The Edinburgh Larder Bistro

Eh, really not impressed. Another place we were really hoping to love, but were sadly disappointed. The location is nice, farmhouse-​chic, with nice mood lighting and music. That is about where the positives ended. Our service was a bit all over the place and after our food was delivered, we were pretty much avoided.
As for the food, it was pretty uninspired. We had brought some out-​of-​town guests here and we were a bit embarrassed. One person ordered the chicken and it was just a roasted piece of chicken leg with some smashed potatoes. I mean, it was fine, but it lacked any seasoning or anything that would otherwise make it stand out from something you just cook at home. The entire table had a variety of chicken, fish, and meat and we all had the impression that things were seriously under-​seasoned and just not very interesting. Even the desserts underwhelmed.
Overall, I think this place could be nice, but they need to deal with some staffing issues and primarily think about where the food is going. You can do local, organic. «homey» food without it tasting bland and boring.

What an uncomfortable experience. We were really excited to come for dinner here. So when our experience was lacking in so many areas we felt quite let down.
The service by the staff (save the GM) was abysmal.
Me and my young daughter were sat. While we waited for my partner we were given menus. I asked if we could sit in the booths, as it’s easier for my daughter to cope in the booth, yet she responded that only parties of 4 got booths. I looked to my right and the 2 occupied booths both had 2 people in them.
Shortly after another couple stumbled in, the same waitress attended them and asked them how many were in their party at which they said, «we aren’t sure 3 or maybe 4»… She seemed flustered but sat them in the booth. This was really annoying to me, but I just wanted to have a nice dinner so I decided to ignore it. My partner showed up and we order. We got our food and the waitress avoided our table like the plague. Not even once did she come to see if we needed anything. Totally rude.
The food was meh. The chicken leg was nice, the potato cake and vegetables were uninspired. My daughters food totally lacked in flavour. Such a shame, with such high quality ingredients to have food that didn’t even compare to our Sunday roast. The whole experience left us feeling upset and underwhelmed. The actual place is quite nice and the music was fab… If only the waitress had an attitude adjustment and the menu was revised. Such a shame.

Part of this restaurant includes a fantastic artisan bakery. When a team member has a birthday we order a cake which is always freshly baked in the morning, personalised for the recipient and delicious. Plus the selection is great for the health conscious who want less sugar — our team favourites include apple and parsnip /​chocolate and beetroot /​carrot and ginger — Yes they might weird, but honestly they are truly scrummy!

I am a big fan of Edinburgh Larder’s café and tried the Bistro some time early last year, leaving feeling that it was not the best value for money. Portion sizes not reflective of the cost.
However, looking at their most recent menu, all has changed. They have some great options and mix ‘n’ match combinations at very reasonable prices. On the basis of that, I decided it would be a good place to take grandparents to for a family lunch.
It’s a beautiful space. Big, open and airy. The conservatory at the back is one of the nicest environments in town for a meal. It has a very ‘seaside cottage’ feel to it.
I ordered the beetroot soup to start. It was overly sweet, under seasoned and lacked any depth of flavour. It wasn’t bad, it was just ‘meh’. For my main I had the chicken and whitebait salad. It was pleasant enough. A bit stingy on the chicken and the dressing was very thin. It did what it said on the tin, I suppose.
I also tried some of the puy lentil salad and the potato salad. They were ordered as part of the 3 ‘small’ salads combo. I was impressed with the portion sizes. There was nothing small about these salads! Both were tasty and for £7.50 for three, excellent value.
Staff were friendly and we had no complaints about service.
Overall, It’s a really cosy, comfortable place to spend some time and have something to eat. The food was average on this occasion (it was much better on my last visit, if overpriced) but offers nothing to make it stand out. I’d be happy to return but wouldn’t make a point of it.

