Soon-to-open Casa de Mara will feature home-style Spanish cooking.

Rapidly taking shape on Edinburgh’s Eyre Place, Casa de Mara is a new Spanish restaurant.

The brainchild of Barcelona-born Mara, it promises menus inspired by his mum’s home cooking.

Breaking with recent tradition – at least for many Spanish restaurants in Scotland – Casa de Mara doesn’t seem to be a tapas restaurant.

Instead, it will offer a lunchtime menu del dia and a more fantoosh a la carte menu.

This blogger makes no claims to be an expert on Spanish cooking but the Casa de Mara menus stand out from the crowd.

Casa de Mara: a la carte

The main courses on the a la carte include slow-cooked pig’s trotters; pork and beef meatballs served with squid and fish dishes such as hake with olive oil, onions and parsley.

Prices are very wallet-friendly. Three courses on the a la carte will come in at around £20-£25 plus drinks.

The three course menu del dia is £9.95. Of course, that £9.95 could be terrible value if the cooking is dreadful or the ingredients poor.

However, the menu del dia features ingredients such as mussels, hake and a pork, lentil and chorizo combo.

Not luxury products but ingredients well suited to a keenly priced lunch.

We’re intrigued.

Apparently, Mara set up home in Edinburgh after falling in love with its mist and rain.

With the weather promising ice, sleet and high winds in the next few days, this blogger has some reservations about Mara’s judgement.

Right now, we would happily swap a grey Edinburgh for a sunny Barcelona.

Perhaps a plate of chicken casserole flavoured with nutmeg, prunes and brandy will make things feel distinctly less frosty?

According to his website, one of Mara’s main ambitions for his new venture is that his mum will like it.

That seems as good a reason as any to open a restaurant. The 5pm Dining blog wishes Casa de Mara every success.