The Twelve Triangles group was first established in the Spring of 2015, and has since gone on to open two more sites in Edinburgh. The locations in Brunswick Street and Portobello are coffee shops/bakeries offering grab and go bites, but this Duke Street outpost (given the subtitle ‘Kitchen Table’) is the largest in the portfolio.
The shop front draws in customers with its gleaming display of freshly-baked bread and sweet treats, and once inside you’ll be greeted by a dining room that’s cosy and intimate, without feeling too cramped. There’s a smattering of tables decorated with minimal fuss (cutlery in buckets, water jugs on the table) while menus are printed out on recycled brown paper.
There’s nothing on the menu here that’s too unfamiliar, with Twelve Triangles mostly dealing in brunch classics given subtle twists. To kick start our experience, we first enjoyed a round-up of the day’s best pastries – sugar-dusted doughnuts arrived at the table with bellies full of thick cream, while a rich slab of chocolate brownie was studded with sour cherry pieces and shards of white chocolate, accompanied by a pot of cultured cream should you have a craving to smother your baked goods in the stuff.
Once you’ve had your fill of pastries, you can move on to more substantial brunch dishes, but this is where we found Twelve Triangles to be occasionally lacking. We couldn’t help but think our dish of banana on toasted sourdough would have worked better if the banana topping had been added as slices, rather than pounded into a mush, while the accompanying bacon (at an extra cost) appeared to be entirely burnt rather than just crispy. Other dishes fared better though, like the kimchi and cheese toastie on charcoal sourdough, with the sharp crunch of the kimchi contrastingly nicely with its gooey cheese filling.
We were also fans of the drinks menu, which spans good cups of coffee and reviving fruit juices, while we’re happy to report that all of the brunch dishes at Twelve Triangles clock in at under a tenner. Sweet-natured staff are always up for a chat too.