Photo of
April 20, 2012
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Edinburgh’s Sheraton by night

Spring is in the air and new restaurants are opening up like little cherry blossoms. Aaaah!

First up, we should mention Edinburgh’s Sheraton which held a very lavish relaunch bash last night. The hotel’s old Santini restaurant has closed and been replaced by One Square, a rather funky bar and restaurant.

The blog was treated to a tour of the new kitchens last night and very swish they were too. It wasn’t quite as hi-tech as the flight deck of the USS Enterprise but nor was it far off. We’ll give you a lot more detail as soon as we get our paws on some decent pics.

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Turquoise Thistle in Edinburgh’s new Hotel Indigo

Sticking with Edinburgh, a new Hotel Indigo has opened on York Place roughly a year after the international hotel chain opened its first venture in Glasgow.

In Glasgow, the hotel has the Limelight Bar and Grill. In Edinburgh, the restaurant is called the Turquoise Thistle and you can browse its menus on 5pm here.

It’s only a hop, skip and a jump from the Playhouse which means it could see a lot of pre and post theatre custom.

On the other side of the M8, Cranachan Cafe has expanded from its Princes Square location and opened a second outlet in the West End’s Cresswell Lane.

Setting up shop in the premises formerly occupied by Rudi’s, Cranachan serves fabulicious lunches, cakes, coffees and sarnies. Check out the 5pm Big Deal next Tuesday when we will be running an offer on the new Cranachan’s afternoon teas. Think gourmet sandwiches, scones with whipped cream, macaroon and loose leaf tea.

Very briefly, we’ve also learned that the marvelous Raconteur cocktail bar in Stockbridge is relocating to the cellar at 80 Queen Street. On a similar tip, The Saint in Stockie is no more but look out for The Last Word Saloon which is scheduled to open on the 1st of May.