For more food and drink visit www.list.co.uk/food-and-drink Mansion House
SIDE DISHES Edinburgh’s restaurant scene springs into life and the Glasgow G1 group continues to grow
■ With the dishes still piled up beside the sink after the Festival, parts of Edinburgh’s restaurant scene have undoubtedly been buoyed up by the unique annual surge of customers. Have no doubt, operators in other cities look on with envy. Among the new arrivals you may have missed in the frenzy are a second branch of Tapa Barra y Restaurante (pictured) on Hanover Street replacing Mai Thai, Urban Angel’s new sandwich and juice deli opposite their Forth Street branch on the corner of Broughton Street, a second branch of Punjabi specialists Iman’s on Nicholson Square, and the curiously diverse Indaba on Lochrin Terrace, bringing South African, Venezuelan, Spanish and Scottish options to the site of the former Coconut Grove. One high-profile casualty in the capital recently is the closure of Tony’s Table, Tony Singh’s second restaurant on North Castle Street.
banquet which offers a selection of the most popular dishes with unlimited top-ups. As you’d expect, the quality of food is consistently good: pork and coriander dumplings are fresh and aromatic while prawn dumplings have a satisfying citrusy tang.
ANGELS WITH BAGPIPES 343 High Street, Old Town, 0131 220 1111, www.angelswithbagpipes.co.uk, £21 (lunch/dinner) A stylish new venture from Marina Crolla, who has made the step up from Café Marina on Cockburn Street, AWB (as those in-the-know are calling it) takes its name from a wood carving in nearby St Giles’ Cathedral. The deceptively small frontage leads to a number of different spaces including a large landscaped courtyard, while the menu is modern Scottish with a strong Italian influence: mains of Orkney gold beef, lamb rump or halibut fillet are complemented with ‘ingredienti’ such as cavalo nero, fregola sarda and gremolata, with desserts mixing Scottish berries with mascarpone cheese.
UNDER THE STAIRS 31 Merchant Street, Old Town, 0131 466 8550, www.underthestairs.org, £12 (lunch/dinner) For more than two years Under the Stairs has been one of Edinburgh’s very best pre-club bars, its basement setting, stylishly lived-in ambience and youthful bustle giving it the kind of atmosphere which many bars try and fail to emulate. A recent overhaul in the food now sees a menu featuring sharply spiced mussels in chilli, coconut and basil broth, homemade fishcakes, pan-seared sea bass and smoked haddock risotto, along with four vegetarian mains including a grated carrot, courgette and fennel spiced up with grilled halloumi, pine nuts and a slug of olive oil.
THE SPICE PAVILLION 3a1 Dundas Street, New Town, 0131 467 5506, www.thespicepavilion.com, £6.95 (set lunch) / £17 (dinner) Tucked into a New Town basement and a little uninspiring at the entrance, this lovely double dining has a modern, open feel with exposed stone and wooden floors. The large menu is based on the ‘frontier cuisine’ of the North-West Indian border, so think lighter curries with big, clean flavours. There’s a pleasing emphasis on fish – king prawns come grilled
12 THE LIST 9–23 Sep 2010
from the tandoor and are served in a punchy sauce with shards of fresh ginger sprinkled on top. A strong addition to Edinburgh’s Indian scene and worth seeking out for fresh curry and friendly staff in an attractive setting.
MANSION HOUSE The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, Edinburgh Zoo, 134 Corstorphine Road, 0131 314 0336, www.edinburghzoo.org.uk, £13 (lunch) Reappropriated from its previous use as a private members’ club, this grand old house in the heart of Edinburgh Zoo is being put to work providing somewhat finer dining than is available at various cafés around the park. The high-ceilinged main dining room has beautiful corniced finishes and a fantastic view over West Edinburgh from the bay windows. Parts of the menu wouldn’t seem out of place in a chain bar, including staples like battered haddock and chips and a triple-decker club sandwich, yet other parts demonstrate the apparent will to make this more than just the zoo’s fancy restaurant, including a starter of finely battered king prawns on skewers and a flagship slow-roasted pork belly with soft mashed potato and star anise sauce.
Independent write-ups on all the restaurants worth knowing about in Edinburgh and Glasgow are available on our online Eating & Drinking Guide at list.co.uk/food-and-drink. Prices shown are for an average two- course meal for one.
■ In Glasgow the frocks are flocking to the reopened Corinthian on Ingram Street, flagship of the G1 Group and the latest large venue in the portfolio to enjoy a multi-million pound revamp. Lavish and over-the-top at every turn, the heart of the stunning building remains Tellers Bar and Brasserie in the old banking hall, but now all four floors of the merchant’s town house are in use, with decorative themes ranging wildly from a drinking-hall-style beer cellar to Holywood-themed cocktail bars and panelled private rooms with all the electronic gadgetery you need for business meetings, karaoke, drinks parties, or all three. Find out more at www.thecorinthianclub.co.uk ■ Bit of a revamp underway for the food & drink pages too, though lavish just doesn’t become us. From next issue onwards, find us bigger and better just after the feature pages, with regular coverage of food and drink events appearing alongside the usual mix of new and recent openings, the best bars around town, as well as the latest snippets of news and gossip from the eating and drinking scene across Glasgow, Edinburgh and beyond.