Mark Greenaway

We were greeted by a super-​friendly maitre d’ who took us to our table next to one of the windows. Knowing it was a celebration for us, Mark had left an anniversary card from himself on the table (a keepsake!) and we were soon nursing a couple of glasses of bubbly — lovely stuff, thanks Mark!
The restaurant itself was fitted out in a contemporary versus traditional sort of fashion and was relaxing and interesting. I was particularly drawn to the main lighting of the room.
We ordered a bottle of Don Nicanor’s 2012 Malbec (Mendoza) to help us peruse the menu. This was decided on with a little help from our fantastic sommelier (I think there were two sommeliers on that night!) and it sure was a lovely Malbec.
Not long after ordering we were presented with some lovely fresh bread & butter and an amuse-​bouche of tomato gazpacho (tomatoes sourced from Cyrenians Farm, a Social Enterprise just outside Edinburgh that Mark sources a lot of fresh ingredients from) with basil and roasted cucumber and tomato jelly. This was really tasty, classic combination of tomato and basil and the jelly was a new one on us and went really well. It was served on a piece of wood from Mark’s partner’s parents’ garden!
Mrs G chose the venison carpaccio served with soused tomatoes, tomato tartare and parmesan «snow» to start. She enjoyed this very much and wolfed up every last bit. The tartare added a subtle sharpness which complimented the rest of the dish very well, the capers, cornichons (I think!) and parmesan topped it off with style.
I’d opted for the duo of hand dived west coast scallops which came served with pork crackling, Dashi broth, soy caramel, sea vegetables and rice wine vinegar jelly. One scallop owas cooked with the soy caramel whereas the other one was served in the shell with the crackling and was finely sliced and raw. The eating process involved cooking the raw one by pouring the broth over it and letting it cook while devouring the other. This added a bit of fun to the dish and I liked the thinking behind it. This dish was simply delicious!
We were then presented with a Cona coffee-​maker full of Mark’s take on cock-​a-​leekie soup. Again this added some fun to this (unexpected) dish. I’d seen Jak O’Donnell using one of these on Great British Menu just a couple of weeks before this visit so was most pleased to see it in action up close! The percolated broth was poured over the chicken, rice and fig. This was delicious, so fresh and clean tasting as well as having that x-​factor buzz.
Moving onto the mains and Mrs G had chosen to go with the beef, or more accurately, the 40-​day dry aged fillet of Aberdeen Angus. This was accompanied by a celeriac gratin, oxtail cannelloni, wild mushrooms, watercress purée and a red wine jus. Safe to say she absolutely loved this dish too, insisting I tried it. I duly obliged. The beef was pink and tender, as it should be served (the waitress had mentioned this was how it came which pleased us both). The accompaniments were equally good, it was a strong main course; it was also presented in an elegant, contemporary fashion.
I really could not make my mind up right up to the point of ordering. Somehow, the words «I’ll go with the pork» came out. Upon seeing my 11 hour slow roasted Clash Farm belly of pork served with a pork cheek «pie», blackened fillet, sweetcorn and toffee apple jus, I was very happy! It looked terrific and tasted utterly amazing. Every single morsel of food on this well thought out plate was delectable! It really was special.
We were then brought, as a wee refresher, what Mark describes as strawberries and custard, and what I would describe as a strawberry panna cotta-​like pot of beauty! This really was delicious and probably should have quelled my desire for a dessert!
Mrs G decided to forego dessert in favour of cheese and selected the Cornish Yang, Lanark Blue and Brie Campagnard. These were served with frozen grapes, quince, oatcakes, crackers, celery and apricot. We both very much enjoyed these lovely cheeses.
I decided to forego cheese in favour of dessert and opted for «Mark’s Great British Menu „Knot“ Chocolate Tart». This came with custard jelly, frozen cookies, crème fraiche parfait, salted caramel and kumquat purée. The presentation was amazing and it was matched by the flavours. Everything worked together so well and I had no trouble finishing it all off. Delicious.
We were now both full to the brim and ordered a couple of espressos to try and offset the sleepiness. These came with homemade chocolate bars, white chocolate lollipops and fruit pastilles. The indulgence continued! Again, everything was truly excellent!
This was a hugely successful trip to Mark Greenaway and I can easily understand why there were no empty tables; he has got a fantastic name for himself here and quite rightly so. Superb service, environment, presentation, quality and taste. Restaurant Mark Greenaway oozes brilliance.

