Really good
Arguably the best pound for pound food I’ve had in Edinburgh. Non-fussy staff and ambience. Been a few times and never disappointed
Impeccable food and service!! The restaurant has great ambience with classy decor. If you like the taste of fresh oysters, I would highly recommend you to try Fresh Oysters with Lemon & Champagne Granites....sensational! Their house cured smoked salmon is another appetiser to start with also. :)
Delicious and creative food in the heart of Edinburgh. Martin Wishart's new edition is definitely worth a visit. Service is professional and ambience is beautiful and contemporary. Lunch is a limited menu rather than the full menu, so you need to be aware of that.
I had the fortune to interview Paul Tamburrini last year, before The Honours opened. Conceived as a more relaxed, casual dining experience than Martin Wishart’s eponymous restaurant in Leith, The Honours is a high quality brasserie on North Castle Street. Six of us got together a couple of Saturdays ago to celebrate a birthday and The Honours was the restaurant of choice.
The Honours is a hopping place. We had a two-hour slot (which stretched to two hours and forty-five minutes) and arrived at 18:00 on the dot. We perused the menus over cocktails in the bar. The menu was very tempting and had an interesting variety of dishes but I decided to go for classics: half a dozen oysters to start and a beef fillet with Bearnaise sauce and tomato salad for mains. I didn’t really put the bartender to the test either: I started with a kir royale. A very good choice, if I say so myself. And easy to carry to our table.
The oysters were plump and fresh, perfectly clean – thin shards of shell in your oyster is horrible – and complemented by little dabs of frozen Bloody Mary. The subtle heat of the Bloody Mary enhanced the sea flavour of the oysters. C had a spelt risotto with mozzarella while other members of the party had prawns Mary Rose and jamon belotta.
C and I went to Vienna recently and have been drinking Gruner Veitliner at every opportunity since we came back. We were pleased to see one on The Honour’s wine list and it went very well with the oysters. With the main, I drank a Malbec. We had the window seat and got a good look down the long.
I had asked for my steak rare so it was larger than everyone else’s. The Honours serves their fillet steak on the bone. it has been dry-matured for 28 days and is darkly flavoursome and juicy yet bloodless. It’s brushed with a house marinade and finished with a glaze. I’m sure the steak would be just as good without the glaze – I don’t think it needs the added sweetness – but I enjoyed every morsel of my steak. The salad of cherry tomatoes, shallots and basil was fresh, and I tried a bit of creamy Dauphinoise, and a couple of crisp French fries. C had the gnocchi and there was also a sea bream a la plancha on the table. (There were vegetarian options were but they were not the most imaginative. Gnocchi, pasta and risotto. At least there wasn’t cauliflower.)
Since my last visit to Michael Neave’s I’ve started having soufflé. A good soufflé is a lovely, airy thing and it seems they are quite fashionable at the moment. (Or maybe I’ve just had my eyes opened to them: I keep seeing sweet soufflés on menus.) The flavour du jour was pink grapefruit. The dessert that came out was as light and tall as you could wish for and had a very subtle grapefruit flavour.
C shared an apple tart tatin with a friend. It was perfect. Golden, sticky, soft and crisp all at once. If the other dishes hadn’t convinced us, we might still have gone back for the tarte tatin. The cinnamon ice cream that was served with it was rich and delicious.
Absolutely amazing meal. The staff were excellent; friendly and helpful. The food was delicious, and the portion sizes perfect. The interior of the restaurant is cosy and modern, with a lovely atmosphere. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal, and would highly recommend it to anyone
This place was recommended to us and I am thankful to the nice stranger in the smoking section 😊. The people at honours really know what they are doing. We didn't have a reservation but we were offered a place by the bar. Music isn't played too loud, the lighting creates a cozy feeling which you get even sitted at the bar! The food? Ahhh the food.. deliciousness. It is authentically good food which is all sourced locally but very alacarte. The parmesan risotto is a creamy delight. We especially loved our mains - hand rolled tagliatelle with truffle puree and scallops, morrocan lemon chicken, potatoes, french beans. The best was indeed saved for last! The honours sundae is a wonderful surprise- toffee caramel ice cream, honeycomb, pecans, caramilised banana and tiny chocolate pieces which sort of bubble and pop in your mouth 😄 all in all, truly worth it!
Fabulous, couldn't fault it, had a wonderful birthday lunch, we haven't been to a fine dining/Michelin star restaurant since we had a very disappointing experience at Tom Kitchen a couple of years ago but this has most certainly restored our faith in great food and service.
The best French restaurant I have been in the UK so far. Went there for a business lunch on a friend's recommendation. Had the set menu - salmon, duck leg and soufflé. The food was exquisite. Highly recommended.
Great lunch at exceptional value. And very good service too!
I had a diner with my wife. It was so nice diner! Thank you for your excellent services!
I didn’t know what to expect as this was reservation was made for me. We were a party of 4 in the evening and had the best meal during my visit to Edinburgh. I started with 12 Oysters, half traditional the other half a variety of creative arrangements (the Champagne Oyster was amazing). Fantastic cocktails too. Then moved on to a Chateaubriand for two. Excellent! The side dishes were equally great. Fantastic service, excellent Bordeaux wine at a reasonable price. I would return here and highly recommend.
Went for a birthday meal, it's a relaxed place which gives it a nice feel, not too big either so has a cosier feel. Arrived early so took time to try a cocktail in the lounge, they were excellent. The food was as expected, all high quality and full of flavour. Service was very good, all the staff look like they are in a hurry, they are almost sprinting back to the kitchen! Portions are decent, especially the starters, time between courses was just right. Very satisfied and will definitely return.
Lovely food here. It's definitely somewhere one would go for special occasions. The service is very polite and friendly (but not overly so which is my preference). The food here is undoubtedly expensive.
We enjoyed our scallop and pasta dish, although it was a tad salty. Dessert, a sundae with glorious toppings, was delicious.
A gem! This is the best value for money experience I have ever had. The atmosphere is chic, the food is Michelin-standard and the service is very attentive with extremely helpful advice on food and wine. We paid about 40 pounds per person for a starter, main, a bottle of wine and a dessert to share, which I would say is an extremely good price for its standard.
If I were to say one disadvantage, that would be it is slightly noisier than I would like. However, it being a brasserie this is within the package.
Highly recommended!
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