No 11 Brunswick Street (Edinburgh)

We stayed here for two nights in a second floor room. The room was large and comfortable with a lots of storage. The building is beautiful. We were treated to this by our children. We loved the location as not far from the center and and easy walk from the station. On our first evening the five course taster menu was included in the price. Our experience was mixed. The dining room is really quite dark and the meal was over in an hour... The price was £63.50 each which was quite rich for what we ate. I would probably just choose al la Carte if we returned. The fish dish just tasted of Vodka and the cock a leekie soup had no flavor at all.

Overall I would recommend this hotel as the staff were very attentive and our stay was good. We loved Edinburgh..

We went for an early Sunday evening meal using a very reasonable voucher from 5pm.co.uk

Service

Falling in line with past reviews I'd agree the service was slightly haphazard but this was mainly caused by an air of awkwardness due to language barriers. After embracing this we found the staff to be both polite and took every opportunity to engage with us and give their own unbiased recommendations. 

Food

Very good. Being a a set menu deal the portions appeared to be smaller than those without vouchers, but this was perfectly reasonable for the price. My starter of mussels pakora was something I've not encountered, and was very moreish. There was no hint of dryness as can often be the case with pakoras. The crispy squid that accompanied this had a tasty dusting of spices. Crucially, it also avoided any resemblance to chewing a tyre which can so easily occur with squid when cooked a few seconds too long. Overall the starter was was more Michelin, less Michelin tyre.

For main I had halibut. A favourite of mine for it's ability to flaunt the lines between fish and the more fleshier meat of the land. It was moist whilst easily flaked into meaty chunks with my fork. It was accompanied by a sweet potato fondant alongside quick fried spring onion and chicory. A drizzle of port reduction brought the dish together. 

Desert was a dark chocolate & baileys cheesecake with raspberry & champagne coulis. The dark chocolate was most definitely apparent, less so the baileys contribution. I'm more of a savoury man, but those with a sweet tooth would have loved it.

Praises: lovely personable staff, well executed dishes, very reasonably priced set menu (on this occasion via 5pm.co.uk)
Niggles: lacklustre drinks cabinet with most spirits and draught being more supermarket sweep, than sweep me of my feet.

First review, I'll work on capturing the photos in future!