Let there be brunch

When husband and wife duo Liv and Steve Connolly-Bastock took on Edinburgh’s Salt Café, they transformed a much-loved weekend staple into a showstopping seasonal affair

‘ If cafés are about crowd-pleasing, brunch surely satisfies even the pickiest of eaters, writes Rosie Morton. Sweet or savoury, breakfast or lunch, morning or afternoon, it defies all the rules and is a dream for the indecisive. Having bonded over brunch during their early dating days, Liv and Steve Connolly-Bastock could only ever have chosen this weekend staple as the basis of their own café menu.

Taking over Edinburgh’s Salt Café at the height of the pandemic, the husband and wife duo – joined by three-yearold son Archie – have seen your humble poached egg and raised it with locally-sourced black pudding, foraged pheasant’s back mushrooms, and sausages made in-house by Steve himself.

‘We just think it’s the best meal of the day,’ says Liv, who is originally from Bristol, but fell for the capital’s charm when studying event management at Napier University. Opening their doors in October last year, Liv has taken on the role of head baker, while Steve is head chef, using his experience working with Michelin-starred chefs such as Tom Kitchin at The Scran & Scallie and Aiden Byrne at 20 Stories as inspiration.

‘Aiden exposed me to what a good quality ingredient will do to a finished dish,’ explains Steve, who has extensive experience in butchery. ‘Chef Kitchin has a massive passion for the locality and the provenance of food which is something we’ve really taken on board here as well.’

Having been brought up in Stirling, Steve has never been far from world-class produce. He now sources ingredients for the café from the Edinburgh Butter Company, Ayrshire’s Mossgiel Farm, Corrie Mains, Wild Hearth Bakery, and David Lowrie Fish Merchants. Even transportation of the produce is considered, collecting items at the same time to reduce food mileage.

‘Because I’m putting in the hours to make the bacon and sausage, it gives us leeway to put more luxury products on the plate as well and still offer it at a competitive price,’ says Steve. ‘Anything we can’t make we’ve made sure we’re working with local, artisanal suppliers who are the best at what they do.’

But it’s not all about the savoury offerings. Liv, who made it through to the last round of interviews for The Great British Bake Off, has spent much of lockdown perfecting the baked goods on offer, and now makes all their jams, compotes and cakes. As with Steve’s dishes, her bakes shift with the seasons, moving from spiced apples to late-spring rhubarb, and on to summer berries.

‘There will always be a little something that has been tweaked in homage to British produce,’ says Liv of their menu. ‘I think that’s what people are growing to love about us.’ Call me millennial, but brunch takes some beating. Looks like it just got even tastier.

Clockwise from

top left: Salt Café is in Morningside, Edinburgh; Liv, Steve and three-year-old son Archie; the finishing touches; don’t mind if we do; seasonal, artisanal brunch is their speciality; the couple took on Salt Café in 2020.