A very good experience, but not a mind blowing one. Perhaps as I had such high expectations for the place!
We attended a Christmas lunch on a weekday which, oddly, had us as the only patrons in the place for a good hour. Another table showed up eventually, but this had an unfortunate affect on the overall atmosphere. I’m sure it’s much better during a full dinner service!
The staff were phenomenal — they were attentive, prompt and really knew the menu. Hats off to them.
We had a three course Xmas menu, starting with a delicious and beautifully presented dick terrine, and a very playful crab ‘cannelloni’ — fun to dismantle and to eat!
Mains next, and my hake with fish veloute was beautiful, and the veloute very rich and creamy. My dining partners were slightly less blown away — although cooked well, they found the beef a touch tough. However, the bone marrow on the plate was AMAZING, and consumed quickly…
Dessert, and we all got the same thing — the infamous ‘knot’ chocolate tart. Word of warning — you Must LOVE chocolate to order this, as it is rich rich rich. Think scoops of chocolate ganache on a plate. We could have definitely done with another scoop of the crème fraîche ice cream to cut the richness. Delicious, but overwhelmingly decadent.
After getting the most expensive black coffee of my life (£4!!!) to cut the richness of the dessert, we headed off. A perfectly good meal, but not one that had me raving and rushing back. I think I need to try it at dinner service to fully apprecIate the experience!

overall is very impressive, the service was not good as the food. It was a great meal for a reasonable price.

We came here for an intimate dinner for two in December. Since the Christamas menu hadn’t much appealed to us, we opted for ordering off the a la carte.
The atmosphere is small yet clean crisp tables and quiet conversations by candlelit make the space work. Staff were welcoming upon our entrance and I liked the meticulously organised bar on view. It was a cute gesture to have personalised cards to our party on the table waiting for us.
We were started off with some Champagne then came the veloute. It had a nice texture of crisp garnish to the foam of the body and a vibrant contrast of colors. But other than that, it was an average veloute.
The scallop starter consisted of a raw scallop & an already cooked one served separately on a bamboo serving tray. I could see the sear on the outside of the cooked scallop was perfectly done but the inside was ever so slightly under. Minimal seasoning meant a clean aftertaste but the one cooked item of the dish should have been perfectly cooked. One raw scallop, diced and presented within its shell was the layout I had to pour hot dashi into. This provided for the theatrical component of the night, as the sizzle of bonito flakes reacted to the hot liquid, and dry ice wispily escaped through the strategically placed river stones. It was cute, but nothing new. Scallops were fresh combined with ingredients that worked, but nothing overly impressive.
The mains had were the Perthshire red leg partridge and the Aberdeen aged beef fillet. I enjoyed the partridge and all its little garnishes and trimmings. The skin separately crisped then rolled back onto the flayed meat pieces, provided for the perfect bite of meat. The purée went harmoniously with the protein and the croutons did add the nice crunch; however, the overall plate was more a visual dance than a tribute to taste. Aberdeen fillet was delicious, and a bit carried away. There was too much going on in that plate, and cannot say all of them worked.
For fine dining, doesn’t quite hit the spot. For atmosphere, its nice but a bit rigid.
Something here seemed a tad mismatched for me. Dishes were slightly outdated and not as innovative for fine dining but prices were fairer than at proper fine dining restaurants. But then again, this felt more like an attempt at imitating what fine dining should be rather than the menu displaying actual culinary zeal. It was all a bit boring. If I want fine dining or even something similar, I’d choose another. Had a reasonably good experience, but for what it is you can have better elsewhere.