This is my third and probably last visit to the Edinburgh larder.
I had bought vouchers for a two course lunch & coffee for myself and 7 friends so we could go out for my birthday.
The two stars is because the food was nice but the service was terrible, actually so bad it I had to laugh.
They accidentally cancelled my booking on their computer and manually added it back in on the wrong day so when my friend arrived ahead of me, they advised that there was no booking (I had the email confirmation) anyway, they found us a table but then gave us the wrong menus for our lunch offer. 20 minutes passed before we got a drinks order taken then only half the table was asked before the server disappeared. They asked 4 times to confirm the starter order then brought out 1 soup short then had run out of the soup and offered another soup (they wasn’t on the menu)
The food took forever and we were in the restaurant an hour before we got our starters and the two course lunch took 2 hours 15 minutes.
They brought some potato wedges and a bottle of sparkling water to apologise for all the errors. The food was nice but just too much hassle and rather put me on edge as the host than let me enjoy my birthday lunch.

This is the 4^th time we visited.
Please note that I think the place is lovely, the service is super friendly and the ingredients are sourced local and where available organic.
However we have yet to have an outstanding meal.
I can’t see how such an array of wonderful source of ingredients can produce just OK ish food.
Is it the chef? Is it the quality of ingredients? I don’t know.
This visit we have been on a Living Social voucher set meal.
Offered was a prosecco and a choice of 2 coursed out of 3 starters, 3 mains and 3 desserts.
The prosecco was a little too dry and not very pleasant to drink — happens sometimes — personal taste and not their doing of course. I may have benefitted from a splash of Crème de cassis to sweeten it up a bit?
We got a complimentary bread and herb (& garlic?) butter. Standard.
For starter I had the wild mushroom soup and which was tasty. The bread served was the same as the basket.
For main we both took the Rump of Lamb, with stem broccoli, spring onions, sliced cream potato and a jus. As advised the lamb was served pink.
The portion was adequate, I personally would have loved more of the potato as that was very well prepared and just a 2′ square didn’t do it justice. The bottom part of the broccoli was a little tough (el dente?).
The lamb was well cooked and indeed pinkish as promised, taste wise however it lacked seasoning, which was offset by the jus. I did decided to ask for some additional jus as there just wasn’t enough to mop up. It wasn’t the juiciest of meats, but I had much worse served in other places. So OK.
The spring onions were for some strange reason not easy to digest or chew, I spent a good deal masticating, but had to admit defeat.
The dessert was a selection of ice cream and cookies supplied by Affagato Ice Cream parlour from across the road. It was again ok, but it was just that tiny bit crystallised, it was a bit grainy — the spoon did not slice through, but was glaciered and skirting on the surface of the scoop. Weird.
In conclusion: again I was underwhelmed and dissapointed. I so wanted to have a great experience and after giving them several opportunities the Edinburgh Larder Bistro just fails to deliver for me.

After having the Edinburgh Larder Bistro’s most amazing sample of chocolate ganache at the amazing Unilocal Winterfall Wonderland event, my interest was piqued and I couldn’t wait to try the restaurant itself. I was sorely disappointed. First, during Unilocal’s Brunchy Munchy, I thought my pancakes with bacon tasted ok but were quite overpriced for two itsy bitsy pancakes and a lack of friendliness on the part of the staff. The restaurant was attractively decorated and they did accommodate our large group, but without much grace as many others really didn’t like what they were served.
Although I really wanted to like the Edinburgh Larder Bistro because of their mission to serve good quality food made from locally-​sourced ingredients, I was on the fence after the brunch about whether I liked this place. I wanted to give it a second try, so my boyfriend and I purchased a groupon for a two-​course lunch here. Since I work from home and his work is also flexible, we had brought our backpacks with our computers with us so we could work from New Town in the afernoon. When we showed up at our appointed time for our reservation, the staff looked us up and down and led us to the back room (they obviously wanted to hide us in the back!). At our table, the woman looked us up and down again and, after a long pause and looking disdainingly at our bags, said that other customers would be coming in and sitting next to us so could she take our bags to the other room since they would need the space? She could have framed this much more tactfully and asked if she could help us by relieving us of our bags by taking them out of our way!
Although things had a rocky start, I liked the simple menu of just a few items that were the fresh specialties of the day made from in-​season, local ingredients. We both had the mushroom soup to start. The soup was good and better than a run-​of-​the-​mill cream of mushroom soup but it wasn’t too special or memorable. Since we had heard about the Larder Bistro’s great bread and thought that bread would be the perfect addition to our starter, we were a bit sad that we weren’t served any. Later, during our main course, we were frustrated to see other customers were served bread with their soup while we had not been!
For my main, I had the fish. While I was expecting a flavourful, locally-​caught fish, I was underwhelmed by the dish. Although it scored high on presentation and looked quite pretty, it’s taste wasn’t on the same calibre. To make things worse, when I was over half-​way through my meal I found a hair in my dish. I didn’t think it was mine but then again I wasn’t quite sure. I ate a bit more from other parts of my plate but that was the not-​so-​perfect end to our lunch.
Even though the Larder Bistro might had wanted more posh customers and we didn’t seem to meet their expectations, they should have treated us just as well as the other customers (the two older ladies sitting a few tables away, or the couple sitting behind us – and, no, there was still no one actually sitting at either of the tables next to us!). The other customers were welcomed warmly, had their coats kindly taken out of their way and received bread with their soup. We aren’t slobs and we were a bit taken aback by the poor service and underwhelming lunch after hearing such lovely reviews prior to our visits here. In the future, I hope that the staff become more friendly and caring and that the quality of the food matches the prices they are charging for it.

I’ve only so far been to the Edinburgh Larder Bistro once, but I like the cut of its various locally sourced food items.
I was here for the first Unilocal Elite event of the year, so was lucky in that I got to try a variety of dishes (and attempt to guess what they were) from my first encounter with pigs trotters (I would NEVER ever have guessed that’s what they were) to really delicious stovies. There’s a definite creativity to the dishes here, and it doesn’t at all seem run-​of-​the-​mill, and they have lots of brilliant Scottish suppliers which is always an awesome thing to support. Everything is seasonally fresh and the menu changes in accordance, so you know you’re getting the best of what’s out there in Scotland.
As a spot in the west end to pop into for a cosy, relaxed meal with friends I would definitely recommend it, and in fact, I need to be making a booking along those lines very soon.

After returning for a second try, I feel even more underwhelmed by my experience. The soup was lacking depth in flavour to match what was a good texture. Salt and pepper didn’t help the cause. Bread with the soup would have been nice too. We weren’t even offered and since we were sat alone in the back, it wasn’t until we finished our meal and others seated around us ordered soup, did we realise that bead was supposed to come with the meal.
My main course was alright. Visually pleasing. I had the chicken dish which was good. I was confused by the addition of olive oil that was drizzled on the gravy. Just seemed to make the dish oily without adding to the flavour.
As for my partner’s dish, she had the fish which seemed well presented and cooked until I found a long hair in the vegetable side.
The only positive that I can take away from our second visit was the presentation on the plate was visually appealing but, much to my displeasure again, that’s about where it ends.
All in all, after visiting a couple of times I’ve become less impressed every time I have tried the Larder. This is unfortunate because I was quite impressed with the couple of times the Edinburgh Larder help events in conjunction with Unilocal (the winter event and the blind tasting). I hate to think that they only try to put their best foot forward when trying to impress reviews and not when its the random customer off the street.

An underground bistro with splashes of light flowing in!
I can imagine this place being popular in the evening and on dull days where it is nice to be tucked away and feel the warmth of a cozy get together. But when the sun is shining, you might be missing out on a nice few hours of delight.
Recently I enjoyed a brunch there with my fellow Unilocaler’s and whilst I was really impressed by my company, the food left a bit of a disappointment.
I am sure that the food served is very nice, but in that instance my expectations were a bit high and less to my taste.
Gladly, the coffee was nice and there is nothing that stands in my way to go back for another brunch.

