Porty Palm Tree

In the continuing trend of street food being incorporated into the main menus of permanent establishments, which Meat Hook at Mather’s has been at the forefront, we were pleased to hear that our pals at City of Avalon were taking over the food at the Porty Palm Tree, a pub on Portobello High Street.

We visited with the place still getting up and running, so this review will focus on the food in terms of a score, as the bar seems to have a good way to go to get interior and feel of the place matching what is coming out of the kitchen.

Well, kitchen is a slight misnomer, as the cooking takes place on a grill and oven inside a purpose built shack in their lovely beer garden, which is also home to the promised palm tree. Chef Sam is still getting things finalised with the clay oven not functioning when we visited, as the flue wasn’t quite operating to required parameters.

I was joined on this quest by Rachel, who has previously joined at Clerk’s and Reverie, and Caz who’d joined at Scratch Series. We arrived complete with Mr Potatohead buckets and spades, as befitted a trip to the seaside.

The menu comprised marinated pork (£7.50), jerk chicken (£7) and roasted vegetables (£6.50), with various sides and sauces. We basically wanted to eat it all so Sam put together a platter for us, which included wrap shells, cous cous and slaw.

Cooked to order, this promptly arrived looking plenty delicious enough. We tucked in with consider vigour, quickly coming to the conclusion that the pork was excellent and the rest not far behind. We were left filled with tasty morsels and really rather pleased with ourselves.

So overall, we’ll need to go back and visit the Palm Tree once it’s more settled, but the food is certainly worth the visit, even if the bar doesn’t feel quite bedded-in yet. A wee touch of summery weather over the coming months and I can see this becoming a firm favourite.