Clark & Lake

Sometimes it’s good to let places bed-in but often it’s better to shine a light on a place and caveat any minor teething troubles accordingly. I thought it best to approach Clark & Lake with the latter approach. It’s new to Bruntsfield where the disappointing Frontier unsurprisingly foundered.

Exterior

Clark & Lake is a purveyor of charcuterie and cheese with a strong wine and beer list to back it up. I met the owner at a Scran Salon last year and he messaged me in the run up to opening looking for some supplier advice. All I ended up doing was confirming that he was working with precisely the right people.

The interior has had a comprehensive refit and has a good ambience to it. It feels contemporary but comfortable.

The charcuterie and cheese delights are added to with a good array of small plates which featured a panoply of options to be visited on a future #ballcrawl.

Raclette sandwich

After an excellent glass of Spanish Chardonnay, I settled upon trying their raclette sandwich. This featured cheese topping Italian cured ham finished with hot peppers.

It proved outstanding eating. Good raclette – aside from at occasional street food trader Rac City – remains elusive in the city so it was lovely to find such a fine example in these relaxing surroundings. It was right up there with Cairngorm and Mellis (from where the raclette cheese is sourced) as the best toastie I’ve been served.

Interior

I rounded things out with a really enjoyable glass of Moritz lager.

So overall, Clark & Lake has hit the ground running and brings much needed drinks quality to Bruntsfield. As mentioned, I’ll definitely be back with the #ballcrawl squad and look forward to sampling from more of their impressive food and drinks menu. Make sure to visit this great new place soon.

Scores
Blythe scores Clark & Lake
4.5/5 for food
4/5 for presentation
4/5 for setting
4/5 for service
giving an overall 16.5/20

I ate: raclette toastie with hot peppers and Italian cured meats

I drank: Chardonnay, lager

I wore: action footwear

Total bill: £12.40

Address: 8 Gillespie Place, Edinburgh EH10 4HS