The Sun Inn, Eskbank: Restaurant Review

The Sun Inn proclaims itself to be Edinburgh's newest gourmet pub. Situated on the A7 near Newtongrange the building, next to Newbattle viaduct, is a landmark I remember from childhood journeys up to the city. It has recently changed ownership, and friends in Newtongrange suggested we go for a meal having read favourable reviews. We booked for a Saturday night and the restaurant was full.

Accommodation

Rooms are advertised from £60 but this appears to be for single rooms, according to the website; doubles look to be about £85 which for Edinburgh probably isn't that bad.

Wine List

An interesting list with a pretty good selection for a pub. They have a nice grüner veltliner but the red we wanted(a NZ Pinot Noir) had sold out over New Year. In the end we settled for a valpolicella which was drinkable. We could have gone for the odd 'trophy' wine - Cristal champagne or Corton Charlemagne for instance. I think it was this that put me off slightly: I don't want to pay £150 upwards for a bottle of wine in a pub, no matter how much of a gourmet pub it's trying to be. Leave that to established top-end restaurants, and perhaps spend the money instead expanding the wine list to include a few more choices.

Food

Very good pub food. The website gives a good idea of what's on offer, and the seafood we tried was excellent. For starters we tasted queen scallops, pate, smoked fish croquettes and langoustines: all were good. The mains consisted of perfectly cooked, good quality sirloin steaks with home made chips and a peppercorn sauce, and game casserole (complete with authentic shot) with barley lentils - both delicious and well cooked. For dessert we tasted a magnificent crème brûlée and a nice, but slightly less inspiring, sticky toffee pudding,

Overall Rating

Food: Excellent pub food - certainly a better selection that the Champany Inn Chop and Ale House, and I enjoyed my dinner here far more than lunch at Champany. Gourmet? Perhaps not quite. Wine list: Trying too hard. Price: pretty good - three 3 course meals, one 2 course meal and 2 bottles of wine worked out at £30 a head (not including tip) - not too shabby at all. Lunch prices are even cheaper.

If I lived in Newtongrange I would certainly go there often. Booking advised for dinner at least.