Edinburgh restaurant reviews
Nov 10, 2010, 5:21 pm
#31
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Mussel Inn, Rose St
Yet another seafood place, this time specialising in mussels - and what good mussels they are. Trying to decide what is an appropriate amount to have is difficult to have, but then you have a choice of sauces as well. There are other dishes on the menu, but the mussels are good. Great for a shopping lunch, but could be good for a casual dinner as well.
Yet another seafood place, this time specialising in mussels - and what good mussels they are. Trying to decide what is an appropriate amount to have is difficult to have, but then you have a choice of sauces as well. There are other dishes on the menu, but the mussels are good. Great for a shopping lunch, but could be good for a casual dinner as well.
Nov 11, 2010, 4:22 am
#32
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I think the quantity they get through means that they are always serving really fresh mussels... was there again recently, and yes, still as tasty!
Nov 19, 2010, 7:29 am
#33
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Vancouver, BC
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We also ate at the Mussel Inn during our trip this past spring. Not sure if if we saw it on this list originally. I think we actually stopped there by chance just trying to find a relatively casual place to eat. The place was busy which is always a good first sign so we just went with it. And in the end we were very happy withe mussels and food overall. Service was also good overall save for a really delayed bill at the end (they were very busy). Good price, decent value. I'd recommend this place to friends for sure.
Nov 19, 2010, 8:47 am
#34
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Stockbridge Restaurant
A promise to a friend to go to a Michelin restaurant failed owing to a number of things, not least his illness and my disorganisation. So Plumed Horse escaped me once again 
As compensation, we did manage to secure a table at the Stockbrige, which was one of my 2010 targets....
First thought was that it was quite difficult to find. Between Stockbridge and New Town, it's a basement restaurant.
As such, it could be gloomy, and painting the walls charcoal grey could have been a mistake - but on a dreich, cold November night, it was warm, inviting and cosy!
Not a set menu, but 4-5 choices for each course. Style is Scottish bistro, drawing heavily on sumptuous ingredients - duck foie, quails eggs, venison...Interesting wine list, and we broke my 'never French' rule to drink a really rather nice Chardonney/Viognier from somewhere. Someday, I need to actually remember what I drink so if I see it again, I will know I like it
I started with scallops on a squash puree, and I think there was pancetta involved somewhere. The scallops were cooked to perfection - melting in the middle and browned on the outside. Outstandingly good. Portion size was fine too - three large, plump ones. My companion had duck foie - again, perfectly cooked (in my mind, a little bit under, but I'm not the greatest foie fan in the world, and he liked it a lot), served on toast.
For mains, he had venison and I had halibut. I'm nervous about halibut in the UK - I've had some fantastically fresh stuff in Canada and we can't seem to get it as good as that here. Well, this one was. A lovely piece of fish, which, when combined with the horse mushrooms and arran mustard cream sauce accompaniement was to die for. Little rosemary roasted potatos in support - the only sour note on the plate was some gritty soggy spinach - it's reassuring to know that not even a good restaurant can make it edible
The venison was also great - again, cooked to perfection, with a lovely potato fondant and a great deep sauce.
Of course we had dessert! Trio of chocolate for me, and a plum and nut crumble for him with a vanilla sauce. The trio was mint choc chip ice cream, chocolate fondant and a very light chocolate mousse - it could have been very rich, but it wasn't (I was a bit disappointed about that!) - the ice cream, which I should have liked least was perfectly balanced, not at all like shop bought green stuff, and the fondant was great, providing a heavy rich note to the plate.
Dinner was £70 per head - which for the quality of food consumed (and the cost of 21212 recently!) seemed good value. I can see why the Stockbridge has such a good reputation and it's another on my 'can be revisited at the drop of a hat' list
As compensation, we did manage to secure a table at the Stockbrige, which was one of my 2010 targets....
First thought was that it was quite difficult to find. Between Stockbridge and New Town, it's a basement restaurant.
As such, it could be gloomy, and painting the walls charcoal grey could have been a mistake - but on a dreich, cold November night, it was warm, inviting and cosy!
Not a set menu, but 4-5 choices for each course. Style is Scottish bistro, drawing heavily on sumptuous ingredients - duck foie, quails eggs, venison...Interesting wine list, and we broke my 'never French' rule to drink a really rather nice Chardonney/Viognier from somewhere. Someday, I need to actually remember what I drink so if I see it again, I will know I like it
I started with scallops on a squash puree, and I think there was pancetta involved somewhere. The scallops were cooked to perfection - melting in the middle and browned on the outside. Outstandingly good. Portion size was fine too - three large, plump ones. My companion had duck foie - again, perfectly cooked (in my mind, a little bit under, but I'm not the greatest foie fan in the world, and he liked it a lot), served on toast.
