Plumed Horse - Best Restaurant in Scotland?

Leith Michelin starred restaurant The Plumed Horse has just been named AA Scottish Restaurant of the Year 2009-2010. You can see the full results from Monday's award ceremony here.

Is it the best restaurant in Scotland? You tell me, as I've not been (yet) although it is creeping higher up my list and we nearly went there last night. Instead we ended up at the Champany Inn - review to follow shortly.

Another winner was The Cross at Kingussie, which got the gong for best wine list - I think this has also just made it onto our 'must go to' list.

Restaurant Review: Cafe Andaluz

With La Tasca seemingly offering a permanent 50% discount on food, could any other tapas bar beat it? I hoped so, because whilst La Tasca is great value, the quality of the food has much room for improvement. So it was with great hope and expectation that I arrived at Cafe Andaluz on George Street, having salivated over the menu a few times whilst waiting for a bus home.

Wine List

OK, we've already established that if you want a cheap tapas night, go to La Tasca. Which is just as well, because the wine here ain't cheap. £18 for a house wine, Siglo crianza, which you can buy in the shops for £7, is expensive. I think La Tasca offers the same wine cheaper (but they don't have their list online so I couldn't confirm this). Other than that the list is limited, but offers a really good selection of styles, including a priorat at £55 and some gran reservas. No vintages are mentioned on the menu, so you'd have to ask to be sure of what you are paying for.

Food

There were six of us in total, and we polished off 2 set menus and a couple of other dishes between us. A menu for two is recommended, but you'd have to be seriously hungry to finish all that between you. The choice was excellent though, and the food fantastic.

From the start, when we were served fresh bread, great olive oil and olives which were so tasty I found myself eating the black ones (which I usually don't like), I knew exactly why I would be coming back here rather than returning to La Tasca - the food is delicious!

We then tucked into a vast array of dishes, including mushrooms in wine and garlic sauce, tiger prawns, tortilla, very spicy patatas bravas, and very smelly goat's cheese and marmalade.

Dishes to highlight for me included the chorizo and the battered chicken. But the star dish of the evening, selected on a friends recommendation, was the chorizo and black pudding - this is a very rich dish, so best shared between a few people!

Overall Rating

Cheap food or great food? Limited menu or a choice including some dishes you certainly won't have tried before? Crammed tables or a bit more space?

The atmosphere at both La Tasca and Cafe Andaluz is equally as good, but the food is infinitely better at the latter establishment. Now I know why the food is always discounted at La Tasca - I'd rather go out less often and pay more. Cafe Andaluz is my new tapas destination in Edinburgh, and I can't wait to go back!

Restaurant Review: Wok and Wine

I'm not ashamed to say up front that Wok and Wine is a huge favourite of mine, so I was looking forward to visiting it last night, as I hadn't been for a while. I'm pleased to say that once again it loved up to my expectations!

Wine List

A great range of reasonably priced and very drinkable wine (although the website is slightly out of date - both range and price).

Food

There were seven of us eating last night, so we were able to order a good selection of starters. For those who have eaten there before, it goes without saying that the chicken moneybags were almost an automatic choice for some (including myself) - minced chicken in a coconut cream, deep fried in filo pastry: delicious! Also on the menu was a won-ton platter, thai fish cakes (spicy but lovely), chicken and corn soup, deep fired aubergine, and a starter sized king prawns in black bean sauce: the prawns were perfectly cooked.

The main courses were of an equally high standard: shredded duck, beef udon, chicken and cashew, whole sea bass steamed with ginger and spring onion, crispy beef, and, the star of the show for me, sizzling hong kong style beef.

Overall Rating

Great service: very attentive and friendly, all the staff seem genuinely happy to be serving you. Excellent food. Lovely basement restaurant, clearly full of return customers. They also operate a takeaway service. Highly recommended.

Tailend, Take Away

A short post on what is rumoured to be the best fish and chip shop in Edinburgh. The Tailend is a restaurant and a traditional chip shop - 2 separate rooms keep the queue at the fish bar away from the diners.

We decided to eat at home, so popped out for a takeaway. 3 Haddock Suppers, and 1 Scampi supper, we headed home. The haddock was freshly cooked and very tasty, the chips were also cooked to order and not greasy. The only disappointment was the scampi: it came in a packet, frozen. In fairness to the restaurant they didn't try to hide the fact as they poured the fish straight from the packet into the oil. When it was eventually unwrapped, the batter was overcooked and dark brown.

Overall Rating

Pretty good for a chippy, but considering their emphasis on fresh fish, I was very disappointed to get frozen. Recommendation: ask about the scampi before you decide to buy it. The fresh fish, however, was very good.