Montpeliers Bar and Brasserie, Edinburgh

It was the weekend, apparently one of the hottest weekends of the year so far (well in London anyway) and I was off to Scotland with ‘the girls’(it was cold) to visit a friend who had recently moved to the land of Braveheart (not to mention whiskey, haggis and fried mars bars). There was of course much merriment to be made with the sampling of Scotland’s finest libations. However, we also sampled some of the food.

Our first meal of the jaunt was at a delightful little bar come restaurant in (or near) the Morningside district of Edinburgh called Montpeliers. We were very lucky to secure a table at about 9pm on the Friday evening without a booking as there were five of us.

 

Upon being seated, it was joy of joys upon finding out there was a fantastic, great value dinner menu of two courses for £10. Decadence could therefore reign. This set menu also included a special in each of the courses of starter or main. So, from the five of us, four of us chose the set menu and the fifth opted for the a la carte as the fish and chips proved too tempting to ignore. This brought to my mind the question, of whether fish and chips is an English institution or British? Regardless, we waited in anticipation for the feasting to begin.

My starter consisted of the classic combination of wild mushroom and spinach in an evidently home-made ravioli which looked rustically inviting. Others had the pottage of leek and potato with doorstop bread, the duck liver pate and the mozzarella bruschetta (the a la carte).

 

 

I followed my starter with the halloumi, tomato and olive risotto. Yes, you’ve got me. I did actually order a risotto. Ok, I will explain myself, it was in fact the salty halloumi and olives with tangy sweet tomatoes that pulled me in and made me think, yes, this might be an acceptable herby risotto – and it was. It was also not overpriced (a bowl of rice for £15 – no thank you!) as part of the fixed price dinner menu. I also tried the zuchini fries, sharing them with our gracious hostess McP, but they didn't really work for me. They were crispy on the outside, but I found them a tad greasy inside - perhaps the oil could have been hotter?

So, moving on, others main dishes included the special which was the coley with rice and a salsa verde, the chicken, the salmon in a thai broth and of course the a la carte fish and chips. Everyone came away content and happy from our dinner experience.

We wiled away our time catching up as ‘the girls’ with copious amounts of the dry, crisp and berried rose wine. We then fell into our beds (sofa, bunk and double) satisfied that our first evening in Edinburgh had been a fabulous success and that we were going to repeat this all over again tomorrow… watch this space.