Nona Lous, The Old School, Dumfries

No Rocky Road to review I'm afraid but I was assured that it is frequently available amongst their cakes and traybakes. I'm hoping to go back and sample it soon. I need to go back to Dumfries soon to do some research, so that's a good excuse. 
My daughter and I did sample the soup, which was great, and the salad, which was excellent. We also tried the cakes which were also of an equally high standard. The two young women who have opened this cafe are doing an excellent job. The decoration is wonderful and a treat for anyone interested in that Cath Kidston cottage style. They use old china crockery and are keen to receive donations if anyone is thinking of throwing any out - in good condition only I would guess, not anything chipped. They told me that the bake things fresh every day. Their only difficulty that I can see is that the building, The Old School, is not easy to find. I think people in and around Dumfries probably know where to find this new centre that houses an art room, drama studio and hairdressers along with the tea room. But casual visitors are not going to chance upon it. I lived in Dumfries for seven years so have some understanding of the little warren of roads where The Old School can be found, and the one way system that sweeps you passed it. It is well worth working out how to get there though if you're going to Dumfries. There's a treat in store. 

The Alexandra Coffee Shop, George Street, Stranraer

This is a very small cafe almost opposite the Museum in Stranraer (which is well worth a visit). The cafe was warm, welcoming and delightfully bright and sunny when we visited. The Rocky Road looked good, marshmallows, cherries, chocolate with white chocolate drizzled across the top and a fluttering of almonds. And it didn't taste bad either. But, and sorry but there is a but, I'm just not a fan of this style of Rocky Road even though it is a pretty common recipe. It's the kind of Rocky Road that has a crumbly bottom (not good for anyone!) made from crushed biscuits with, I suspect, some cornflakes or something in there. This gives it a good crunch but when it's combined with a hard chocolate topping it makes for an eating disaster. This combination of really solid top and crumbly bottom means that most of the base just disintegrates when you bite it and scatters across the table. You lose a good 10 per cent of the traybake in crumbs and it also makes you look like a really messy eater. There's also something about this hard chocolate top, is it a mixture of real and fake chocolate? It does something weird to marshmallows, it takes away that delightful softness and replaces it with something chewy. I have to say the coffee was good and the rest of the extensive cake and traybake selection looked great. The Rocky Road was fine, but it will not make my top ten for 2012.