Social media platforms – like Instagram – are used for sharing pictures, but these days I also use it as a place to find eating out (or in) recommendations, like the Corner Tree Cafe.
From food fanatics to friends, everyone seems to love a snap of their foodie finds from across the north-east. I’m always quick to make a mental note of where people are sampling menu. So over time I’ve built up a fair list of restaurants, cafes and producers I want to try out.
Aberdeen’s Corner Tree Cafe was on my wee list for a while, having seen plenty friends post mouth-watering pictures of their breakfasts from there, and equally tantalising snaps of lunches.
And while I’m a person who doesn’t mind working from home too much, I do miss popping out at lunch time to grab a treat from somewhere near the office. Food is always a top priority with me you see.
So one weekday afternoon at home, I decided to treat myself to lunch ordered in. Seeing as my partner works from home too, I also ordered him a little something from the Whitehall Road cafe.
With no time to physically go and pick up lunch, I placed my order for lunch via the Deliveroo app on my phone.
Corner Tree Cafe’s menu was fairly extensive. To be honest, I contemplated ordering quite a few different items. From waffles to pancake stacks, my mouth was salivating as I scrolled down before deciding on what dishes to order.
Choosing to stay away from the presumably delicious pancake stack (hardest decision I made that day), I instead stuck to the savoury options… kind of – sweet home bakes after lunch are always okay.
Order placed, I continued on with my working day until the food arrived around half an hour later. Not too long a wait.
The food
Arriving in a recyclable brown paper bag, our lunch arrived still warm. I had succumbed to the tasty sounding cheese and tomato chutney panini, served with a side of crisps. Meanwhile, my lunch buddy choose to have the chicken, mozzarella and spicy mango sauce panini – again served with a handful of crisps.
Grilled until golden, the chicken panini was packed with plenty succulent white meat which was a good combination with the creamy mozzarella. But what really brought the panini, made using nice quality thick, crusty bread, together was the spicy mango sauce. The tropical, fruity sauce gave the lunchtime dish a sweet kick and took it from bland to well, just grand.
The salty crisps made for a nice side offering and helped to satisfy those lunch hunger pangs.
I really am a sucker for a chutney and there’s no holding me back when cheese is involved too, so I couldn’t wait to tuck into my meal.
The chutney was a nice alternative to a plain cheese and tomato panini which is all too often made with slices of the red fruit… or is it a vegetable? I’ll leave that debate for another day, but I’ll call it a fruit today.
Sweet with a slight tang, I lapped up the chutney with no hesitation. It got my approval for sure. The cheese was perfectly creamy and was the perfect panini partner for the chutney. It spilled out the sides of the golden bread and I was glad Corner Tree Cafe hadn’t gone light on the filling.
Although we were fairly satisfied after our paninis, there’s always room for something sweet. Always.
A big fan of mini eggs between us, we’d ordered a caramel tart topped with the crunchy chocolate sweets for after. And because we both have a big sweet tooth, we also decided to try out Corner Tree Cafe’s honeycomb slice.
Drizzled with chocolate, the tart looked devine and it tasted it too. The outer edge of the bake had a crumble, but not so much that it was a messy eat.
Inside the tart itself lay all the oh so fine glory – the carmel. Sweet and sticky, the inner filling was balanced by the outer tart. So it wasn’t too overpowering in taste.
As for the mini eggs? Well, when are they not welcome addition to any dessert?
After nibbling away at the caramel tart for a bit, next up to try was the honeycomb slice. Golden and delicious chunks of honeycomb decorated the top of the milk chocolate bake, and it was also embedded throughout it too.
A fair size, we actually couldn’t managed to finish it off as the rich chocolate flavour was a touch too sickly – but maybe that’s because we’d already pushed our taste buds to the sweet limit with the caramel tart.
The honeycomb itself was crunchy and pleasant, and, of course, it tasted like the sweet goodness of honey.
You would think I’d had enough sweetness, but no. I really did decide to push the boat out that lunch time – or perhaps greed got the better of me. Most likely the latter. I had indeed also ordered one final chocolate-themed treat. This time in the form of a mini egg hot chocolate.
Although the drink itself was perfectly rich and tasty in flavour, I was a little disappointed there was no swirly cream layered on top. Because of the lack of cream, the mini eggs just sunk to the bottom of the cup. It wasn’t quite the spectacular hot drink I was hoping for… but nevertheless, there was nothing wrong with the taste. I was just unfortunately a little underwhelmed, however, I understand it must be hard to perfect presentation with take out orders which need to be driven across the city.
The verdict
I’m glad I added Corner Tree Cafe to my foodie must-try list. And I’m equally as glad I’ve now tried it out for myself.
The cafe offers a vast selection of options to choose from, which is really great for customers.
Our lunch was tasty and definitely filled a hole that lunchtime. Would I order again? Yes, absolutely.
I’m glad I now know it’s a great spot to grab a bite to eat and I’ll be adding it to my other list of reliable cafes.
Price: £25.90 (excluding delivery fee)
Orders can be placed at Corner Tree Cafe on 3 Whitehall Road, Aberdeen, or via Deliveroo.
This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.