Features

Edinburgh restaurants

1 Jan 2007 by business traveller

The Witchery by the Castle

Castlehill, Royal Mile, tel +44 (0)131 225 5613, witchery.com

Right by the gates of the Castle, The Witchery is rated as Edinburgh's most romantic restaurant and is also ideal for schmoozing clients or awakening your inner Goth. The Witchery was created in a 16th-century building by owner James Thomson, and throughout there are strong echoes of the Auld Alliance. The restaurant itself is richly atmospheric with its oak-panelled walls, tapestries, mirrors, gilded leather screens and plethora of candles. An alternative setting, particularly for lunch, is the Secret Garden, a spacious room with tarot symbols on the ceiling which was created from a courtyard and in summer opens on to an elegant terrace. The emphasis in both dining areas is on food locally sourced (East Lothian asparagus, Buckie crab, oysters, wild salmon roasted in goosefat, Buccleuch beef, roast rump of Borders lamb and iced Grampian strawberry and balsamic vinegar ice cream parfait) and the wine list runs to almost 1,000 bottles. This is a restaurant with rooms, so you can overindulge if you wish, but there are only seven suites so they must be booked well in advance. A two-course menu at £12.95 is a great bargain for lunch or pre-theatre dining and offers such filling staples as fish pie, beef patty, and fried goose egg and chips.

Prices Light lunch or theatre supper menu (two courses) £12.95, à la carte £29-55 (three courses).
Opening hours Lunch 12-4pm, dinner 5.30-11.30pm Mon-Sun.

Oloroso

33 Castle Street, tel +44 (0)131 226 7614, oloroso.co.uk

The location is the thing here. Sited at the top of an office block, with a big bar, huge windows and a spacious terrace, it offers wrap-around views of the city. Lights snacks are served all day in the bar (and on the terrace in summer) and the extensive cocktail list attracts many a business pre-luncher or diner. Head chef Tony Singh combines local Scottish produce with Indian spices to produce a modern menu with an international flavour. There is a large grill selection (lots of Highland beef) and a separate canapé menu, while the à la carte choices feature starters such as smoked haddock and chive risotto with poached egg, or paneer fritters with onion, pomegranate and mint salad. Main courses may include rabbit with gruyere and mustard penne, roast cod in Parma ham with smoked haddock chowder, and the desserts are endearingly labelled "pastries" and feature such dishes as nectarine clafoutis with Florentine ice cream. The snack menu includes filling options such as gourmet nanzas (flat breads with tandoori chicken, garlic chicken or piri piri prawns), fish cakes, BLT, BET (bacon, fried egg, potato scone and brown sauce), the day's curry or a Highland beef burger (prices from £5.50 to £9.95). The wide-ranging wine list offers a great selection to suit all budgets, including a £50-plus selection for high-rollers.

Prices Three courses £33-38. Sunday lunch menu: two courses £15, three courses (including glass of wine), £19.95.
Opening hours Lunch 12-2.30pm Mon-Sat, 12.30-2.30pm Sun, dinner 7-10.30pm.

La Garrigue

31 Jeffrey Street, tel +44 (0)131 557 3032, lagarrigue.co.uk

Step just off the Royal Mile into 31 Jeffrey Street and be transported to the south of France. Chef/patron Jean Michel Gauffre married an Edinburgh girl, but his heart obviously belongs in his native Languedoc. The walls are pale lavender, the tables and chairs were designed by Tim Stead, and there is usually an exhibition of paintings on the walls. This is not an expensive restaurant, but the atmosphere can wrap you around like a warm blanket. It's a place that soothes and cossets, and with such a feel-good factor it's no surprise that it is a favourite with the local business community. The lighter lunch menu offers three choices at each course, such as smoked ham shank terrine with sauce gribiche, followed by pan fried sea bream with potato bouillabaisse, and pear tart. For dinner, choices can include soupe de poissons or gateau de crabe, followed by a hearty cassoulet au trois viandes – pork, lamb, duck and Toulouse sausage – or saddle of rabbit. Desserts are all £5 and include lemon tart or lavender-flavoured crème brûlée. Fans of genuine Gallic cuisine will also love the three new speciality menus, available at both lunch and dinner, which offer such traditional delights as consommé with marrowbone dumplings, veal pot au feu and bouillabaisse.

Prices Lunch menu: two courses £12.50, three courses £14.50. Dinner menu: two courses £21.50. Speciality menus: two courses £28.50.
Opening hours 12-2.30pm, 6.30-9.30pm.

Restaurant Martin Wishart

54 The Shore, tel +44 (0)131 553 3557, martin-wishart.co.uk

Centrally placed in the Shore development at Leith, a once gritty but now ultra-fashionable district of Edinburgh. A coolly modern interior with huge windows gives a view of water, ducks and the passing show – including Alexander McCall Smith when we were there – and provides a taste of the new-moneyed Edinburgh scene. Martin Wishart runs Edinburgh's only Michelin starred restaurant, and presumably he is ambitious to convert his one star into two, which explains why the service is faultless, the food wonderful, and the wine list varied and expansive enough to make this the place to celebrate doing the deal. The tasting menu (five courses for £55, six courses £60) is the one to go for if you want the full Martin Wishart experience, but the all-time bargain is the set lunch, which offers three courses for £20.50. Ingredients are locally sourced and organic where possible, and dishes may include a fabulously velvety pumpkin velouté or a tartlet of braised hare, followed by halibut with spatzle and a gratin of smoked eel or roast breast of guinea fowl with a wild mushroom risotto, while dessert could be a vanilla mousse millefeuille with citrus fruit. This is fine dining at its very best, with innovative menus and wonderfully clear, clean flavours – Martin Wishart certainly deserves his second star.

Prices Lunch menu (three courses) £20.50, dinner (three courses) around £40.
Opening hours Lunch 12-2pm Tues-Fri, dinner 7-10pm Tues-Sat.

Valvona & Crolla

19 Elm Row, tel +44 (0)131 556 6066; also at VinCaffè, Multrees Walk, tel +44 (0)131 556 1668; valvonacrolla.co.uk

A world contender in the prize-winning delicatessen field – if you want an Italian meal or something special to take home, this is the place to come. The deli at the front is an aromatic delight, with ceiling-high displays and counters of magnificent cheeses, sausages, oils, vinegars, coffee and breads. At the back is a well-stocked wine store and the café, which starts serving panetella and breakfast at 8am. The lunch menu and recommended wines change daily, but there is always a soup, antipasto, bruschettas, salads, at least three pasta dishes and pizzas, plus perhaps a dish of mixed roast vegetables, griddled lamb chops or calves liver, and desserts, all made with the finest-quality Italian ingredients. Valvona & Crolla is only open for dinner during the Edinburgh festival, but their new VinCaffè, just off St Andrews Square behind Harvey Nichols, is a great evening option. Here there is some produce for sale on the ground floor, with a café, and on the first floor a restaurant where a similar menu to that at Valvona & Crolla is offered, but including more main courses such as griddled Highland venison with wild mushrooms, Italian omelette with seasonal Cremini mushrooms and dried porcini, or pollo alla Milanese.

Prices Lunch at Valvona & Crolla (three courses) £20-25, dinner at VinCaffè (three courses) £25-38.
Opening hours Valvona & Crolla: café 8am-5pm Mon-Sat, 10.30am-4pm Sun; lunch 11.30am-3pm. VinCaffè: breakfast 10-11am Mon-Sat; lunch 12-3.15pm Mon-Sat; dinner 5-9.30pm Mon-Weds, 5-10.30pm Thurs-Sat.

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