For mains, he had venison and I had halibut. I'm nervous about halibut in the UK - I've had some fantastically fresh stuff in Canada and we can't seem to get it as good as that here. Well, this one was. A lovely piece of fish, which, when combined with the horse mushrooms and arran mustard cream sauce accompaniement was to die for. Little rosemary roasted potatos in support - the only sour note on the plate was some gritty soggy spinach - it's reassuring to know that not even a good restaurant can make it edible
The venison was also great - again, cooked to perfection, with a lovely potato fondant and a great deep sauce. Of course we had dessert! Trio of chocolate for me, and a plum and nut crumble for him with a vanilla sauce. The trio was mint choc chip ice cream, chocolate fondant and a very light chocolate mousse - it could have been very rich, but it wasn't (I was a bit disappointed about that!) - the ice cream, which I should have liked least was perfectly balanced, not at all like shop bought green stuff, and the fondant was great, providing a heavy rich note to the plate.
Dinner was £70 per head - which for the quality of food consumed (and the cost of 21212 recently!) seemed good value. I can see why the Stockbridge has such a good reputation and it's another on my 'can be revisited at the drop of a hat' list
Dec 10, 2010, 2:10 pm
#35
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Edinburgh
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 26
Ooh, great thread, google sent me to it when I was looking for some places to eat this weekend.
Just one to add on (I'm probably biased since it is at the end of my street) but the Magnum Bar has great food - I love the Cranachan cheesecake! And it has a nice wine selection.
Just one to add on (I'm probably biased since it is at the end of my street) but the Magnum Bar has great food - I love the Cranachan cheesecake! And it has a nice wine selection.
May 31, 2011, 3:58 am
#36
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Oloroso
Wedgwood was unexpectedly closed, so given the prominence of Oloroso in my mind due to Chef Tony Singh's appearance on Great British Menu, we booked a table there instead.
Arrived early to enjoy the cocktails -very good they were too. An unusual list saw us drinking pink cocktails, coconut cocktails and cocktails with gold dust in them and not a hint of a maraschino cherry in sight (sadly
).
We were ushered to our table early - email correspondence had told us repeatedly that we had two hours for our table, but booking later on a Sunday night made that less of a problem. The menu was surprisingly difficult to chose between - it featured all the dishes from the Great British Menu offering, plus a number of other dishes, and in the end I selected the foie, ham hock and rabbit terrine - which came with an apple chutney to die for, followed by duck in an asian broth with siu mai dumplings. The duck was nicely cooked - although not pink, the broth was heavenly and the dumplings were ok. One friend went for the GBM main dish of Scran - a selection of different dishes served in a tiffin can, which did elicit a lot of comment around the table, while the pork loin looked beautiful (I know, because it got given to me first before they and I realised that's not what I ordered - if you are going to do the whole 'remembering who ordered what' make sure you do actually remember as they kept getting it wrong, and actually, it's worse to put the wrong dish of food down in front of someone than actually have to check!).
For desserts, we all went for the GBM dish of chocolate revenge - a sharing dish of rich chocolate mousse with high quality chocolate shards and a to die for pistachio shortbread. While the texture of the mousse was a little bit dry, the biscuits were fantastic.
We were not hurried out the restaurant, however the single sour note was hit at the end of the night. Our cocktails were missing from the bill, and we only realised after we had actually paid. A question to the restaurant staff about the cocktail bill was met by a pretty poor response - if you have forgotten to bill your guests for a significant sum of money, really your staff should show more graciousness when those guests volunteer to pay the bill when you've forgotten it. Luckily, the bar staff were much friendlier and appreciative of our honesty - but the fact we actually had to go around to the bar ourselves to pay for it was not great.
All in all, a good meal. I can see why Oloroso has a good reputation, and the food was good (and the fixed price menu a good idea - £40 for a meal in Edinburgh isn't too outrageous) verging on excellent. It's certainly in the top end of Edinburgh restaurants, and a fantastic venue - but not the best food I've ever had in Edinburgh, even if there were moments which shone.
ETA - closed in late 2012, owner/chef citing difficult market conditions.
Arrived early to enjoy the cocktails -very good they were too. An unusual list saw us drinking pink cocktails, coconut cocktails and cocktails with gold dust in them and not a hint of a maraschino cherry in sight (sadly
). We were ushered to our table early - email correspondence had told us repeatedly that we had two hours for our table, but booking later on a Sunday night made that less of a problem. The menu was surprisingly difficult to chose between - it featured all the dishes from the Great British Menu offering, plus a number of other dishes, and in the end I selected the foie, ham hock and rabbit terrine - which came with an apple chutney to die for, followed by duck in an asian broth with siu mai dumplings. The duck was nicely cooked - although not pink, the broth was heavenly and the dumplings were ok. One friend went for the GBM main dish of Scran - a selection of different dishes served in a tiffin can, which did elicit a lot of comment around the table, while the pork loin looked beautiful (I know, because it got given to me first before they and I realised that's not what I ordered - if you are going to do the whole 'remembering who ordered what' make sure you do actually remember as they kept getting it wrong, and actually, it's worse to put the wrong dish of food down in front of someone than actually have to check!).
