It was shortly after we visited the branch of Stac Polly on St Mary’s Street that their Dublin Street branch re-launched as a bistro and gin bar. I’d meant to visit shortly after that, but it ended up taking me rather longer than planned. On a dreich and sleety day I finally popped in for lunch.

Exterior

A stylish New Town set of rooms, the place has a beautiful fireplace and elegant ceiling roses. It’s really rather smart.

Service was unfussy and prompt throughout, although when I was leaving there was the same mysterious disappearing act that I’d encountered on my visit to their other branch, which was a little strange.

Soup

Before leaving I availed myself of a couple of dishes from their menu, of course, starting with the cream of chestnut mushroom soup then following with some Macsween’s venison haggis, with the usual accompaniments.

The soup was delicious and judged alone would be worthy of exceptional consideration on the Soupquest scale. However, the mushrooms that topped the soup were extraordinarily chewy and while the accompanying toast brought good crunch the elements just didn’t quite come together, which was a shame.

Haggis, neeps and tatties

Much the same can be said for the main course. The venison haggis, about which I’d heard rather a lot and was tasting for the first time, was absolutely outstanding. The tatties were lovely, too, but the neeps were curiously bereft of flavour and the lake of richly flavoured game jus did not look at all bonnie.

So overall, if I were to focus solely on the two central elements of the dishes I had, I’d be awarding Stac Polly 5/5 for their food. Sadly, a succession of annoying inaccuracies let things down making it a rather frustrating dining experience. I hope you have a more evenly impressive experience when you visit, which you should, than I did.

Scores
Blythe scores Stac Polly
3.5/5 for food
3/5 for presentation
4/5 for setting
3.5/5 for service
giving an overall 14/20

I ate: chestnut mushroom soup; venison haggis, neeps and tatties in a whisky game jus

I drank: water

I wore: walking boots

Total bill: £17.54