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bistro/ Edinburgh/ French/ restaurant/ review/ Scottish/ slow food

Review: Café St Honoré – A French gem with a Scottish Twist

Front of Cafe Saint Honore.
A wee bit of Paris, in Thistle Street Lane.

We visited Café St Honoré on a freezing spring evening, having been keen to experience this French-influenced exponent of “slow food” for a while. Despite the cold weather, the welcome was immediately warm as we stepped into the restaurant which, if you forget it is hidden just of Edinburgh’s Thistle Street, would be entirely at home in Paris’s Latin Quarter.

Café St Honoré specialises in using seasonal, locally-sourced produce to create bistro-style cuisine, and the passion of it’s chef-director Neil Forbes with this regard has lead to the establishment being rated as Scotland’s most sustainable eatery in 2012. As already mentioned Whilst the ambience of the restaurant is very obviously French, its insistence on using – wherever possible – Scottish ingredients creates an ‘Auld Alliance’ of classic cuisine français in combination with quality Scot’s flavours.

From the several alternatives available, we decided to go with the ‘café classics’ menu which provides diners with a choice from two options for each course and offers great value at £22.50 for starter, main and pudding. My partner opened proceedings with a dish of potato and herb dumplings with Highland Crowdie cheese which were, as anticipated, satisfyingly both herby and cheesy and provided a good balance of flavours. The real star of our first course, however, was my cullen skink which was packed with delicious smoked haddock and potatoes, all bathed in a luxurious creamy sauce that had assumed the smokiness of the fish during cooking.


Our mains were equally good, and whilst I again choose a very palatable fish-based dish of pan-fried coley with sautéed pink fir potatoes and greens, I almost wish I had joined my partner in sampling the venison casserole. This consisted of meltingly tender meat and vegetables cooked in a satisfyingly rich and flavoursome wine sauce.

For pudding we were unanimous in choosing the crème fraiche and sea buckthorn mousse, which was exceptional. The richness of the mousse was beautifully countered by the tartness of the sea buckthorn sauce with which it was topped, and the spring rhubarb jus in which it sat.

Add to the excellent food excellent service – which was extremely friendly, knowledgeable and attentive without being over-bearing – and a good wine list – we chose a very satisfying South American cabernet sauvignon – overall, we had a wonderful dining experience for a very reasonable £70 (excluding gratuity).

So if you are in Edinburgh and crave well cooked, French-inspired food that comes packed with local and seasonal flavours, you would be well advised to seek out Café St Honoré.

Food – 8/10
Atmosphere – 8/10
Service -8/10
Value – 8/10

Ambience – Expect a venue with a brasserie, to quality restaurant ambience.

[This review is based on one posted on Tripadvisor in March 2013]

Cafe St Honoré on Urbanspoon Square Meal

Edinburgh/ mezze/ Middle Eastern/ restaurant/ review

Review: Pomegranate – Make sure you get the “mezze” of this place…

Pomegranate restaurant's mezze.
Photo of mezze courtesy of Pomegranate’s website

I paid a second visit to Pomegranate in March 2013, having previously been there with friends at the end of 2012, and the experience was once again joyous. If you are a fan of middle-eastern cuisine – or even if you have never tried it before, but like good food, well served – I would recommend you dine at this restaurant.

Located at the top of Leith Walk, Pomegranate serves an excellent range of authentic Turkish and Arabian dishes with a contemporary twist. The menu includes kebabs, bamya (meat and okra stew) , and shawarma (grilled meat or vegetables, often served in a naan bread) . But the real star of their show is the selection of mezze – a sort of middle-eastern tapas, for those not in the know. My partner and I went for the set mezze for two people, which allows for a choice of six dishes from their extensive mezze menu, including two that are meat based – vegetarians will be delighted to hear the majority of their mezze dishes are meat free, and mouth-wateringly good.

Service was friendly and efficient, and the dishes arrived within 10 minutes of our order being taken, all at the same time and accompanied by a large naan bread that was fresh out the oven. All our mezze were delicious, but my particular favourite was soujuk – spicy Lebanese sausage sautéed in tomato, green pepper, garlic and chilli. As well as being delectable, the set mezze menu provides excellent value for money at £27 for two people. Combined with the fact that Pomegranate is BYOB and charges no corkage, a fantastic meal can be had without lightening one’s wallet to any great extent.


Anyone looking for a quiet dining experience should be aware that the restaurant is constantly busy, with décor to match. But if you hanker after an authentic middle-eastern meal that won’t cost a packet, make a bee-line for Pomegranate – you will not be disappointed.

Food – 7/10
Atmosphere – 6/10
Service -8/10
Value – 8/10

Ambience – Expect a venue with a café-esque ambience.

