The University of Edinburgh plays a big role in pretty much every district of Edinburgh but none more so than in the Southside. As well as being the centre of the Uni’s administrative offices and much of its teaching facilities, the Southside also houses a large chunk of the city’s student population.
Get your salsa on
This makes the Southside one of the most lively neighbourhoods in Edinburgh and one that has its fair share of bars, clubs and gig venues. If you are in the market for a buzzy night out then you need look no further than Boteco do Brazil on Lothian Street, next to Bristo Square.
With regular DJs and slinky salsa clubs operating on key nights of the week, it is perhaps not the place to take the parents for a quiet chat about why you are dropping out of your accountancy course. However, if you are looking for a vibrant atmosphere and some mouth-watering Brazilian specialities then you are in the right favela.
We like to kick off with a little plate of risoli de camarão, the prawn pastry parcels much enjoyed by party-goers on Brazilian beaches. Then it’s time for the Brazilian national dish of feijoada a traditional stew with black beans, pork ribs, smoked bacon, salt beef and smoked sausage served with rice, chilli salad, flavoured cassava flour and slices of orange.
Delicious as it is, we recommend that you leave room to investigate the cocktail list. Make ours a Banana Mamma, obrigado!
Gin-lover’s paradise
Just down the road on West Crosscauseway, 56 North is another bar and kitchen that can still kick it in the fiesta stakes but prefers a perhaps more elegant approach when it comes to having a good time. The gantry is a gin-lover’s delight and the bar staff are more than happy to talk fans through their astonishing range of Mother’s Ruin.
The food is just as diverse. The burger selection has plenty of fans while the innovative salads and stuffed flat breads offer lighter options. Alternatives include dishes of pan-fried chicken wrapped in Parma ham and fish ‘n’ chips in a crispy Peroni batter. The booth seats are cosy in winter while the outdoor seating is always busy during the sunny months.
Neighbourhood bistros
][3]Moving away from bars, the Southside has a good array of friendly, neighbourhood bistros that offer thoughtful, honest cooking at reasonable prices. One of the most recent arrivals is Sylvesters, a family-run affair on West Nicholson Street.
Launched in the summer of 2013, Sylvesters is very handy for shows at the Festival Theatre and the Queen’s Hall. Many of the dishes have a Med flavour to them. Think along the lines of wild rabbit, pancetta and thyme ravioli in a truffle cream sauce or the pan-fried fillet of hake with steamed mussels and a parsley cream sauce with capers.
Modern Scottish dishes
If Sylvesters is the comparative new kid on the Southside block then Blonde is the wise old veteran. It opened its doors in 2000 and has welcomed diners into its light, blonde wood interior ever since. The food is modern Scottish/European.
On the plate this means dishes such as the grilled mackerel fillet with a salad of green beans, smoked salmon and capers; boiled eggs and jalapeno sour-cream or croquettes of Stornoway black pudding and pork belly served with a beetroot and apple relish.
Family-run restaurant
Over on Causewayside, Hewat’s Restaurant has been around for a decade – no mean feat in Edinburgh’s competitive restaurant scene. Another family-run restaurant, Hewat’s menus offer modern Scottish dishes such as Stornoway black pudding with haggis risotto and crispy pancetta or the roast tenderloin of boar with braised pork belly, apple compote, crackling, pulled pork and black pudding mash served with Savoy cabbage and chorizo.
Hewat’s is also very convenient for the Queen’s Hall and they offer a pre-theatre menu along with other choices such as a mid-week menu and an early bird menu.
Arrive by helicopter
Some Southside restaurants create their own theatre and they don’t come much more theatrical than Rhubarb at Prestonfield House. Housed in a 17th century, five star hotel, Rhubarb is a decadent, sumptuous and opulent Regency dining room.
It is one of the few restaurants around these parts which have the facilities for guests to arrive by helicopter. We suspect that it’s the only restaurant in Edinburgh where diners can look out of the window and spot the house peacocks stalking around the grounds.
Originally home to the Provost of Edinburgh, the A-listed building has been a hotel for some 50-60 years. Edinburgh restaurateur James Thomson, who also has The Witchery and The Tower, gave the place a new lease of life when he relaunched it in 2004.
A list guests
Famous guests over the years have included Margaret Thatcher, Winston Churchill, Lauren Bacall, Elton John, the Dali Lama and Oliver Reed – presumably not all on the same night, although that would have been quite some party.
As you might imagine, the launch party for the new venture was not a quiet affair. The entire cast of the 2004 MTV Music Awards were in the house. Beyonce, Shirley Manson, Vin Diesel, Bryan Ferry and Joan Collins are said to number among its many fans.
The decor in the hotel is an eye-opener. Walls are covered in leather, silk and velvet. Fine art and antique furnishings populate the rooms. Tatler noted that a stay at Prestonfield was like ‘living in one of Vivienne Westwood’s dresses’.
Elaborate dishes
The dishes are as elaborate as the decor. A watercress soup is described as ‘chilled watercress velouté served with Russet Burbank potato, crème fraîche and radish, soft-boiled quail’s egg and Hebridean salted caviar’. Guinea fowl is free range and butter-poached before being served with a confit leg pastille, Medjool date and red onion purée plus spiced couscous and preserved lemon.
The menu at Rhubarb also features some of the most intricate vegetarian dishes available in the capital. A dish with the simple title of ‘Cauliflower’ features caramelised cauliflower cannelloni, a carrot and golden raisin purée, sprouting broccoli, toasted almonds and a vegetarian Parmesan velouté.
And why is it called Rhubarb? Apparently Prestonfield was the first estate in Scotland to propagate the fleshy rhizome way back in the 18th century.