Edinburgh, City of
Le Di-vin Winebar

Le Di-vin Winebar

9 Randolph Place, Edinburgh, City Of, United Kingdom, EH3 7TE, Edinburgh, City of

Wine • Kebab • Tapas • French


"Le Di-Vin wine bar sits next to and behind La P’tite Folie in Tudor House and is part of the same family. With its double-height ceiling and muted colour scheme, it’s an elegant space. I celebrated a birthday there a couple of years ago, on the mezzanine in the back. It was a great place to be as it was private enough for a party, but inherits the buzz of the wine bar. Last week, C. and I went to Le Di-Vin to try their new sharing plates. I’ve mentioned before that I like a good sharing plate. I also like a good bottle of wine. Le Di-Vin gives you both. We ordered a bottle of Yalumba Riesling, which turned out to be a favourite of our server who has spent some time at the Yalumba vineyard. Furnished with cool glasses of flavoursome, straw-coloured wine, we had a few pieces of bread, and chatter while we waited for the first platter. On a Wednesday night, colleagues and couples out to share a bottle or to relax over a glass of wine sit at tables or lounge at the Le Di-Vin bar. Wine is why people go here. There’s a varied and interesting wine list with a good selection of wines by the glass. The clientèle is mixed with a good blend of business people and more casual drinkers. I was really impressed with the range of flavours and textures that the sharing platters offered. The first platter or planchette as it is on the menu, we had was a delicious mix of charcuteries. C. stuck to the olives and bread while I indulged in a very good rillette on a crunchy crouton, Italian ham with herbs, Jésus de Pays Basque, Parma ham, saucisson de Pyrénées and chorizo. It was all delicious – the Italian ham moist and flavoursome, sweet in comparison to the rich chorizo and melting Parma ham. I hadn’t had Jésus de Basque before. ‘Jésus’ refers to the way the meat is swaddled in the skins like ‘a baby Jesus’ and you get them from all over France. The saucisson was also very good. The thin slices had a clear white rind, like a salami, and a robust scent and flavour that I really enjoyed. C. joined me when the cheese was brought out. Le Di-Vin serve cheese that is good and ready so what’s on the board will differ from week to week. We shared Tomme de Savoie – a favourite of mine – goats cheese, Livarot, Brie de Meaux, Cheddar and Morbier. Grapes, apricot chutney from Bute, and oatcakes accompanied the cheese. After Herve Mons talk at the Talking Chefs event, I spend more time feeling and sniffing cheese before eating it. Good cheese, like chocolate, melts in the mouth and I particularly like one that wraps itself around your back teeth. The cheeseboard was relatively mild, but had an interesting range of flavours: Livarot is a washed rind cows-milk cheese that has a whiff of the barnyard if you sniff it hard. It melts in the mouth and has a nice rind. The brie was wonderful. Completely ripe, with snap in the rind and strong, clean mushroom flavours. The Morbier had a firm rind, a delicate streak of ash in the middle and a soothing mild taste. The goats cheese was fresh and citrussy in flavour and wonderfully creamy and smooth. Le Di-Vin is a good place to meet a friend for wine and cheese of an evening. You can decide how much you want. The sharing planchettes start from tapas size for £5.50 and goes up through medium at £15.00 and large at £26.00. There are also mixed cheese and charcuterie platters and fish platters, if you want to mix it up a little."

