Wildfire

I’d long been promising myself a visit to Wildfire, the steak and seafood restaurant on Rose Street, as I had a feeling that my intermittent quest for a good steak restaurant in Edinburgh may find fertile ground within its walls.

Exterior

I was joined today by Jenny, who is Yelp’s Edinburgh Community Manager. She’s previous joined on quests to the Grain Store and Dusit.

Wildfire has that thing that’s so very difficult to bottle and replicate: an air about it that’s welcoming, relaxed and stylish, all at the same time. Jenny and I reflected that it was a really good spot to bring a party of mixed tastes and ages, as the atmosphere is so pervasively warm and uplifting.

Goat's cheese

At lunchtime, you can choose from a lunch menu with a nice array of options, or their full a la carte. Their comprehensive selection of steaks are available for 20% less at lunchtime, which is suitably enticing. Their lunch menu offers good value, with two courses for £11.95.

From that menu, I opted for soup (lentil and bacon), followed by the rump steak, served with fries (a mere £2 supplement). Jenny opted for goat’s cheese, followed by sea bream.

Soup

Starters arrived promptly and looked rather smart. My soup had a real deep brownish-orange hue, which hinted at limitless depth of flavour. This impression proved pretty accurate, as the rustic broth was replete with smoky bacon goodness. I was delighted with it.

The steak, cooked as rare as you would wish a piece of rump to be cooked, was of excellent quality. It stood comfortably alongside the best steaks I’ve been served in the city. The shoestring fries were surprisingly good, too. Nice wholegrain mustard, brought by the ever helpful and attendant waiting staff, topped things off very nicely.

Steak

So overall, I was extremely pleased by Wildfire. Their menu has a really nice balance to it, offering plenty of scope for carnivores, but also catering well for those requiring lighter lunchtime bites. I’ll definitely be back, not least because MJ is strongly desirous of a visit. A look forward to that day, muchly.

Scores
Blythe scores Wildfire
4/5 for food
3.5/5 for presentation
4/5 for setting
4/5 for service
giving an overall 15.5/20

Today’s questers were: Jenny, Blythe

We ate: goat’s cheese, lentil and bacon soup, sea bream, rump steak

We drank: water, red wine

We wore: warm winter coats

Total bill: £31.80