Scotsman Review
Our criteria 
  • Ambience - It's important that a restaurant is inviting. We rate the decor, comfort and atmosphere.
  • Drink - Is the wine or cocktail list as exciting as the food, or does it fall short? Same goes for soft drinks. 
  • Food - We judge dishes on flavour, but also use of produce, cooking skill and presentation
  • Service - The staff and pace of a meal can make or break a meal out.
  • Value - From the food on the plate to service and surroundings, we check that you get what you're paying for.
Ambiance
8/10
Food
8/10
Total
0%
October 22, 2019

The Scottish Cafe & Restaurant, Edinburgh, restaurant review

The food and decor at the newly refurbished Scottish Cafe & Restaurant doesn't disappoint, says Gaby Soutar

I’m always a bit nervous about reviewing any of the Contini family’s operations.

I edit Carina’s monthly recipe in The Scotsman Magazine. If I had to criticise any of their restaurants, which include Cannonball Restaurant & Bar and Contini George Street, she could so easily take sweet revenge.

If she lumped in spellos and non sequiturs, missed a deadline and a few oven temperatures and chucked in random ingredients, put tsps instead of tbsps, it could make life very tricky for me.

Anyway, I’m taking my chances and dropping by, as this decade-old place has had a recent refurbishment, as part of the £22 million redevelopment of the National Galleries of Scotland, due to be completed in 2021.

While the works continue, you access the restaurant through a sliding window entrance rather than the atrium, which makes you feel a bit like an opportunistic cat burglar breaking into someone’s conservatory, and lets a chilly draught into the space. This is just temporary, and we’re pretty hardy, though we did have to move tables.

Gone are the tartan textiles and sagey lettuce hues. Now it’s all on one level, there are lapis-coloured pillars, and bright Fire Thistle velvet wall fabric, in vibrant Skittles colours, by clever young Scottish designer Mairi Helena. I liked it before, but this look gives the space a bit more personality.

Although they’ve kept their lovely staff and most of their classic dishes, the menu has been tweaked too.

You could just have a filled Aberdeen buttery for lunch, but we went for the appealing-looking two courses for £22 option.

My Belhaven salmon was breezy, with a vortex-like swirl of silky fish, and a few subtle accessories, like pinkie rings of pickled onion, green and delicate dill tuille shards, and buttons of Katy Rodger’s crème fraîche, as smooth as the movements of Raeburn’s Skating Minister.

We also snaffled the Eyemouth crab, which was sandwiched between two pieces of “French toast”, which seemed like ordinary toast to us, and came with a moon of lush harissa-injected mayonnaise. Pleasant, but mains were more exciting.

8 easy recipes for Easter - including perfect roast potatoes, Good Friday fish and chocolate cocktails

I had a soft slab of Ramsay of Carluke pork belly, which was draped with a bubbly and amorphous puff of beige crackling.

There was also some pak choi, a bank of “pickled gooseberries” (a bit like a nice tangy chutney) and a splash of rich jus, all flanked by three quenelles of fluffy Phantassie carrot purée, as orange as an Oompa Loompa’s foundation.

The rump of lamb was a beaut, too. It came with a few more interesting accoutrements.

There was a cross section of lightly toasted torched Romanesco, like Peter Rabbit had dropped his fag in Signore McGregor’s garden, cauliflower purée, cabbage and a crumbly dukkah with pistachios, mint and cocoa nibs. Yes please.

We squeegeed up the various sauces and purées with a side of giant hand-cut chips (£4.50). They seemed to be missing the billed herb salt, but did come with a pot of slick black garlic aioli, which was way more interesting than mayo.

Edinburgh’s Kilted Donuts are popping-up at Bonnie & Wild Food Hall for Easter

Their pudding of chocolate tart (£7) was rather good, with a four inch high mousse-y Valrhona 70 per cent filling that had a nice tang to lift the sugaryness. The accompanying praline ice-cream was pleasant, on a handful of chocolate soil, though a bit freezer burnt and ice crystally. We should have Sensodyne-d up.

We’d also gone for one of their cakes, since they looked so bonnie.

Sadly, the sponge part of the banana cake with ground almonds, butterscotch and caramelised hazelnuts (£4) was a bit heavy. It was rather like the bricks monkeys might use on a primate-themed episode of Grand Designs. We did like the huge minarets of caramel-drizzled icing on top, though, and the nuts and sugary crumbles that nestled in the gaps.

Phew, it’s great as always here, and looks beautiful. I knew it would be. Never had any shred of a doubt.

(Carina: your copy is due next week).

Why do we eat fish on Good Friday? Christian meat abstinence explained - and recipes for fish and chips at home

The Scottish Cafe & Restaurant Edinburgh

Scottish National Gallery, The Mound, Edinburgh

(0131-225 1550, www.contini.com)

 

Gaby Soutar is a lifestyle editor at The Scotsman. She has been reviewing restaurants for The Scotsman Magazine since 2007 and edits the weekly food pages.
Copyright ©2024 National World Publishing Ltd
Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy Policy
crosschevron-down linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram