It seems to me that whenever I eat out with people, I am inevitably the person who is dissatisfied with their food. It could be because I’m vegetarian and my options are often uninspiring or lamentably cooked or I might just be a generally critical and unsatisfied person. Let’s assume I’m the former. The Café Jute Bar in DCA has all the potential to be one of the best restaurants in Dundee, yet after a meal there, I’m just glad to have wine to wash it down with. It seems to me that a creative writer has embellished their menu with adjectives the food just doesn’t live up to.

I really want to like this place; the beer garden is a sun trap, the staff are friendly and efficient, they have a great selection of beer, but the food can be summarised by one word; “meh”, and the prices are not compatible with a meh meal. I’ve eaten here often, although I have avoided the sandwiches as both contain either medley of Mediterranean vegetables or goats cheese, which apart from being some of the most clichéd vegetarian dishes on menus, I tend to find both soggy and stomach curdling respectively.

Subsequently I have always ordered the ever reliable hummus, pitta bread and chips (“Red pepper hummus, mixed olives, feta with warm pitta bread, £5.35,” “String fries with dip, £2.95.”). Both are generous portions and surprisingly leave me with no complaints, save for the fact that I’m getting a bit bored of ordering the same thing. With the exception of my experience a few days ago, the only other time I have deviated from my safe food was to try the chick peas in a can of chopped tomatoes, or as they are sold on the menu; “Harissa spiced chickpeas and butternut hot pot with cheesy halloumi nachos and dip, £7.25”. I wasn’t really expecting the nachos to be as droll as Doritos with halloumi on top, but then again I wasn’t really expecting the meal to be such a let-down in general. But I digress; I decided to try again and order something different, and so last Tuesday afternoon I went there for lunch with my SO and his family, and ordered the “Broccoli, mangetout, and pakchoi Thai curry with jasmine braised rice and beansprout, mint cucumber salad (£9.25).”

Perhaps unusually, broccoli is one of my desert island dishes, so the potential greenery involved in this meal was desirable to me, rather than nightmarish. However there’s greenery, and then there’s a botanic garden of garnishes with some unfortunate drowned broccoli on the side. As I was raking my fork through my plate looking for something substantial to stab into, the lack of mangetout and any replacement became apparent. I also feel a prerequisite for salad may be a dressing, as raw vegetables on top of a Thai Curry is just a Thai Curry with raw vegetables on top. On a more positive note, the Thai green sauce was spicy, creamy and made an excellent dipping sauce for the chips I borrowed off my boyfriend’s plate while whining about my need for carbs. As for the carnivorous option (“Chargrilled BBQ Chicken sandwich, brie and parma ham brioche with spicy ketchup and string fries, £8.65.”) my SO was left disappointed, especially as there was nothing remotely chargrilled about the chicken. A few hours later I could be found gorging my sorrows in a Duke’s Corner halloumi burger.

To be fair to The Jute Café Bar, I do understand that lunch time Tuesday service probably isn’t going to have their best chefs on, but if they’re trying to entice people to come back for Dinner/Tea, they have certainly not convinced me or my partner. For a place that offers something different and wonderful in other areas, I really wish the food wasn’t such a continuous let down.

The verdict? Underwhelming.

I can only apologise for a lack of photos as I hadn’t planned on writing about my experience.

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