SALLY LUNN’S BUN HOUSE

Bath, September 24th 2017.

Bath. Autumn. It’s my first time in the city, and after walking around the Roman Baths with their milky sage pools I go in search of lunch.

I’m a tourist, travelling alone, and so I have made an itinerary of what to see and do, where to eat, and the best places to imbibe.

Sally Lunn’s Historic Eating House and Museum is the quintessential tourist trap. For starters, there is precious little evidence that a woman called ‘Sally Lunn’ ever existed.

I enter a tidy building a stone’s throw away from Bath Abbey. Despite all expectations there is no queue and I am seated quickly, and furnished with a menu.

The dining room is modestl furnished with a homely feel — chalky white walls framed with butter-yellow cornices. The bare tables are packed in quite tightly, and I am amused by a line on the menu stating “ – you may get a top or a bottom”. Story of my life.

I order a pot of lapsang souchong, which arrives in a blue and white ornate teapot the shape of a butternut squash.

My chosen bun is here — I went for salmon and cream cheese. You can take the boy out of Edinburgh.

The bun is huge, still slightly warm, and moreishly buttery. A spongey, almost cake like structure with just enough chew to remind you this is indeed a bread and not a round of madeira cake. The crust has a slight crunch to it, and is easily the star of the show.

Being a resident of Edinburgh, I have a natural aversion to plain-as-day tourist traps. This one, I’d visit again.