Edinburgh’s Haymarket has long been home to many an interesting restaurant and the recent, rather eye-catching refurb of the railway station has played a part in encouraging new businesses to set up there.
The Jolly Botanist is taking shape in the former Spider’s Web on Morrison Street while other newcomers include the South African braai specialists Shebeen and Rosario Sartore’s Locanda de Gusti which has just re-opened after a fire at the start of August.
Welcoming Italian restaurant
Mia is also establishing itself as a favourite for Dalry diners after launching towards the end of last year. An inviting Italian restaurant, it is open seven days a week, from morning until late and serves coffees and cakes, lunches and dinners.
As well as an a la carte menu, Mia offers a daily changing lunch menu. The hot and cold starters include choices such as calamari, king prawns pan-fried in Sambuca and platters of fresh buffalo mozzarella and Italian cured meats.
The wide selection of pasta and pizza dishes is always popular. Fish lovers will enjoy browsing the pesce selection: the mixed seafood selection includes sea bass, swordfish, tuna, langoustine, tiger prawns and squid. Veal in a Marsala sauce, the mixed grill and the sirloin steak all have their fans.
Innovative, globe-trotting dishes
Named after a tiny village in Wester Ross and located on Dalry Road, First Coast has long been a solid anchor for the area’s restaurant lovers. Opened in the early Noughties, this popular, neighbourhood bistro has survived the lean years and thrived in the boom years by always offering innovative dishes which have kept up with culinary fashions without ever being achingly trendy.
Their current sample menu lists starters like a squid and cod burger or ox cheek served with a shallot puree and gremolata breadcrumbs. Their Thai marinated chicken salad is often singled out for praise in reviews and their many veggie dishes like the deep-fried cauliflower, pistachio dukkah and preserved lemon cous cous show real creativity.
In the unlikely event of ever being bored by the usual menu, they also run regular regional nights where the kitchen focuses on the cuisine of a particular country or the dishes of one area in a given country.
Taste the Caribbean
If you enjoy taking your taste buds on tour when you eat out then Edinburgh River Life should be on your to-do list. The chef patron is Mario Leon Caneval whose background on Guadeloupe helps explain his passion for Caribbean and French Provencal cuisine.
The a la carte menu leans more towards French cooking than Caribbean and offers dishes like the seafood bisque, warm goat’s cheese salad and confit duck leg. At the same time, diners have the option to sail off to the Caribbean with choices like the boneless goat curry.
On Wednesday nights, Edinburgh River Life also runs a Caribbean buffet which features, among other dishes, char grilled jerk chicken legs, a Caribbean oxtail ragout and fish cooked with coconut and coriander. A BYOB policy and no corkage charge keep the bill down.
Scottish steaks and gaming chips
Another, perhaps unconventional choice, is Fahrenheit Bar and Grill, part of Gentings Casino at Fountainbridge. Don’t worry, you don’t need to know your punto banco from your busted flush to fit in here. In fact, diners don’t need to go anywhere near the gaming tables to enjoy a meal at Fahrenheit.
The open kitchen specialises in Scottish steaks but there are plenty of other choices, many of which feature locally sourced ingredients. On a previous visit, your blogger enjoyed a very good venison loin here.
Sticky BBQ pork belly, herb-crusted racks of lamb and a seared sea bass fillet all feature on the current menu. The desserts are a cut above. Typical choices might be the lime and ginger scented cheesecake with blueberry and gin compote or the banana and rum crème brûlée with shortbread.
The restaurant regularly runs set menu offers which include a bet and a drink. Another attraction is the late hours. Gamblers are not known for keeping 9-5 hours and the Fahrenheit kitchen remains open until 2am midweek and until 3am at the weekends. Useful, if you have just emerged, ravenous, from a late night screening in the nearby cinema at Fountainbridge.
An Orkney table
Keeping more conventional hours, Skerries Restaurant is part of Dunstane House Hotel on West Coates. Named after some of Scotland’s most northerly islands, the restaurant uses the best produce available from the Highlands and Islands.
In particular, it is the natural larder of Orkney and Shetland which provide many of the fireworks in this elegant restaurant. From blue shell Shetland mussels to 28-day, dry aged Orkney steaks, Skerries gives diners a real taste of the islands. For a complete blowout, treat yourself to the seafood platter with lobster.
Skerries Restaurant is also very popular with rugby fans looking for both pre and post match meals after games at Murrayfield. As you might imagine, booking is essential.
Contemporary pub classics
The Bothy Restaurant and Drinkery is another establishment much relished by visitors to Murrayfield. After a recent refurbishment, it is also making big efforts to win a place in the hearts and minds of local residents.
Children are welcome and there is a range of child-friendly activities such as kiddies’ ceilidhs, storytelling sessions and crafts workshops designed to attract nippers and their parents. For the adults, there is regular live music, a book club, drinks master classes, a pub quiz and, of course, lots of sports on the big screens. When the sun is shining, the south-facing beer garden is understandably popular.
Open 9am to midnight, seven days a week, The Bothy has a menu that fits most occasions. Whether you want a breakfast of eggs Benedict; a steak and onion baguette at lunch or a three course evening meal, The Bothy has the goods.
The dishes tend to be contemporary pub grub favourites, often with a Scottish emphasis. This means starters such as Cullen skink, haggis balls or chicken liver parfait, wrapped in Parma ham and served on oaties.
Haggis burgers, steak and ale pie; tiger prawn linguini and, of course, fish and chips are all prominent on the menu here.
The drinks menu runs to eleven pages and covers craft ales, popular draught ales, extensive wine choices and a selection of classic and new cocktails.
The Bothy Restaurant and Drinkery also offers tutored wine and whisky tastings as well as cocktail making master classes. Cleverly, the menu features flights of wine, beer and whiskies – a good way to try smaller servings of several drinks without breaking the bank or falling over.
For more dining options across Edinburgh, check out 5pm Dining’s restaurants offers for the restaurants above and much more here.