The Lookout By Gardener's Cottage

The Lookout By Gardener's Cottage

Carlton Hill, EH7 5AA, Edinburgh, City of, United Kingdom

Kebab • Seafood • British • European


"My wife and I had the fixed lunch menu yesterday: The good part of the experience was the view over to Fife. The rest was disappointing. The parsnip veloute was very tasty, but there was not enough of it in the bottom of the plate to cover the spoon. The duck leg was served with a few small squares of kale, and two sauces, both fairly bland and there was very little meat on the duck leg after the skin, gristle, and bone had been set aside. The poached pear dessert was underwhelming, a good enough poached pear, served with a small amount of hazelnut cake on the side and an even smaller amount of chocolate cream, very disappointing. The food smacked of being plated on site, but not prepared on site. £50 per head, for £25's worth of food. The drinks were extortionately priced, £10 for each 125ml glass of cava, with my wife's third glass being only 2/3rds full when it was presented to us, (had they run out and were just hoping we wouldn't notice? . Very poor beer selection, one pale ale and one lager, I paid £8.50 for a can of unknown lager. Overall, a very disappointing and grossly over priced experience, the pricing not helped by the over £17 discretionary service charge that was on the final bill, (we declined to pay that part . When asked at payment if everything had been okay, I stated that it had been very disappointing. They did not ask us why, because they knew!!! My advice, eat elsewhere, there are plenty of places with better food and offering much better value for money!"

Brasserie Prince By Alain Roux

Brasserie Prince By Alain Roux

1 Princes St, Edinburgh EH2 2EQ, UK, EH2 2AN, Edinburgh, City of, United Kingdom

Food • Steak • French • Establishment


"I have been a customer friend of The Balmoral Hotel for over 25 years. What is now 'Brasserie Prince ' was previously Hadrians. I remembered it as a sophisticated calming corner of Edinburgh where a certain type of clientele could shelter from the business of the city and enjoy unfussy and elegant cuisine, in refined surroundings and adult company. Since my departure to live in Italy, Hadrian 's has been refurbished and rebounded as Brasserie Prince. They have succeeded in improving on the quiet elegant, but obviously millennium, decor in turning the restaurant into a refined boujee French style eatery. It looks fabulous. The service is still of a faultless standard, with staff knowledgeable in both the mouth watering culinary offerings and accompanying wines. One cannot fault the service, the food, nor design, so you must be asking why do I only afford them 3 stars.....well!! On both my recent visits, which I must acknowledge were at the start of the festive season, the place was 'bouncing. ' The music was loud, verging on the impossing. On both occasions, I was surrounded by tables of children. One of 3, one of 4 and another of 2. Whilst they were generally well-behaved, better than my own would have been at that age, they were noisy, screechie. I pondered why parents would think it appropriate to bring their loveable rugrats into what is a very adult and quite expensive venue, knowing how their presence may disturb others, or maybe that is me showing my ager,, 52! That they want to eat there, so selfishly bring their small humans and don 't even consider other people. By opening up the venue, making it accessible to everyone, the management has made it very less appealing to the demograph that are seeking out something, well...more select. I wouldn 't go back, no matter how good the food and service were. I think the F&B team at The Balmoral could look at opening One for lunch, or another space, where those willing to pay a bit more for a more select and quieter experience, could hide away in. I think in opening the venue up, making it more accessible, they may have thrown the baby out with the bath water. One last point. The 'Discretionary tip ' added to the bill automatically , an American idea.....robs the guest of the joy of tipping. It 's 100% a mistake. If anyone knows where adults can go to have a nice peaceful meal in Edinburgh now, please let me know."

