all day to get on with your business. Last weekend (before dropping a £98 bomb in M&S) I took Mummy Daydreamer to The Flame Tree Café in Exchange Street, Dundee to review the breakfast menu – after some granola-love sharing on Instagram, The Flame Tree Café and The Daydreamer had decided to hook up.

image

 

image

image

The first thing I noticed about The Flame Tree was how bright it was inside; I’m so over atmospheric, shadowy cafes – I know this sounds really pretentious, but a dimly lit day time venue actually affects my mood – really, it’s true! When starting my day, I want to feel awake and energised; I definitely don’t want to feel as though it’s already time to light a candle and change into my pjs (especially when I only just got out of them 90 minutes ago). Anyway, I digress. The Flame Tree Café is lined with windows, and the pine furniture reflects the light bouncing in from the street. The second thing I noticed was how utterly lovely and friendly the owner, Jackie, is. She welcomed us with a huge smile, and her familiar Aussie accent (she and her Scottish husband met while he was travelling in Australia) made me warm to her instantly.

After introductions, we ordered three breakfasts (to make sure we had everything covered, natch). We went for one of my all-time favourites, a granola and yoghurt pot with fresh berries, along with a BLT, and some brown toast. Not forgetting our flat whites, of course.

image

I’ll start with the coffee. You wouldn’t think making coffee would be such a big deal, but my goodness, you’d be wrong. The temperature was PERFECT (that’s the Aussie influence), the milk smooth and the coffee almost sweet; The Flame Tree’s coffee of choice is an espresso dark roast, described as ‘intense and full bodied’. Sounds pretty amazing, right?! Yep; the coffees were so good that we ordered seconds, even though we had less than ten minutes left on our car parking ticket – but it was well worth the risk.

image

image

The granola was really nice too; crunchy, good, yummy granola. You can’t really go wrong with granola, can you? Unless there isn’t enough of it, and that certainly wasn’t a problem at The Flame Tree… The granola and yoghurt pot around the size of a decent mug, so you get more than enough brekkie to set you up for the day. The greek yoghurt was creamy, the berries fresh and plentiful. I must admit: there was very nearly a spoon-war as we fought our way to the bottom of the pot.

image

Our BLT was the best BLT I’ve had in forever. It wasn’t your standard BLT; it was an Aussie BLT. Jackie and her husband Scott set up The Flame Tree Café with the intention to provide good, wholesome, yummy food that is healthy and homemade but still exciting. With this in mind, their BLT should be the signature breakfast dish! The bacon was cooked to perfection (everyone knows that bacon should be still soft enough to bite, but golden in colour without too much crunch – right?) and the lettuce was actually rocket (technically, I guess this makes it a BRT) and it was a welcome change. Lastly, the bun was a sesame seed brioche – light and fluffy, meaning much less carb induced guilt. Have you drowned in your drool yet?

 

image

image

Finally, we finished with brown toast, butter, and The Flame Tree Café’s homemade jam. Toast isn’t exactly pushing the boundaries (if you want to go totally nuts, order the smashed avocado on toast), but everyone loves toast! Sometimes it’s nice just to enjoy the familiar isn’t it? And there’s something so homely about plain old toast, butter and jam. This toast was, as Goldilocks would say, just right; golden, crunchy, warm and, topped with the sweet raspberry jam, it was the perfect finishing touch to a delicious, wholesome (three-course) breakfast. Well, they do say you should eat like a King for brekkie, don’t they?

image

Visit the Facebook page for The Flame Tree Café.

With thanks to The Flame Tree Café for having mum and me for breakfast – see you soon!

Follow:

4 Comments

  1. B.Lindsay 14th October 2015 / 16:30

    It was a real treat to go out for such a scrummy breakfast! Thank you.

  2. Ashley Shepherd 18th October 2015 / 18:15

    Looks absolutely amazing!

    I love reading this blog to find out what’s changing in Dundee. I cannot wait to come home and try these places out. It’s great to have a blog to read that I actually feel I can relate to, often these blogs are based in London.

    • Christina Miller 20th October 2015 / 19:33

      Hi Ashley
      So nice to hear that you enjoy The Daydreamer! Where are you based? Loads of great blogs are London based, and on one hand it’s really good but it can be infuriating when you can access or related to something due to location. There are lots of Scottish blogs you might like such as Thank Fifi and Secret Little Stars, both Glasgow based.
      Christina x

      • Ashley Shepherd 22nd October 2015 / 07:23

        Hi Christina,
        I’m up in Skye but originally from (& still consider home to be) Forfar.
        So I love reading your blog & the fact you are promoting local businesses which I can actually visit on my trips home. It’s just nice to be able to think “oh I know where that is, I’ve never been, I should go”.
        Thanks

Leave a Reply to Christina Miller Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *