Enzo – SADLY NOW CLOSED

Posted on March 20, 2015 by BKR

Exterior

Exterior

The Quartermile development has faced its fair share of challenges, over the past few years, but it’s starting to come together rather nicely. Peter’s Yard has now extended to three shops on the site, Looking Glass Books brings bookish wonderment, Nanyang is a decent Malaysian and Hot Flame is…well, it serves its purpose. Enzo joined the party, last year, and today we gave it a lunchtime visit.

I’d been for dinner not long after it opened and found it slightly struggling to establish itself. Pricing felt very high and the staff didn’t inspire confidence, but some of the dishes were quite impressive (although some, including the pizza, were definitely not). The place felt like it needed some time to bed-in, so I made a note to give it that very opportunity.

Tagliata

Tagliata

I was joined on today’s quest by Elizabeth and Stan, who were in Edinburgh to scope out the city ahead of moving here later in the year.

We found the smart upstairs restaurant space nicely busy as we were shown to a window table. It gave us a good view out to the new Soderberg bakery and pizza place.

Melanzane

Melanzane

The menu offered a keenly priced lunch deal with two courses, comprising bruschetta and a pasta dish of the day, for £8. We found the full a la carte reasonably priced and full of tempting dishes, so decided to choose from there.

Elizabeth’s eye had been caught by a steak tagliata on a nearby table, so she ordered that, while Stan chose the tagliolini with beef and pork ragout. I opted for an old favourite in the shape of melanzane alla parmigiana.

Tagliolini

Tagliolini

Dishes were soon with us looking neat and tidy. My melanzane was presented in a little stew pot and accompanied by a simple rocket and parmesan salad. It proved a very tasty eat and one of the better versions of this dish I’ve sampled in the city.

Elizabeth’s tagliata and pepperonata packed really good flavour and Stan’s pasta was given the firm thumbs up.

So overall, it was good to see Enzo on a much surer footing after a slightly stumbling start to its existence. The pricing now seems more likely to find favour with a broader audience and the quality of ingredients on offer has been maintained. I look forward to visiting again, next time I’m in the neighbourhood.

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

Today’s questers were: Elizabeth, Stan, Blythe

We ate: tagliata with pepperonata; melanzane; 30 egg yolk tagliolini with slow cooked ragout

We drank: red wine, water

We wore: layers, blue shirt, www.tieclub.co.uk tie

Total bill: £66

Enzo Bar Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Posted in Closed, Italian, Old Town | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Dicle

Posted on March 19, 2015 by BKR

Exterior

Exterior

A wander down to Rodney Street, the other day, brought with it the sad news of the demise of both Agoo and Maria’s Kitchen. The former has been replaced with a Thai takeaway, with the latter now called Dicle. I popped in to see what the place had to offer.

A quaint and welcoming cafe space, the menu comprised some classic combos, with an emphasis on homemade soups and baked goods. From their range of three soups, I opted for leek and potato. I spied a tasty looking quiche on their chiller counter, so added that.

Soup

Soup

The soup promptly arrived, delivered by the very friendly owner, who was full of cheery banter throughout. It proved to be very good indeed. The seasoning was spot on and the broth was packed with deliciously rustic veg.

The quiche’s filling was a little tame, initially, but this was nothing a good twist of salt and pepper couldn’t rectify. The pastry was light and crisp, and showed-off really pleasing homestyle cooking. It got a double thumbs up from me.

Quiche

Quiche

So overall, Dicle maintains the standard of what went before very nicely. Both items I sampled were very good and for the princely sum of £3.30 it’s one to file away for days when the jingle of loose change is faint to the ear.

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

I ate: leek and potato soup; cheese and onion quiche

I wore: new overcoat

Total bill: £3.30

Dicle on Urbanspoon

Posted in Broughton Street, Edinburgh Cafe, soup | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Cult Espresso

Posted on March 18, 2015 by BKR

Interior

Interior

Back when I was assembling the first Espresso 100, I popped along to a coffee jam and got talking to a guy who was running the coffee stall at Dalmeny station, serving train patrons with their required commuter coffee jolt. We talked about our respective plans for the forthcoming year.

It was a joy to run into him in his finely furnished new premises called Cult Espresso, when I first visited a couple of months ago. Today, I looked in to give them a proper assessment.

Soup

Soup

They’ve taken the very sensible precaution of enlisting some of the city’s best suppliers, so baked goods are from Manna House and soup is from Union of Genius. In many ways it’s a bullet proof combo that’s hard to argue with.

What was really pleasing to encounter was a soup from Union of Genius that I hadn’t tried before. The Caribbean chicken and coconut was one of their best to date. The heady broth mixed rice, soft chicken pieces and veg to outstanding effect.

Exterior

Exterior

Their coffee, from Round Hill roastery, was simply excellent, too. I’ve sampled three of four different types on my visits and each has been first rate.

So overall, Cult Espresso is now established as a firm favourite. The welcome is full of charm and good humour and the quality on offer is superb. Visit soon and visit often.

Scores
Blythe scores Cult Espresso
5/5 for food
4/5 for presentation
4/5 for setting
4/5 for service
giving an overall 17/20

I ate: Caribbean chicken and coconut soup

I drank: espresso

I wore: Hull City tie

Total bill: £5.80

Cult Espresso on Urbanspoon

Posted in Coffee shop, Edinburgh Cafe, soup, Southside | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Grub Crawl

Posted on March 17, 2015 by BKR

Starters

Starters

I’ve been meaning to write up a little adventure we went on, a couple of weeks back. Christened “grub crawl” by Tim, one of the participants in the fun, it comprised a three course meal split across different locations. It’s an idea I’d toyed with for a while, so was glad to finally put it into action.

Our evening started at Reekie’s Smokehouse on Holyrood Road. Rather distressingly, the place had been burglarised early that day, but the owner Craig was manfully forging on. With the night’s team of Graham, Joanna, Mairi and Tim assembled, we embarked on the first course.

Rice bowl

Rice bowl

Largely leaving the decisions in Craig’s hands, our only specification was for a portion of the smoked veggie haggis to suit Mairi’s vegetarian needs. For the omnivores, we had a whole rack of ribs, brisket and meaty baked beans, as well as pickles, slaw and a smoky tomato salsa. This was augmented by their signature condiments.

The smoked haggis was really good and the tomato salsa just lovely. The meaty goodness really hit the spot. We sampled a nice selection of beers to wet our whistles, too.

We were soon on our way having had a thumpingly good starter. A little recuperative walk was needed before we were ready for main courses.

Frozen negroni fun

Frozen negroni fun

Our next stop was a uphill walk away at Paradise Palms, where the joys of Ninja Buns awaited us. With an MS society fundraiser comedy night providing the jolly backdrop, we tucked in to a range of curry, buns and rice bowls. My beefy rice bowl was impressively good. The food met with a resounding thumbs up from everyone.

With cheery thanks passed on to Markus and Inga who’d done wonders in the kitchen, as usual, we stepped towards our final port of call, Civerino’s.

This newish, informal Italian has been a frequent stopping point, of late. Their Nutella calzones are the stuff of legend, but on this visit the tiramisu was the real winner. Not a spoonful was left, nor a crumb of calzone. We had fun with their frozen negroni machine, too.

This rounded out what had been a resoundingly successful evening. I’m minded to do the whole exercise more regularly, and would be interested to work out a route across three places I’ve not yet tried. Starters at Wings would be a good plan, perhaps.

Let me know your ideas and your favourite three courses across the city. And if you fancy joining a grub crawl in the future, do give me a shout.

Posted in Grubcrawl | Tagged | Leave a comment

LB’s Takeaway

Posted on March 17, 2015 by BKR

Exterior

Exterior

I’d noticed a wee while ago that CJ’s on Brunswick Street had change to LB’s but wasn’t reminded to visit until I heard that Lovecrumbs’ new project Twelve Triangles is due to open just across the street. I popped in to LB’s to see whether news had filtered through.

Indeed it had, but given the two places are ploughing very different furrows, any impact is likely to be at the mutual advantage end of the spectrum.

Soup

Soup

Much as with CJ’s, LB’s is an informal counter cafe focussed on takeout business. In my contrarian fashion, I chose to sit in at their one table and made them dust down their one soup bowl to serve me the soup of the day, which was minestrone. To this I added an egg and ham roll.

The soup was really very good. It was simple but hearty and I munched through with enough gusto to elicit the offer of “a wee bit more” from the friendly counter man. It was a good portion, so I was happy to leave it at that.

Roll

Roll

The roll was decently filling, with a good, fresh morning roll generously packed with egg and ham. It did the job most ably.

So overall, LB’s continues in much the same style as CJ’s. It’s a solidly reliable, no-frills little takeaway. I enjoyed the welcome and chat very much, and the soup was very good. It’ll be interesting to see what the locals make of the arrival of Twelve Triangles over the road, in due course.

Scores
Blythe scores LB’s
3.5/5 for food
3/5 for presentation
4/5 for service
3/5 for setting
giving an overall 13.5/20

I ate: minestrone soup; ham and egg roll

I wore: pinstripes

Total bill: £3.50

Lb's Takeaway on Urbanspoon

Posted in Leith, Sandwich, soup | Tagged , , | Leave a comment