Glasgow has been busy with lots of recent and imminent openings but Edinburgh’s restaurateurs have not been asleep at the wheel.
On Picardy Place, The Fiddlers Elbow (they missed out the apostrophe, not me) has opened on the former Sherlock Bar site. The building has seen a lot of traffic over the last couple of years with a number of new ventures setting up shop seemingly overnight and then closing just as quickly.
The Fiddlers Elbow is pinning its hopes on live folk music and traditional Scottish dishes; ie haggis.
Downstairs seems to have been devolved to the WaWa Chinese restaurant/noodle bar; a development which hasn’t impinged on the ever lively GHQ club next door.
Another start-up, albeit one which the blog has come across a little later than most, is the new branch of Henri which has opened on Raeburn Place in Stockbridge.
The Henri Deli in Morningside has been a popular spot, especially for French goodies, for years but, since June, a bigger second branch has been trading in Morningside.
Unlike the Henri in the south of the city, the new branch also features a cafe and wine bar.
The café serves coffee to sit in or take away from 9am and a range of breads, pastries, sweet and savoury tarts as well as gateaux and macaroons.
There is also a wide and changing selection of wines by the glass and platters of mixed charcuterie and cheese to enjoy from the deli counter.
As well as cheese, which they excel at, Henri supplies all sorts of delish French ingredients to top Edinburgh restaurants such as 21212, Martin Wishart, The Honours and La Garrigue.
They have just got the first of this season’s consignment of Vacherin cheese in; news which has got the blog very hot and bothered.