Nothing to do with little flutes - piccolo is Italian for small, which suits this Mondrian delight on the south-eastern corner of Grassmarket perfectly. Primary coloured benches surround three sides of a table in the window, unsinkably cheerful - rather like the proprietor (who, for the sake of clarity, does not surround three sides of a table by the window). I had a delicious panini - I can't remember precisely what was in it; bacon and some other things but they had me at bacon. It was perfectly done - fluffy yet crispy and generously filled, but not overly so. There's a good range on the menu, from droolworthy-sounding focaccias to a couple of really lovely soups. My partner for lunch that day had the vegetable soup and I'm told it was... brace yourselves... soup-erb. (Thank you, thank you...)
You pick up your soft drinks from the fridge, and it's £1.50 for a can, which you might wince at if it were a vending machine but which seems reasonable in a cafe. The fact that you pick them up them yourself and they're still in a can does kind of emphasise the markup, though, despite the fact that we were later brought glasses to decant them into.
However, the touch I really liked was - oddly - paying. Apparently, they had ordered the wrong kind of card machine - one that has to plug into a telephone point instead of a wireless one - so I had to toddle on through the back door and into the kitchen to pay. Seems funny, but that little touch of character and quirk actually made it for me! I really hope they keep it that way. read more