Horsehoe Inn, Eddleston: Restaurant Review

We went to the Horseshoe Inn a few months ago so I thought I'd post a quick summary of my impressions on the blog. Hopefully this can become a regular feature!

The Horseshoe Inn is a great restaurant set in an old Blacksmiths in Eddleston, just outside Peebles and about 30 miles south of Edinburgh on the A703. It won AA Restaurant of the Year 2007-2008, so we thought it was worth checking out.

Accommodation

The Horseshoe Inn is a "Restaurant with Rooms". At £50.00 per person per night they aren't cheap compared to B&Bs, but look to be a relatively good deal for a restaurant of its calibre compared to what other establishments charge. The only problem was the size of the room: whilst it was nicely furnished, it was quite small. Yes it has everything you could want - large bed, desk, TV, tea and coffee, ironing board etc, but it was all just a little bit cramped for the price. Also, the ensuite shower room was a little tired - a few cracked tiles, some unused rawl plugs - you get the idea. We've just had a new bathroom fitted though, so perhaps we were being hypercritical.

All in all staying there didn't add anything to the experience for us, but to be fair, the only reason we did stay was because it wasn't going to require us to remortgage the house.

Wine List

One thing you should know - we won't go anywhere (expensive) unless there's a decent wine list (preferably not that expensive) ... or it's BYO!

We started off with a bottle of Champagne on arrival: Delamotte NV, which is the second wine of Salon. Phenomenal value - so much so that a party (not us!) drank the restaurant dry that weekend. I would highly recommend it! I can't remember what wine we had with the main course, but we finished off with a lovely Beerenauslese Austrian sweetie.

A definite thumbs up for the wine list: great wine and some really good value bargains!

Food

This is, after all, the reason why we went in the first place! To start: snails, as I was being brave - interesting and good to try but I'm not sure I'd eat them again; followed by fillet and braised shoulder of beef, which was absolutely delicious; and the sweets were fabulous - lots of roasted bananas and chocolate, so right up my street.

What I especially liked was that there were lots of amouse bouche served between courses (including a pre-dessert!!) but it was all done in a way which was completely unpretentious.

Overall Rating

Great food served in a really nice restaurant with a relaxing atmosphere. Staff are friendly and knowledgeable too.

Value for money? £30 to £40 for 3 courses, but well worth it. Tip: save yourselves a few quid by staying in a B&B in Peebles and forking out for the short taxi ride!