Restaurant Review: The Vintners Rooms

And so it transpired that it was time to go out for a special meal somewhere. But where? We researched every restaurant in Edinburgh we could think of, as we really wanted to go somewhere new: once again The Kitchin's menu did not appeal - there's always so much that I don't want to eat; Oloroso, where I have been wanting to go for a long time now, failed to impress on the website; the time was not quite right for The Witchery (you can have too much of a good thing); Martin Wishart doesn't even make our shortlist (we've been once and had 'the experience' but didn't particularly enjoy it - the experience that is - the food was great).

A couple of places appealed to me: The Stockbridge almost made it - the food looked good, but the winelist didn't really impress too much - its definitely made my lunch list though; Wedgewood also looks good, although don't expect too much from the 'private wine cellar'...

But in the end none of the restaurants we looked at could dislodge The Vintners Rooms from prime position. We've been before, we'll probably go again, and we had a great meal there this weekend.

Wine List

The Vintner Rooms is situated in a building steeped in wine history, with wine trading going on at The Vaults since the 15th century. Raeburns supplies at least some of the wines on the wine list, and it is excellent. This time we had a 1999 Bandol - full of great flavours, but slightly alcoholic towards the end. This was our first old Bandol and I'm sure it won't be our last.

Food

I place a lot of store by a website, and one thing which impresses me is that the menu on The Vintners Rooms website is completely up to date. Now as I don't dine there every night, this may be coincidence, but I don't think so. We had a Trilogie of Foie Gras (seared, pâté and soup) and Sauteed Scallops with Whisky, Smoked Haddock and Brown Shrimp Risotto. The Foie Gras was excellent, although a little rich (entirely to be expected - I should have chosen the goats cheese!) and the scallops, including the risotto, similarly well received. For mains we had Rack of Lamb with Aubergine Caviar and Pommes Dauphine, and Roast Aberdeen Angus Fillet with a Perigord Truffle Sauce. I have to say that the rack of lamb was perhaps the best I have had in this country (the only one to surpass it being a rack of New Zealand lamb in Whitianga ... melt in the mouth). The Fillet was of an equally high standard, and the truffle sauce was gorgeous.

What followed was a lesson in how to serve dessert. My Dark and White Chocolate Fondant with Pistachio Ice Cream was perfection on a plate: the fondant was meltingly gorgeous, the pistachio ice cream my favourite, and the brandy snap basket and caramelised grapefruit just heavenly extras. My partner had Coffee Crême Brûlée with Iced Whisky Truffle, which he assures me is better than mine (!) and he left me none to try ...

Overall Rating

If I was being picky I would say that I would like to have had a choice of bread, and perhaps olives with stone in are not the thing to serve in a restaurant. But I am not being picky, and I didn't go to the Vintner Rooms to have walnut bread or suchlike. The food was excellent, the desserts superlative, the wine list very, very good, and the atmosphere welcoming and convivial. The main dining room is an intimate candle-lit affair with 18th century decorative plasterwork and I can think of fewer more appealing restaurants in Edinburgh.

If you want a special meal without going through the full circus of a Michelin star restaurant, then get yourself down to The Vintner Rooms now. You will not regret it.

Kushis to Open in Leith

Exciting news - According to Bite's April issue, Kushi's are to open up a new restaurant in Leith, on Dock Place. I can't find an opening date but a colleague will undoubtedly get an invite to the opening night, so I will find out. Given my recent experience of eating Indian in Leith I am very happy.

I've only ever had good food and service there in the past, although if you read reviews on the List, you may find differing opinions. When it opens it will be reviewed!

Restaurant Review: Britannia Spice

Britannia Spice has been reaping national curry awards pretty much since it opened in 1998, and it also just happens to be my local indian restaurant, although I hadn't been in for a meal for some time. However, last night's experience was far from pleasant, and I don't think I will be returning, which saddens me.

The good points (decent prices, good starter) were far outweighed by the bad - the worst moment of all coming when a friend cut open some chicken to find it completely raw. I have to assume this was a genuine mistake, and it was only the 1 piece, but all the main courses were indicative of an overall fall in cooking standards. Anyway, I guess a formal write-up is still merited ...

Food

Poppadoms were served pretty quickly, with a good selection of accompaniments. This was just as well, because it took a further 45 minutes before anyone would take our food order, although drinks did arrive before that. The starters were as good as I remembered: a selection of pakora, kebabs, and my favourite murgh chandi tikka. So far so good (apart from elapse time ...).

Now I am not a veteran curry eater, tending to be conservative in my choices, but one of my indian colleagues had recommended biriyani to me as a great dish to try. Sure enough my first taste of it at Kushis was fantastic, with a delicate mix of spice. The biriyani here, however, was awful: a huge mound of rice with little flavour and a bit more chicken (or prawn), served with a bland vegetable curry. The best any of us could say about it was that it was edible - not enjoyable though. At least it was edible, which is more than can be said for the chicken shashlik - the aforementioned raw chicken appearing early on in the dish. Other mains, including lamb jalfrezi, seemed to fall into the 'edible' category.

Overall Rating

Whether it was the huge delay at the start, the raw chicken, or the disappointing biriyanis, none of us enjoyed the meal on what was supposed to be a relaxing night out catching up with family. To be balanced, there was a large table next to us who were raving about their meal - perhaps we got unlucky. Whatever the reason, there are plenty other Indian restaurants in Edinburgh, and I won't be rushing back to Britannia Spice. If you've had a better experience, let me know!