For desserts, we all went for the GBM dish of chocolate revenge - a sharing dish of rich chocolate mousse with high quality chocolate shards and a to die for pistachio shortbread. While the texture of the mousse was a little bit dry, the biscuits were fantastic.
We were not hurried out the restaurant, however the single sour note was hit at the end of the night. Our cocktails were missing from the bill, and we only realised after we had actually paid. A question to the restaurant staff about the cocktail bill was met by a pretty poor response - if you have forgotten to bill your guests for a significant sum of money, really your staff should show more graciousness when those guests volunteer to pay the bill when you've forgotten it. Luckily, the bar staff were much friendlier and appreciative of our honesty - but the fact we actually had to go around to the bar ourselves to pay for it was not great.
All in all, a good meal. I can see why Oloroso has a good reputation, and the food was good (and the fixed price menu a good idea - £40 for a meal in Edinburgh isn't too outrageous) verging on excellent. It's certainly in the top end of Edinburgh restaurants, and a fantastic venue - but not the best food I've ever had in Edinburgh, even if there were moments which shone.
ETA - closed in late 2012, owner/chef citing difficult market conditions.
Last edited by Jenbel; Dec 3, 2012 at 3:41 am
Jun 4, 2011, 1:56 pm
#37
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One of my favourites at the moment is The Dogs on Hanover Street (between Thistle St and Queen St). Hoorin' good honest scran. ^
http://www.thedogsonline.co.uk/index.html
http://www.thedogsonline.co.uk/index.html
Jun 4, 2011, 2:07 pm
#38
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Europe
Posts: 1,590
One of my favourites at the moment is The Dogs on Hanover Street (between Thistle St and Queen St). Hoorin' good honest scran. ^
http://www.thedogsonline.co.uk/index.html
http://www.thedogsonline.co.uk/index.html
Aug 19, 2011, 8:29 am
#41
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Glasgow, UK
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Posts: 2,196
Thanks to this thread (and Jenbel in particular), I had the pleasure of Wedgwood last week whilst on a short trip home to Edinburgh and it most definitely lived-up to expectations. The pigeon/haggis starter in particular was outstanding and the sticky-toffee pudding possibly the best I've every eaten. ^^
Aug 19, 2011, 10:12 am
#42
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Thanks for the feedback - it's always nice to hear that people are reading and using my reviews - and that the places subsequently live up to expectations
Which reminds me - La P'tit folie review to follow!
Which reminds me - La P'tit folie review to follow!
Aug 19, 2011, 10:20 am
#43
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La P'tit folie
On a very, very wet Festival evening, we sought an early dinner in La P'tit folie before moving onwards to see a show.
We turned up early - soaked to the skin by the rain which has plagued much of the festival this year, we had no problems getting our table due to the early slot.
A typically French menu - La P'tit folie is a bit of an Edinburgh institution, and so are the clients, judging from those present that night...
Hard to chose from menu, with a nice selection of starters and mains - while many of the French classics were missing, there was sufficient choice across the menu to make my moules (mmmm wonderful) win on the starter choice by a short head. Two of us opted for venison - a cheaper cut, cooked long and slow until melting away, very rich and almost impossible to finish what felt like half a deer. The steak ordered by our third was also beautifully cooked, with a lovely flavour and accompaniements also worked very well. Instead of wine, we stuck with cider - it's not often you get the proper Normandy/Brittany stuff
Somehow we were talked into a shared dessert - we went for the chocolate option, which turned out to be more cake like than expected, but was fabulous, rich and dark, with a good ice cream.
As we left the rather cramped restuarant, the smells arising from people's food... almost made us hungry all over again. But since we could barely walk....
We can see why it is an institution and it's happily added onto the list of 'restuarants I'll very happily to go back to' - even if the actual memory of the night is all about impressions through a cider haze.
We turned up early - soaked to the skin by the rain which has plagued much of the festival this year, we had no problems getting our table due to the early slot.
A typically French menu - La P'tit folie is a bit of an Edinburgh institution, and so are the clients, judging from those present that night...
Hard to chose from menu, with a nice selection of starters and mains - while many of the French classics were missing, there was sufficient choice across the menu to make my moules (mmmm wonderful) win on the starter choice by a short head. Two of us opted for venison - a cheaper cut, cooked long and slow until melting away, very rich and almost impossible to finish what felt like half a deer. The steak ordered by our third was also beautifully cooked, with a lovely flavour and accompaniements also worked very well. Instead of wine, we stuck with cider - it's not often you get the proper Normandy/Brittany stuff
Somehow we were talked into a shared dessert - we went for the chocolate option, which turned out to be more cake like than expected, but was fabulous, rich and dark, with a good ice cream.
As we left the rather cramped restuarant, the smells arising from people's food... almost made us hungry all over again. But since we could barely walk....
We can see why it is an institution and it's happily added onto the list of 'restuarants I'll very happily to go back to' - even if the actual memory of the night is all about impressions through a cider haze.