What can you get for £50 nowadays?

Even a tank of petrol costs more than that.  But £50 can get you a 2 course meal for 2 including generous tip at A Room in Leith (bring your own wine).  So - the verdict? Excellent value for money!


Location

A Room in Leith is on Dock Place, just off Commercial Road. Some may remember it in it's past guise as 'The Waterfront'.  The setup is much the same as I recall from those days - a bar (Teuchters Landing) at the front, and the restaurant area in a conservatory like room at the back.  The location, especially on a sunny early spring evening, is great.  The restaurant itself is airy and rather lively, so if you are looking for an intimate meal you may be disappointed.  We thoroughly enjoyed it.

Wine List

I didn't really pay much attention to the wine list to be honest, although the Buitenverwachting Sauvignon Blanc caught my eye. You see the beauty of 'A Room in  ...' is that you can bring your own wine.  Corkage is £3 for wine and £4 for fizz.  We decided on a Felton Road Calvert 2008 Pinot Noir - and very nice it was too.

Food

The menu is not huge, but the choice is great.  Usually I end up having some kind of goats cheese tart, but thankfully there wasn't even a hint of goats cheese to be seen! Forced into being more adventurous I chose the (vegetarian) Haggis, Neeps and Tatties to start, whilst my husband selected the Stornoway black pudding scotch egg. The Haggis was elegant and tasty, and the mustard sauce a great accompaniment.   The scotch egg looked (and I am assured also tasted) fabulous.  The egg was perfectly runny, the black pudding perfect. And it was a large portion. I. was. jealous.

The mains again took some deciding. Would I be adventurous and go for the roast rabbit loin?  Or the monkfish?  Or the mixed grill of Pork? Would I be safe and plump for the Steak and Chips? Or the Chicken? In the end the Pan seared, spice encrusted monkfish on a bed of grilled asparagus, with chorizo won.  The 2nd main was the Black Isle lager battered North Sea haddie fillets with hand-cut chips, peas and tartare sauce.  Both the haddock and the monkfish were incredibly fresh, cooked perfectly and very tasty. The presentation for the monkfish was also impeccable.  As we started to eat the mains, we agreed we must come back here more often.  A side dish of al dente vegetables and boiled new potatoes accompanied the food.


No desserts, as we were tired from a weekend of walking and gardening. But so many to choose from!  How long will it be before we have to come back to try the Sticky Toffee Pudding?  Not long, I would guess.

Overall Rating

Excellent value food, great quality and lovely presentation. Service was also good, even though the restaurant was very busy. This was a meal which exceeded our expectations. We shall return.

Champany Inn - The Chop and Ale House

What better to do on an unexpectedly free weekend, when the sun is shining, than go out for lunch? A place that has been on our 'to visit' list for some time now has been the Champany Inn near Linlithgow (well, nearer Bo'ness). The main restaurant gained a Michelin star earlier this year (along with the Ballachulish House Hotel - which is stunning! A review to be posted here if I ever have the good fortune to revisit that establishment).

We did not go to the main restaurant, but to the Chop and Ale House. It's a traditional Scottish style of pub, with plenty of parking and easy access from the M9. The choice on the menu is excellent, with mains including burgers, steaks, chicken and fish. The puddings also looked good. Between us we polished off a burger with Stilton sauce, and a beef and lamb sausage, washed down with some Bellhaven Best.

The quality of the beef is key here, and the meat was excellent. Mains ranged from £8 to over £20 for some of the steaks. All in all a good atmosphere, attentive staff, and very good pub food. Excellent coffee to finish off with!

As well as the Ale house and restaurant, there is a third establishment on the premises: Champany Cellars - a gem of a shop with a huge selection of wine (about 20% of the restaurant wine list), which specialises in South African wines. The shop stocks a large selection of 'Cape Winemakers Guild' wines. Having been to South Africa and tasted a few Cape wines, we are huge fans of Kanonkop and bagged a bottle of 1999 Pinotage. It will be interesting to see how it compares to their standard bottling.

With the wine in the boot, we headed to Blackness for a wander round the castle, and then back to Edinburgh to finish digesting.

Overall Rating

A fine day out, a good pub and a fantastic wine shop - could this possibly be the best kept secret in Scottish wine? We may have to arrange a trip to the restaurant - what could be better than good quality steak and a huge wine list?? Oh the memories .... 96 Winery Road.