Pomegranate on UrbanspoonSquare Meal
[This review is based on one posted on Tripadvisor in March 2013]

Edinburgh/ restaurant/ review/ Spanish/ tapas

Review: La Mula Obstinada – An authentic tapas experience that certainly is no ‘donkey’

La Mula Obstinada Logo


Although I live in – and love – Edinburgh, I sometimes think I should have been born Spanish. I admire Spain’s culture and architecture, and am passionate about Spanish food – a much underrated cuisine in my book. Fortunately, Edinburgh has a smattering of Spanish-influenced eateries, albeit of variable quality and ambience. Portobello’s Malvarosa is intimate and serves great food, Cafe Andaluz is decent enough for a chain, and Barioja – well, sadly, it appears it may have seen better days, I’m sorry to say.

Now there is a welcome “nuevo adición” to Spanish dining in Edinburgh – La Mula Obstinada.  Situated in a slightly cavernous, former warehouse building on Leith’s Queen Charlotte Street, which was previously home to the Englishman, Scotsman and an Irishman bistro, this relative newcomer appears to be making a genuine effort to bring a little bit of Spanish warmth to Edinburgh’s chilly winter (and spring) evenings. 
The venue itself makes the most of its former warehouse credentials, combining whitewashed or bare stone walls with stripped wooden floors, all furnished with rustic-looking tables and chairs and archetypal Spanish art.  Squint, and it’s just possible to believe this is a former cigarette factory in Seville, as opposed to an old warehouse in Leith.
Service was friendly and efficient, and we were quickly seated and briefed on the dining experience ahead. As we had plumbed for the tapas “menu”, we were asked if we had any particular culinary dislikes or allergies before it was explained that the tapas consists of dishes largely prepared from fresh, seasonal ingredients.  It’s therefore not a case of choosing from a menu, instead partaking of whatever is ready to serve from the kitchen – which is reassuringly open to the dining area – at that particular moment in time.   It was very enjoyable seeing the chefs prepare an appetising array of tapas dishes which were then efficiently whisked to which ever dining tables had consumed their last delivery of delicious delights.
Tapas stalwarts like calamares fritos, patatas bravas, and albondigas (meatballs in a rich tomato sauce) were both excellent and authentic. But further offerings, such as the char-grilled mackerel fillets, fabada (a rich bean and meat stew), and chickpeas with spinach and beef, really stood out. And what’s more, having taken advantage of a special offer, our evening was also excellent value for money, not least because the dishes literally kept coming until we could consume no more.

Chatting with the Maitre D’ (who I think may have been the owner – wish I had asked) I wasn’t surprised to learn he was from Seville and that the rest of the restaurant staff are also Spanish. Having also sampled the tapas of Seville – the “spiritual” home of this particular cuisine – first hand recently, I would recommend La Mula Obstinada if you hanker after an authentic flavour of Spain during the long Scottish winter/spring (and even into the summer too).

Food – 7/10
Atmosphere – 7/10
Service – 7/10
Value – 8/10
Ambience – Expect a venue with a cafe-esque, to informal bistro, ambience. 
This review is based on one that was posted on Tripadvisor at the end of 2012. The restaurant has subsequently closed.

bar/ café/ drink/ Edinburgh/ farmers' market/ Feature/ food/ foodie/ recipes/ restaurant/ review/ slow food

Scrumptious Scran is born…

So, after (what is probably) years of threatening to set up a blog as a means of sharing my passion about food and drink, I’ve finally got my metaphoric finger out and Scrumptious Scran is now live. But why establish a food blog?

Well, anyone who knows me will be aware that I love food and drink. It doesn’t necessarily have to be sophisticated fare. What, for example, can compare to an egg, bacon and mushroom sandwich on sourdough bread, accompanied by a decent cup of coffee, to kick off a Sunday morning? But it has to be flavoursome and put together with care, attention and – hopefully – some passion.

Ideally, I also like the food I cook and eat to be seasonal, and sourced as locally as possible. I’m realistic, however, and know that it isn’t always possible to do a complete weekly shop at the likes of the terrific Edinburgh Farmers’ Market (more about this Edinburgh foodie institution in a later post on the blog). But my ideas about food do share much in common with those of the Slow Food Movement.

So what can be expected from Scrumptious Scran over the coming weeks, months and (hopefully) years? Well, my intention is for the blog to be a mixture of updates on how I’ve been ‘engaging’ with food and drink, including:

  • What I have been buying, and where from.
  • The recipes I have tried at home.
  • The restaurants, cafés and bars I have enjoyed (or even, not enjoyed).
  • The books, magazines and other blogs that have influenced my culinary perspective.

And, given the fact that it is nigh on impossible for one person to keep abreast of all the latest gastronomic developments, I will certainly be welcoming suggestions of any restaurants or products that might be worthy of a feature in the blog, via scrumptiousscran@gmail.com.

And so my literary, culinary journey begins! I look forward to hearing from those of you who follow its progress.

Chris

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