The White Horse

The White Horse

266 Canongate, City Of Edinburgh EH8 8DF, United Kingdom, Edinburgh, City of

Pub • Tapas • British • Scottish


"I am a regular at the White Horse, have been coming for years and left a good review last year. I booked an early table 5pm on New Years Eve with my family and shortly found out that things have changed for the worst. To start with, we were told that were no Seafood Platters which is the main part of the menu. This is the reason why we booked a table here as my kids love them. We then ordered from the small plates menu. The Sourdough Bread £2.50 per slice with smoked garlic was burned. The Straw Fries were soggy some were drooping over the bowl . When the Octopus arrived, one was a good size and the other was tiny. I then had to quickly cut them up and redistribute resize to my kids before they realised that one dish had been short changed. The tempura broccoli was a big tree like sprig with no tempura. There was no quality control in the kitchen and it seemed they were throwing anything on the plate. When the wine arrived, it was a different bottle to the one I ordered as they had run out. When it was dessert time, my youngest ordered Apple Pie they had run out. She then ordered the Lemon Curd Custard that had also run out. There was only 1 dessert left on the menu Chocolate Mousse . The menu I was given was dirty with food stuck on it and the hallway downstairs to the toilets was smelly with a door open to a grubby utility room. I 'd accept all of the above if I had gone to a pub with pub prices not a Chic Eatery with the prices to match £125 per head. I knew something had changed and after googling before writing this review found The White Horse was sold to someone new a few months ago. New Years Eve I appreciate is busy but to have most of the menu off at 5pm is poor and shows a lack of planning especially as the menu is small anyway. From other reviews it seems I got away lightly compared to others who had a nightmare at the main 8pm sitting. If you want to keep your regular customers, you really need to step up your game. Unfortunately I don 't think I 'll come back again. It was good whilst it lasted :"

Shebeen

Shebeen

8 Morrison Street, Edinburgh, City of, United Kingdom

Meat • Steak • Drinks • African


"This place is BEYOND amazing. I 'm a bit late in reviewing, but I figured better late than never! We came here for my birthday dinner, and we decided THAT NIGHT that we 'll be returning for the hubby 's in a couple of months! First off--I have no idea what other reviewers are talking about in regards to the waitstaff--they were beyond sweet to us! (Translated things, explained things, were more than friendly about us having just walked in without making reservations... and didn 't make fun of me when I asked if I could eat the funny-looking berry that came with our dessert. Waitstaff delightful. And the food.. oh the food. I actually remembered to finally write this review because I caught myself randomly craving what we ate there! To start off, we had the fanagalo, which is essentially a whole bucket of meats of all sorts. It looks like a pricey menu option, but 1 a South African friend had told me to get it, and 2 it was SO worth it. They really could charge so much more for that much meat, let alone the flavor! It was all delicious. We spent the next five minutes after eating it all debating over why different pieces were the best ones. Ugh. It 's a good thing I don 't live a closer walking distance to this place, or I 'm pretty sure this menu item would end up being our easy dinner at least once a month. (And we really don 't even eat out once a month to being with, so that 's saying a lot. For the main course, we had the Moerby poytjie and the Impangeni seabream. They were both AMAZING. We 'd never had flavors like these before, and I 'm legitimately sad that we 've been deprived of this experience for the first 25 years of our lives. If the rest of African food is anything like these dishes, I NEED MORE. And again, the quantities they gave us were ridiculous. We went home with leftovers, despite having stuffed ourselves nearly to the point of discomfort. So yeah, prices are a little higher than what we usually dine out on, but 1 it 's a steakhouse, and most of the stuff they serve is straight up MEAT, and 2 OMG IT 'S SO GOOD and 3 wow that 's a lot of food. Even though we were SO FULL, I had to have dessert. Because dessert. I got the melktert based on the waitress 's suggestion, and I 'm so delighted that I did! Despite the potentially underwhelming idea of a Milk tart (not to me, but maybe to some , it was such a rich, wonderful dessert. Joe, who was stuffed and is not that big of a dessert guy, ended up having more than half of it, he loved it so much. I know I want to try the peppermint crisp torte or the amarula malva pudding next time, but I 'm not sure we 'll be able to choose one of those over having another go at the Melktert! Yummmmmmm... So yeah. This restaurant? Awesome. The people here? Awesome. The food? Godly. Me? Drooling. And chewing on my shirt. (Classy, right? That 's how hungry I am, thinking about this place. Go here. It 's too pricy for just a casual drop-in if you 're a student like me, but seriously, the next time you have an excuse, go. It 's not really quite EXPENSIVE for the amount of food they give, and it 's totally worth. Already looking forward to the next birthday in January! Also: cool points for the awesome decor and music. It 's just a pleasure to be in this place. Refreshing, in its special-ness."