Every year for Christmas my work treats us and our partners to a fabulous night out (I say every year, I’ve been twice now) and this year was no exception!
I was really excited when I was told we were going here for dinner as I knew it would be super fancy, and the company always pays for everything so that’s a bonus!
We were in the private dining room as there were about 17 of us and we were informed that we were the first people to try it out which was pretty cool — they even gave us champagne after our meal because of that which was awesome.
Our table was booked for 9pm and wasn’t quite ready when we all showed up (about 5 minutes late) but it wasn’t too long before it was ready and the staff showed us where to go. I felt that the stairs leading down to the private room (and the toilets for it) were a bit dingy and not very welcoming, but this wasn’t really a big deal for me personally.
The staff were absolutely brilliant the entire night — we didn’t end up leaving the place til well after midnight and they remained cheery and extremely attentive! We were seated at the big square table and given Prosecco while we perused the menu. In true Debs style, I’d already picked out what I was having pretty much as soon as I knew where we were going so I was really looking forward to my food! We were also given bread while we waited which was good as most of us were starving by that point.
I had the crab starter (see photo) and it was proper dining theatre — the cannelloni dish sat on top of the smoked cauliflower custard dish to begin with, and when it was removed, smoke which had been kept underneath to flavour the custard billowed out, it was so cool! The cannelloni was brilliant, really refreshing and light and I could’ve easily eaten about three of them. Unfortunately I wasn’t keen on the custard, it was a bit too smoky and strong for my taste buds to handle but I ate the crab out of it because crab. We were also told which way the chef recommended we eat the dish — that’s how you know you’re in a fancy place!
I had braised beef daube for main and this was pretty substantial! I ended up palming some of it off to the bf and a couple of my colleagues cause they’d already wolfed their turkey (I’m assured it was very tasty!) and by that point it was getting too late for me to handle a heavy meal. The beef itself was well cooked, and the veggies which came with it were also really nice. Although I did feel the beef was slightly lacking in flavour — I had similarly done beef at the Unilocal Christmas dinner and I probably actually preferred that! Although I maybe should’ve just changed my meal up a bit and that might’ve helped ha.
Now the dessert. Oh my. This was definitely a triumph! The treacle tart was very tasty and rich, I love my cakes/​desserts and this was probably the course I’d been looking forward to the most, so I was very happy indeed! The honeycomb and tuile biscuit were totally divine as well and the little vanilla lollipop (almost ice cream like in consistency but very smooth!) was a fab touch.
As I said before, absolutely cannot fault the service — the staff were constantly filling up our wine/​water and making sure everything was ok, and nothing was too much trouble for them. The music they had playing in the room was a tad strange, felt a bit more like we were in a swanky nightclub than a swanky restaurant, but I’m not taking anything away from them for that!
Great for a properly classy dining experience!

The 8 course degustation plus an amuse bouche with wines at £100 a head is an absolute bargain for the quality ingredients, creative flair and impeccable service that really could not be faulted in any way.
I wish I could detail every course, but that would be impossible unless I took notes as we selected the Chef’s Surprise Menu. I am usually skeptical about selecting these as I feel they really could just come out with whatever is left over from cooking for the other patrons. However, Mark Greenaway manages to really surprise and deliver on expectations.
We were brough everything from soup to pates, to mysterious Japanese-​inspired broth concoctions that could have come out of a science experiments, to scallops, to pork, to beef, to fish, to duck, and 3 desserts. What more could a foodie ask for?
The restaurant ambience is elegant, with table cloths and uniformed waiters. No pretention here, however, and no stingy portions on oversized plates. This place gets it right. A great place for a non-​confronting date night, family dinner or friends.

No exaggeration, this might be the best meal I have ever had. The complexity of the flavours in the millet/​popcorn starter was out of this world, and this wasn’t even what the waiter recommended. The vegetables chosen to accompany the monkfish main course managed to deliver a unique and different taste with each bite without ever overwhelming the underlying flavour. In my opinion that was mega-​impressive.
I deducted a star because the décor /​atmosphere was a tiny bit staid but promptly gave the star back because the dessert knocked me off my seat with delight and the service was immaculate.
I know this review sounds a little melodramatic but it really is this good.

Oh dear oh dear oh dear. That sums up for the most part how I felt about this restaurant. Quite clearly with the greeting upon arrival, service and style of food they are aiming for a coveted Michelin. I would be surprised, to put it mildly, if they received one.
My friend and I decided to opt for the taster menu which promised so much in terms of flavour and variety. We had aperitifs and decided to opt for the matching wines.
I feel as bored writing the review about this place as I did whilst eating the food. So I’ll shorten it down somewhat! A lot of purées, cream (which is all you could taste in the soup) and experiments with hot and cold on the plate which just didn’t come off. I can’t even tell you how horrible the dessert was (apparently a contender in The Great British Menu…) both my friend and I had to leave it and inform the waiter why. I’m not usually so hyper-​critical of the restaurants I go to but I feel for the £240 I spent I received very little in terms of a culinary experience as I would have liked.
Oh and watch your drinks! They like to take them away half finished…
I won’t be going back here and I won’t be recommending it to family or friends. Not sure whether I should give this a two star or not? Having experienced other high end establishments in Edinburgh I have to say your money is better spent in one of those. Over and out :)

Oooooh, a downgrade. Ouch.
After my previous amazing meal at MG, I had been going on about wanting to return for over a year. So, The Man surprised me by booking lunch here on NYE.
My first visit was when the restaurant was located on Picardy Place. Unfortunately I found that the move to N Castle Terrace resulted in a downgrade in surroundings as well as food.
When eating at a restaurant that is aiming for a Michelin star, you don’t expect the wait staff to wear dirty uniforms that are missing buttons, and you don’t expect the stairwell to the toilets to be scuffed and dirty. Once you get to the bottom of the scruffy stairs, you are in a cold, dank corridor that leads you to toilets that were «upgraded» by painting the tiles black. Tiles + paint + time = scratches and general shabbiness. So far, nothing particularly rang of «fine dining.»
This wouldn’t be an issue if the standard of food was what I remembered. My starter (a veloute) was tasty though a bit uninteresting, and in The Man’s pan fried duck egg, the duck egg itself was undercooked to the point of still having clear eggy slime on the top.
I opted for the slow cooked pork belly that stole my heart on my previous visit, and The Man had what I believe must have been the oven roasted salmon. He *loved* the soft shelled crab but found the rest of the dish to be standard fare. My pork belly was nice but dry and lacking in some kind of oomph.
The theme here is that the food was perfectly nice, but wasn’t exciting. Everything was absolutely fine but not what I expected from Mark Greenaway. I’m probably being too extreme in my opinions considering we had three courses for £20 which is a fabulous deal, but if I had paid full price for the food I would have been UNimpressed.
The bright star of the meal was the maitre d’/sommelier. He was wonderful, charming, friendly and spot on with service.
But, unfortunately I left feeling let down. After a year of salivating to go back, I was left wishing we had gone elsewhere.

First review of 2014! (Okay, I’m still about 20 odd behind from Decembers lot!)
Chose here, as reviews were pretty good & had old work colleagues up visiting Edinburgh from London, so thought a nice wee change from ‘chains’ was in order.
Lovely location, but I couldn’t help feeling that the interior layout of the tables, was rather ‘busy’ and felt close together when you first walk in. That said, once I was sat at the table, you actually were quite a way from the next table. It just needs a bit more thought on interior design for first impressions. A new carpet (or one vacuumed!) on the staircase to the bathrooms wouldn’t go a miss! :-)
Anyhoo. onto food and drink. I tried a sample of Pinot Noir & then couldn’t have it as no bottles in stock… offered another option, but was advised it was 50p a glass more. Now, I have no issue with that, but surely if you run out of stock and thats my only other option, you really wouldn’t bother charging a first time customer, a poultry 50 pence more!
We all opted for the Market Menu (2 courses) at £16.50 each. (£20 for 3). Great value, but I didn’t feel the choices were mind blowing particularly. Choice of three dishes and vegetarian option was a porridge.hmm. I don’t like salmon, so my only choice was belly pork. I’m on a new health kick, so belly pork wasn’t ideal! I did ask if we could substitute main course from a la carte menu & pay the surplus — No was the firm answer. Frankly, that doesn’t make sense, as it would have only resulted in us paying the restaurant £30/​40 more…
Service from waiters was excellent. Right balance of attention & leaving you alone, with good humour thrown in. What I didn’t like was the whole shirt and tie suited & booted look from them all. I was pretty smart casual, but even I felt uncomfortably under dressed!
This isn’t a michelin star restaurant & even at that, having dined at michelin starred restaurants, they don’t even try that hard to impress! CHILL! Overly formal & frankly, unnecessary.
Pork Belly crackling was simply the best I’ve had. However, the pork underneath, as well cooked and tender as it was, really didn’t have any individual taste of its own. Quite bland had it not been for the toffee sauce, mash & the crackling.
Peanut butter brittle cheesecake was a work of art & extremely tasty — the saving course of the meal.
Bill came to £82 (minus tip) for 3 people, 3 wines, 2 soft drinks and 3 teas on top of the 2 courses. You can’t really argue with that — fantastic value. Had I dined from the A La Carte, I would have expected much more wow for my buck. When the average main course is £27/​30, you’re looking at a 3 course bill of around £60/​65 for one person with a glass of wine & a coffee.
Would I eat here again? Yes, it’s a nice change from the normal, but I wouldn’t ‘rush’ back and make the trip out specifically.
You Gotta Eat Here — For Sure! :-D

Mark Greenaway Restaurant is classed as posh nosh by me.
It is all a very gentle affair. We went for our anniversary. The manager was in and congratulated us. We were given a glass of Kir Royale complimentary as a gift from them for our years together, thank you!
There wasn’t an à la carte available due to the holiday season, so we had a special menu.
I choose a pheasant tower ravioli with consommé and pumpkin seeds as a starter. For mains I selected the Lamb which came with a rosemary jus. And as a dessert I had a ‘Knot’ chocolate dish with kumquat sauce.
We were also given an amuse bouche to start — which was a very tasty pumpkin foamy thing with coriander. Very tasty.
I appreciated that the waiter advised when ordering that the lamb will be served pink; «as Mark likes it that way to bring out the flavours».
Their sommelier suggested a pinot noir from the burgundy area to compliment the delicate flavours and it was an OKish choice. The wine did really shine at the dessert though as it went very well with the chocolate. for a £45 bottle of wine I did expect a little more though from this wine. It was lacking.
As I said before — the food was delicate, good flavours, but ever so light and precious.
We finished the meal with some special coffees and they kindly ordered us a taxi.
In all it was just as I expected, no faults and very well crafted. The place did fill up but I never felt crowded.
A well deserved 4 stars for a first visit.

I’ve had the pleasure of eating at Mark Greenaway 3 or 4 times now. I have to say it has been a pleasure each time and I continuously look forward to returning again. The service is excellent, the food is sublime (make sure you have desserts!) and the location is brilliant for us.
Of note I highly recommend the Market Menu which is 3 courses for £20 currently which is incredible for the food and service you get.
Highly recommended!

They only have one rose wine served by the glass — taste it first!

I have to say I was ridiculously excited about my visit to Restaurant Mark Greenaway For my boyfriends 30^th birthday. Not only had Mark featured on Great British Menu last month but it was my first visit to the new site on North Castle Street apart from a quick chat with the infamous chef previously and a fab meal at the last place.
It seemed such a long time and long wait with baited breath since Mark announced his plans to move from Picardy Place to an unknown location, in what seemed a very exciting move for a chef who seems to be going from strength to strength in the Edinburgh food scene.
As always on enetering Loic the sommelier extroidinaire greeted us warmly amd seated us at the table which was elegantly laid out by the lovely Georgian windows. The Restaurant is located in what used to be a bank and retains many of the original features including a vault! More on that later. The restaurant is decorated in subtle colours with an amazing chandelier that gives a romantic glow when the sun goes down.
We all decided to go with the A La Carte Menu as it was a celebration. Dishes tasted included expertly seasoned Scallops, wood pidgeon and a ham hock terrine — all devoured. One of our friends who had the pidgeon literally ran out of words talking about their starter
I ordered monkfish in a red wine reduction with octopus and mark went for the 11 hour slow roasted pork belly with pomme purée, savoy cabbage and toffee apple jus. Which I kind of wanted myself!
The monkfish was really lovely and not something I would have normally chosen but it came recommended by Loic. I have to also say the wines he chose for us were FANTASTIC and really reasonable in comparison to other restaurants where you struggle to get a good, reasonable wine under £40!
Mark’s pork belly is a dish I just adore. The well –sourced meat was juicy and full of taste, the crackling perfectly crunchy without being too hard and the mash was smooth as silk. The toffee apple jus was not too sweet and a great modern twist on the classic pork and apple pairing. One of our friends had the duck course from GBM and loved it!
Now for the dessert course, with the Chocolate Knot tart — my third time — a broken chocolate tart with crème fraiche parfait, frozen cookies, salted caramel and kumquat purée, not to mention popping candy which again you may have seen on Great British Menu?
As I mentioned before they have the wine cellar in the bank vaults and Loic gave us the grand tour which is a rather novel touch to the dining experience. Definitely a five star experience for me!

This could only ever have been 5 stars!
After the much publicised closure of Mark Greenaways restaurant at Piccardy Place we all waited with baited breath to find out where he was heading to. From his words at the Foodies Christmas Fair to his updates on twitter he was giving nothing away. So clandestine was this becoming that a head chef from another restaurants comment on twitter that he looked forward to having Mark as a neighbour lead to the rumour he was off to the Royal Mile. Then, just two weeks ago, he announced his new location as 67 North Castle Street the site of a former Italian Restaurant and once upon a time an RBS branch.
I was delighted to have a reason for booking for opening weekend, as Stephs parents are in town for their birthday weekend and we couldn’t think of anywhere we would rather take them. So roughly 3 minutes after the announcement of the new restaurant was made I had my reservation request sent. Roll on two weeks and last night was the night I’ve been waiting for, all the more eagerly after such positive comments from those who attended the launch party and Unilocalers Jackie. G and Claire. L who were there for opening night.
The first thing that strikes you upon entering in that all of the staff have stayed with Mark, infant he confirmed later he didn’t lose any of his staff despite being closed for 7 weeks. Once seated you soon see that Mark and his team have been able to recreate the wonderful ambiance the had at Piccardy Place. To the menu and from the à la carte it was good to see he has kept the favourites while also introducing something new to lift the menu further.
Once we had ordered, the sommelier Loic who we have gotten to know was kind enough to show us his new wine vault, with this having been an RBS the original vault in the basement remains. Given how little time they have has to prepare its amazing how much they have achieved. The wood work and the style they have given this room is really impressive. Loic explained that they intend to further develop the vault and diner will be able to select their wines with an illustrated world map on the wall providing further details. Loic will also be on hand advising and giving diners tasting samples of suggested pairing wines.
As soon as we sat down we were presented with our amuse bouchée, as espuma on f shallots. Can’t such much about this other than it was delicious. Slight sweetness with earthy undertones it was a great way to start our meal.
For my starter I chose the pave of pigs cheek, served with warm apple jelly, apple purée a flavoured meringue, the pave is wrapped in beetroot carpaccio. This is a dish which has gone through a few developments since I first had it at the Great British Menu party and its only gotten better. The balance of the deep flavour of the cheek with apple and beetroot is superb. It’s a dish I would happily order again and again.
For my main I went for the tasting of lamb. Succulent tender lamb, deep jus, aromatic rosemary, buttery mash and earthy brussel sprouts… delicious! The lamb came three ways, a loin chop, a piece of filet and some leg. The flavour of the lamb was just incredible, the seasoning brought out the taste as much as Amy producer could hope for.
To finish I decided to revisit a favourite of mine the broken citrus tarte. This dish simply put is a work of art in appearance and just as tasty. The zing of the parfait is beautifully matched by the coconut, watermelon cubes clean the palate and the pistachio purée adds another dimension when combined. After dinner Loic was also kind enough to take me back to the vault and give me a sample of the most incredible muscat I have ever tasted, larger quantities will be required when my dry January has finished.
All in all the meal was superb, Stephs parents were delighted and then even more so when they had a good ten minute chat with the man himself Mr Greenaway. Mark is such a friendly guy and willingness to chat to customers at the end of a service does him great credit. With the excitement that has surrounded this opening I can say the product more than lives up the hype. Undoubtedly they have a lot of work to do but with Marks inventive cooking and the team he has around him I am confident this new venture will be a massive success.
Restaurant Mark Greenaway comes highly JD Recommended!

There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that this restaurant is deserving of a 5* review. Without a doubt, the best eating experience I’ve had in my life. Mark Greenaway is a fantastic chef and his refreshingly contemporary menu definitely reflects this.
I was asked from my lovely boyfriend what I’d like for my birthday, and all I could think of was a nice meal out, and he told me to book the place of my choice. I wonder if he meant that 100%, but I took it upon myself to book a table for the opening weekend of Mark Greenaway’s spectacular new restaurant on 69 North Castle Street. We headed in this evening a bit earlier (damn you Edinburgh road works!), but made it in plenty of time.
Upon entering the restaurant, which by the way is absolutely beautiful; with it’s high chandelier, intimate colour choices and exquisitely laid tables, our coats were taken by the lovely host and we were seated next to the window; how lovely and romantic considering it was snowing! The staff in here are the best at their job, from setting tables, to offering drinks, to the waitress who brought our courses to us and explained how each course was made and how Mark suggests you eat it. Our orders were taken, our wine was poured, and Colin and I immediately began chatting about our love for the place.
Our aperitifs were brought out; with a beautiful shallot amuse bouche, which were thoroughly enjoyed. For my starter I ordered the crab cannelloni with smoked cauliflower custard, lemon pearls, herb butter, baby coriander and beetroot mayo, and Colin ordered the red wine risotto with hen egg. Oh God, you think you’ve tasted good crab before, but you’ve not until you’ve been here. The way Mark makes it it’s in 2 different parts of the dish, and thought most people would eat from the top of a dish to the bottom, Mark suggests you try both simultaneously. I did, and I enjoyed. Thoroughly!
Our wonderful waiting staff cleared the table, before our main courses were brought to the table. Colin had the pan roasted hake fillet, with a lobster tortellini, purple mash, fennel and dill purée and pumpkin, and I ordered the 11 hour slow roasted pork belly, with spiced fillet, pomme purée, savoy cabbage and toffee apple jus. This is without a doubt the best meal I’ve ever eaten. The pork was so tender and beautifully cooked, whilst the beautiful fat crackling on top was crisp and so tasty. The spiced fillet was cooked medium rare and was exquisite and everything on the plate just complimented each other so well.
If all that wasn’t enough, for desserts I had the broken lemon tart, with yuzu parfait, frozen shortbread, pistachio purée, compact watermelon and coconut jelly, and Colin had the chocolate fondant. I’m not a dessert eater normally, but wow. WOW. Exquisite.
Must make a note of how great our wine was. I’m positive it was an Australian rosé but I’m not 100%. Wonderful though, so crispy and tangy but fruity at the same time.
I had to ask our waiter to give compliments to the chef, something I’ve never done, because I was so impressed. Mark is an outstanding chef, and I will most definitely be back here again and again.

Go Unilocalers, go Unilocalers, go! 69 North Castle St for Restaurant Mark Greenaway is open for business and it is divine! OMG it was beautiful and everything I had been waiting less than patiently for!
I had never visited Librizzis, the previous incarnation of the site but I was über excited that Mark was finally opening again. I wanted to pork out on piggy so badly and on a snowy Edinburgh night I got my wish.
This was opening night but things ran smoothly with lovely, attentive staff. The restaurant has a different layout to no12 Picardy Place but the teal walls, dark stained wooden floors and gorgeous windows gave the restaurant a lovely intimate atmosphere (which clearly worked on one couple who snogged constantly between courses). The downstairs will be getting worked on with awesome plans afoot for the private dining room :-)
Loic the sommelier was fab, fabulous knowledge and recommendations and the wine cellar is awesome. Way back in the day, the building was a bank (RBS) and now Loic has commandeered the former bank vault for a wine cellar. We visited and tried a gorgeous pinot noir (v light with almost a slight edge of white citrus) but Jackie G wasn’t quite ready to go full red and we ended up sharing a gorgeously refreshing sauvignon semillion.
Being the generally depressing month January is, we were both set on pud before we arrived so we ordered mains and pud, rather than 3 courses which was just enough. A shallot amuse bouche with basil oil was brought for us to have and it was lovely. Forming and warmed, it was literally tantalising our taste buds for what was to come. Yep, the pork belly is still on the menu and is my idea of pig heaven! I could have tried something else but being so fat phobic about meat, having pork belly which melts in the mouth is simply amazing and with Mark out of the scene for a couple of months, I would have killed for this dish. Combined with the caramel apple jus, savoy cabbage, apple cubes and pomme purée, I was literally in pig heaven! I had tried some of Jackie G’s Aberdeen angus and it was gorgeous! Big slab of meat, cute little potato croquettes and gorgeously sticky and meaty bone marrow, complete with a lovely rich bone marrow gravy — yum!
We did do our plates justice but had a bit of a break to re-​group before plunging into the dessert menu. I had the jam jar (pic posted) and as the snow kept coming down, it wad the perfect comfort food on a cold night. Plum compote, custard foam and rice pudding, it was just so yummy. A pear sorbet presented on the jar lid with a caramelised plum strip on top was gorgeous! Jackie went for the chocolate torte which was fab — sticky ginger drops, kumquat, dark chocolate and what tasted like space dust lite version (which buzzed nicely in the mouth) was fab too!
Loic came over after we discussed having digestives. A gorgeous Aussie dessert wine was provided for us to sample which Jackie went for and after spying port, I couldn’t resist. Our drinks and a chat with Mark and Nicola rounded off a fabulous night. I’ll definitely be back v soon — food was gorgeous and I have to say, OMG, still stands for (breathy voice) Oh Mark Greenaway…

Now, I’m starting (OK, well starting is probably a poor word) to sound like a whinger. And I am not just talking about the review that follows, but I’ve noticed a trend of contrary reviews. That’s ok, I try to keep myself unbiased as best I can, and to that regard, I award 4 stars, a drop from 5.
*audible gasp from the audience*
There are reasons, oh yes there is, and I still regard MG as some sort of culinary god. But, it’s a new menu, and I think it needs to get of it’s training wheels. Flavours-​wise don’t feel quite together yet. Presentation, as always, flawless. Service struggled with a table of 18, but was pleasant throughout, but time between courses was quite long, but I put that down to the sheer effort in presentation, however glasses were rarely empty (although my other half did observe as he didn’t drink wine, he wasn’t offered anything else to drink bar water). I came away with the same satisfied feeling as before and did have a fabulous evening, but perhaps with less wow involved.
So apart from time, the amuse bouche — celeriac (yum) and the flavour in the espuma packed a punch, but not quite sure red amaranth and a very surprisingly solid hazelnut matched in either flavour or texture.
Starter: crab cannelloni and smoked cauliflower custard. Presentation was… just … awesome. An inspirational dish. But… it was so cold there were ice crystals inside the cannelloni (which with the spinach butter acting as the pasta, it made sense to be so cold) which I didn’t particularly enjoy. The display of releasing the applewood smoke and the flavours in the smoked cauliflower custard was fantastic and surpassed the cannelloni itself.
For my main, I went for the hake. I will note, which I hadn’t noticed on my previous visit, that there is a major lack of vegetarian meals — starter, yes, but not main course, which I do find curious. In that manner, I am of course, biased. The hake was beautifully cooked, and I do recommend that the broth is added, it was delicious. The purple potato mash was the best item on the plate (with a nod to Bodger and Badger, I do love me some mashed potato) — the flavour in the potato were beautifully captured. I did notice that mashed potato was a popular theme in the dishes around me as well. Again, I am mesmerised by the detail in the dish in front of me.
Finally, as I couldn’t really say no (similar to last time really) to desert and this time, went for the broken lemon tart. That was a fun looking dish! It reminded my (looks-​wise, not flavour) of Bassetts Liquorice Allsorts. The lemon tart pieces were fab, and shortbread base, packed full of buttery goodness. I *think* there was a lemon ice cream — that didn’t really stand out for me, flavours were too close to the tart to be discernible — and coconut jelly, which to be honest, had attracted me to the dish in the first place — but it was utterly lacking in flavour — definitely felt like a dud. A week on though, the sharpness of the lemon tart sticks more in my mind. And I am not thinking about the fact I ate jelly for the first time in a long time (veggie no no, I am a bad girl as i didn’t check for gelatine).
Anyway, overall, if you went to MG for a beautifully presented meal, which is executed flawlessly, you won’t be sorry. And I suspect, that if I returned in a few months time, or longer, that the meal I had tonight will have changed and improved. New babies need to learn to crawl, and this menu is no different.

The great writer Virgina Woolf once wrote «One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.»
Well, last Thursday night, a private dining table of Unilocalers thought well and went home to a happily sound sleep after dining at No.12 Picardy Place… and I know we all fell in love with the delicious food and wonderful experience we had.
I’ve been waiting on the perfect opportunity to dine at No.12 Picardy Place, and the chance to sample the new menu with such wonderful company was too good to miss.
Mr Greenaway kindly settled us into a private dining area, and our service was impeccable from start to finish. Our waiting staff were friendly, attentive and had the right balance of being highly professional, but completely approachable. The restaurant itself is beautifully designed with a clever mix of classic and contemporary, and provided a perfect venue for a memorable meal.
However, as Ms Woolf quite rightly points out, the dining is the most important part of the happiness experience, and blimey were we happy. Every single dish was admired, gushed over and appreciated fully before we even lifted our forks and knives.
For me, it was a starter of Hand-​Dived Orkney Sea Scallops which were prepared perfectly and served on a pomme fondant. Tender, sweet and wonderfully balanced with tomato jelly and parsley mayonnaise. I have never savoured a dish so much… until my main course! Pan Roasted Hake fillet was next with purple mash, lobster tortellini and pumpkin. It was delicate, and so fresh I suspect it leaped straight out of the sea onto my plate. The combination of flavours was sublime, the dish was beautifully presented and my plate was spotless at the end.
During my meal I had a couple of glasses of a tasty Sauvignon Blanc, which went well with my seafood starter and main course and, at £5 a glass, was excellent value.
To end, I choose a Chocolate Fondant with a vanilla tuile, white chocolate mousse and tonka bean ice cream. This was again presented with such elegance, and was absolutely delicious. Every element combined well and the dish had the right balance of hot & cold, sweet (but not overly!) with the rich cocoa working well with orange caviar.
Everything was relaxed, each dish was served at just the right time and the conversations flowed. As a wonderful conclusion, we had a visit from Mark and a personal tour around the new hotel rooms upstairs from the restaurant. They were absolutely gorgeous, and excellent value for money, as was our meal.
As I was finishing this review, I pondered the thoughts of one Mr Mark Twain, who wrote, «When one has tasted it, he knows what the angels eat»…
…after this meal, I think we would all agree it was just like Heaven!

Our dinner started with the most amazing amuse bouche (celeriac and hazelnuts and other goodness). I really couldn’t get enough of it.
Then my starter arrived. LOVE at first sight. A beautiful radicchio risotto with a hens egg. This was lush. Loved it. My main was aged rump with a marrow jus and some roasted veg. I didn’t love it. It was good and the technique was all there but the roasted veg wasn’t all that and the meat didn’t melt in my mouth as I would have expected. My dessert was abstract art on a plate. Broken lemon tart. I didn’t really get the concept of it and should’ve gone with the pear four ways, which looked amazing.
Overall the food was good. It showed great technique and art but I expected a wee bit more flavorwise. Next time I will be going for the pork belly, hands down and the pear.