West Room

I’d visited the West Room way back when and found a place that was trying hard, perhaps a little too hard, to establish itself as a smart West End bar eaterie.

Interior

They’d messaged me last year to come in and try them again, but I hadn’t been able to take up that invitation. After much aimless wandering, I did finally find an opportunity to visit once more.

Since my visit back in 2011, the place has had a smart refit and now feels more settled and comfortable. I’ve visited for drinks a couple of times, but this was a first trip back to look at their revamped food menu.

Today, my eye was immediately caught by talk of a “posh” cheese toastie with pickle. I’ve been on the lookout for good dishes of this type for a follow-up piece to Toasted Cheese Quest, so ordered that. I added a mug of their soup of the day, which was mushroom and spinach, for an additional £2.

Soup and toastie

The friendly barmaid/waitress took my order and was soon delivering the dishes, which were slightly modishly presented.

The “posh” elements of the toastie were a ciabatta roll, Blarlaith cheddar and a lot of sweet chilli jam, along with the not posh pickle. I feared for the level of sweetness as I tucked in.

There was definitely a lot of sweetness from the chilli jam, but this was nicely offset by the tart pickle and strong tang from the punchy cheese. It was well balanced and made for very pleasing eating.

The soup was delivered to a similarly high standard with a beautifully seasoned soup that was high on mushroom flavour. The only quibble was that the spinach was rather lost, but I dare say it was there playing a role in giving the soup a strong savoury spine.

So overall, it was good to see the West Room on better form than when I last visited. I had two good dishes that hit the spot very nicely. I’ll no doubt be back for another visit in due course and would be pleased to point you in their direction.

Scores
Blythe scores the West Room
4/5 for food
3.5/5 for presentation
4/5 for setting
3.5/5 for service
giving an overall 15/20

I ate: posh cheese toastie with pickle, mushroom and spinach soup

I drank: Revisionist lager, water

I wore: carpenter-cut denim trousers

Total bill: £11.60

Address: 3 Melville Place, West End, Edinburgh EH3 7PR