Dean Gallery Café

Si vous avez la chance d’avoir un rayon de soleil foncez sur l’agréable et calme terrasse au vert ! L’intérieur du café est également agréable et chaleureux. Un large choix de cafés (latte, black, macchiato…), thé, jus, et surtout un buffet de gâteaux qui vont feront forcément craquer ! (carrot cake, shortbread, fudge, brownies etc…) un délice !

As this was my first visit to the Dean Gallery we thought we would try the café. Wow what a great wee café serving delicious cakes and fab coffee. they also serve soup, sandwiches. The staff were very polite and friendly and it was nice to have table service in a café gallery. Would definetly go back!

Cakes. Yes. And some rather scrumptious food too.
Even if you’re not browsing the Gallery (which you should) the Dean Gallery Café, or Café Newton as I think it’s officially called, it’s a charming spot for a coffee, lunch, or cake.
As the Dean Gallery is slightly out of the way, and most people unless they’d visited once wouldn’t know that there’s a café, it’s got a very subuded, calm atmosphere. It was busy, but not with passers-​by. Instead, by people who know it, love it, and respect it.
I had the mackerel pâté. A very generous serving, yum. The cakes looked delicious too. The staff were friendly, and it was all round quite lovely.
If you’re in the area (maybe after strolling the Water of Leith) or indeed have come to look at the exhibitions, I’d highly recommend a coffee or lunch here.

The Dean Gallery is generally pretty cool, especially at the moment when they have got a surrealist exhibition featuring some Dalí, Picasso and Miró originals. But it is the café that takes the biscuit. Té-​stefully decorated and spacious, it seats about 40 people and in the middle is a huge mechanical statue by Paolozzi which is an impressive sight whist supping away at your drinks.
The menu, if a tad overpriced, is pretty good. There are not a huge selection of teas or coffees but all the classics are there and it’s good to Chai a few and share them around as they’re all really nice. I had the hot chocolate with cream (inexplicably clotted cream, not whipped cream) which was excellent. The cakes are definitely the best though, once you start one scone in seconds (…sorry). They actually do sell scones, which are excellent, coming with champagne and strawberry jam and cream. There is also a multilevelled cake stand (£12 per person or £16 with prosecco) which is so good it’ll leave you in tiers.
The staff are really friendly and make the whole experience great. A really good way to finish a tour of the gallery, which is one of Edinburgh’s best kept secrets

The coffee at Café Newton is nothing to write home about. The cakes however, are something different altogether. Last time I visited, they had delicious looking chocolate brownies, carrot cake, lemon polenta and some kind of frangipane tart. I opted for a slice of the polenta cake and wasn’t disappointed as each mouth-​full was moist and a heady combination of vanilla and citrus.
Housed in a small room within the National Gallery of Scotland’s historic Dean Gallery, the café is also a great place to daydream and reflect on some of the fantastic exhibitions. The fact the gallery is a short walk from the city centre also means it’s usually free from tourists and groups of school kids being dragged round by exasperated teachers.

This is another favourite café. Very good points are that you can drive here and park in the gallery car park. If you have a disabled visitor they can enter from the rear with a lift and do not need to walk round to the stairs at the main entrance.
The café itself is waitress service and often quite busy. But with gorgeous large windows and black chairs and tables has a very distinctive atmosphere. Calm and serene even when busy.
The teas and coffees are good, but the cakes are always excellent. There is often a fairly limited range of baking on offer, but I have never had anything of bad quality here at all.
The brownies are outstanding and so is the lemon polenta cake.
Good little shop next to the café with presents that would suit an arty friend or relative.
And have a look at the allotments on your way out — charmingly maintaining what used to be a kitchen garden from when the building was an orphanage.

This is a lovely café — more formal than those in the Gallery of Modern Art and the Portrait Gallery as it is table service but spares you the search for a seat after you have bought your food, and has a calmer ambience at lunctimes. The Mackintosh seats give this café its unique feel too. The selection of food is more limited than the other Gallery cafes but as you would expect, just as delicious!