Nardini's, Byres Road, Glasgow

You cannot imagine how excited I was to see that Nardini's have opened a cafe on the Byres Road. I was a huge fan of Nardini's at Largs before they closed down and was delighted to hear that the company had been resurrected a few years ago. As I haven't yet made it to the refurbished cafe in Largs, I was thrilled to see that they had opened a place in Glasgow. It was to be our last stop before heading home as we were parked nearby. The Rocky Road looked fantastic. It looked as if it was going to tick all the boxes in terms of marshmallow, biscuit chunks and most importantly - cherry pieces. But.. I never got to taste it. Nardini's need to get their act together. We arrived at a particularly busy period. There were seats but a long queue had formed at the counter. We eventually realised that we were in the takeaway queue so we moved to a sign further along the counter that said order here if you're eating in. So I stood. A member of staff smiled several times but was obviously harrassed and didn't plan to take my order any time soon. A man, who seemed to be in charge and was equally flustered, discovered that the next person in the takeaway queue had made the same mistake as me but took his order and eventhough it was just for coffee and cake, told him it would be ten minutes. He then served the next person leaving me standing at the correct area like a large lemon. So, I gave up. I didn't really want to sit around for, perhaps, 15 minutes waiting for a coffee and traybake. So, here's hoping that they improve their service by the next time I visit, because the Rocky Road looked great. I had lemon cake, no Rocky Road sadly, next door at Three Steps to Heaven instead.

CafePop, Great Western Road, Glasgow

Came across this little cafe by way of facebook and as I was going to Glasgow I thought I'd give it a try. There are so many cafes in the Great Western Road, Byres Road area that anyone trying to run an eaterie here really has their work cut out. My daughter's pretty fussy about where we eat but really liked the art work and design of this cafe. The food was great. The service was friendly and quick. We were given tasters of the soup which proved to be very good. I really liked the fact that the owner brought a dish of salsa with my pitta sandwich because he thought it would go really well with it. My sandwich contained falafel, red onion and some hummus (again at the owners suggestion.) My only regret is that we didn't have tea and cake here too. I'd seen there was a new Nardini's cafe on Byres Road and wanted to try this later in the afternoon. To be honest we were pretty full. So, Rocky Road lovers, I don't know if CafePop does Rocky Road but I can recommend the rest of the menu.

The House for the Art Lover, Bellahouston Park, Glasgow

I have wanted to visit this wonderful example of the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh for years. As it's a good two hour journey from Galloway to Glasgow I was ready for a coffee and, if possible, a slice of Rocky Road at the cafe before I went into the house. The cafe is lovely, proper table cloths and a sophisticated feel. A restaurant rather than a cafe really. The staff were happy for us to order a coffee even though it was almost lunchtime. Sadly they did not have any Rocky Road but they did have Chocolate Brownie, which was good. The coffee was ok but quite expensive for a relatively small cup.
The house itself did not disappoint, well worth the visit. It is simply beautiful.

Hula Juice Bar, West Bow, Grassmarket, Edinburgh

Warm day at the Edinburgh festival and my daughter and I were glad for a seat in the shade outside the excellent Hula Juice bar. Daughter ordered a whirling dervish juice with added immune booster, which she said was great and I had a green tea. I was going to sample the Rocky Road but I have to say that it looked identical to the piece I'd had at Biggar earlier in the day so I changed my mind. Made me wonder if they were bought in from a local wholesale bakery. As we were enjoying our drinks we were able to enjoy the passing parade that is the Fringe which included a young man dressed as the devil who serenaded us with his singing and ukelele playing. He sang, "I can't set the world on fire" ! 

Aroma, Biggar

Friendly cafe on the main road going through Biggar. There was a lovely looking chocolate cake in the display cabinet but for research purposes I ordered the Rocky Road. Wish I'd tried the chocolate cake. Perhaps it was just because the previous Rocky Road was so good (it was the Reading Lasses one with the montezuma's chocolate) but it was a little disappointing. It did have large marshmallows, so thumbs up for that, and I had seen a little bit of cherry on the slice but sadly that little hint was all there was, on that piece anyway. There were no chunks of biscuit and the chocolate was a little too sweet for me. I realise that saying the chocolate in a rocky road is a bit too sweet is like finding the water in a swimming pool is a bit too wet. But there you go, it was milk chocolate and didn't compare well with the bitter richness of the Reading Lasses version. Also, finding that there was no more cherry than the tiny sliver so my expectations hit the floor. I would recommend the cafe though, the coffee was good. 

Reading Lasses, Wigtown

Reading Lasses is a wonderful bookshop and cafe in Scotland's National Booktown, Wigtown. The cafe has expanded in the last year and there is now seating throughout most of the bookshop. The menu has maintained it's high standard and there are also bistro nights held mainly at weekends but every night during the annual Book Festival in the autumn. 
   I have to be honest, here, and own up to the fact that this is one of my favourite tearooms in the area. They have a great array of cakes including gluten free. I usually have the ginger tiffin but, for research purposes only you understand, I ordered the Rocky Road yesterday. It did have unusually large pieces of biscuit, digestive I think, and small marshmallows. It was good but not outstanding in terms of content, the rest was a bit of a mush, but what saves this Rocky Road from the ordinary is the fact that Reading Lasses use Montezuma's chocolate. This is high quality, fairly traded cocoa rich chocolate and they make the most ordinary traybake into something to be slowly savoured. 
So top marks for the chocolate but once again, there were no cherries. Sorry, but I do like cherries in Rocky Road. 

London

Visited London for the first time in years and sadly didn't come across any Rocky Road at any of the cafes and eating places I visited. Had a very interesting (and tasty) eastern European savoury pancake stylee thing with goats cheese inside it at a tiny little place on Craven Terrace in Bayswater, around the corner from the hotel I stayed at. Also had a lovely almond croissant with my coffee but this did not help with my ongoing nationwide survey on rocky road. 

Polda Dot Vintage Tea Rooms, Castle Street, Dumfries.

Tried this relatively new cafe in Dumfries about a month ago. Sadly I was in a real rush as just as I arrived my son texted to ask if I could collect him from the bus. But there was no Rocky Road on offer anyway. Not sure if it's usually amongst their traybake offerings but it certainly wasn't to be found that day. I did have the lemon meringue tart which I can thoroughly recommend. The cafe's decor was lovely and their use of vintage china, but found the leather chairs a little incongruous. The shop upstairs looked very interesting but sadly had no time to explore.