Went to the Edinburgh Larder Bistro a couple of times, first time for brunch, second time for lunch. On both occasions, I had a voucher deal, which is always great to try somewhere new.
The brunch was OK, mine was actually really good, I had the smoked salmon on home made bread, the only downside was it was actually a very small portion and that I was still famished afterwards. My brunch buddy had the veggie full breakfast, which was fine apart for a lump of potatoes and carrots that didn’t have their place on the plate, and would have been better replaced by a home-​made tomato relish or something else.
The lunch was OK, but not exciting. We had leek and ham soup, which was delicious, with some crispy bacon. Thumbs up for the soup! However, the choice of mains was fairly limited, so we opted for the coley. The fish itself came perfectly cooked, the chips were OK, but the steamed broccoli and cauliflower were a bit sad and bland. That dish could have really done with a bit of a ‘wow’ factor! Oh and last but not least, they forgot to bring the two glasses of wine we had ordered. I had to ask for them, which means that they arrived after we had finished the starter.
Overall, not a bad experience, but the place doesn’t live up to its expectations, which is a real shame. I do like the wooden décor though.

That was some breakfast — lovely black pudding, scrambled eggs done to a T and the juiciest of sausages. The toast was a little dry when unaccompanied, and the bacon mainly fat (but not to worry about that on a one-​off basis). This was my first trip here and it’s a delightful spot, tucked away under some of Edinburgh’s finest stone facades between the West End and the diplomatic quarter. They looked after us well, accommodated 20 as easily as they did the couples that peppered the rest of the space and the whole place felt relaxed and airy. Much of this is down to the courtyard area, which only seats about a dozen but opens up the whole restaurant. I may well be back, though I’m not often in this part of town to eat — great to know it’s there though.

Excellent Scottish bistro located just off Queensferry Street at the West End. I came for the pre-​theatre menu and left a seriously happy chappy. Three courses down the hatch and every one delicious.
Relaxed ambience with candle-​lit tables and wooden surrounds. The restaurant itself is spacious and has a pleasant and accommodating staff that were only too happy to recommend dishes and give us some culinary pointers.
I had the pâté starter, fish main and apple & custard pudding. My only negative would be the brandy custard on the pudding; it was a bit too overpowering for me, but then I’m not a big fan of booze in food. Other than that an absolutely lovely dinner and I’ve already booked a return pre-​theatre meal!
It’s the perfect place to fill up on really good quality grub before winging your way to Filmhouse, Usher Hall, Traverse or Lyceum. Cannot recommend more.

Edinburgh Larder Bistro menu is about to change. but before that happens, me and my husband decided to pay a visit to sample the current menu. It was especially tempting after the fantastic Unilocal blindfold tasting event last week.
I was hesitating between two options on the menu: venison and pheasant. I wasn’t too keen on the pearl barley risotto which accompanied the venison but fancied the pheasant’s side veg instead. So I explained my dilemma to the waitress and she kindly offered to swap the side dishes.
I didn’t go for a starter, but my husband had the pigeon, which was melt-​in-​the-​mouth stuff.
Mains arrived. Venison was plated prettily and I could already see it was perfectly cooked. I took a bite. ‘Oh my god’ It was so good indeed. So soft and tender, and well seasoned and the vegetables and potatoes all went well together.
Now how about a dessert? Yes please! I chose the chocolate tart which came with sea buck thorn and ice cream. The waitress bought two spoons (just in case). I’m afraid I ate most of the tart (apart from one spoonful for husband) — well I did offer.
The tart was both light and rich at the same time — and it really needs to be shared.
I ate too much of it, but that is a lesson for me to learn :)
So friendly service again from the Edinburgh Larder Bistro. This is soon turning out to be one of my favourite places to dine in this city!

Pork pie.
That’s all you need to know for this review: pork pie.
Ok, well maybe a little more description. Most of which will revolve around the description of the pie, the taste of the pie, the scraped clean plate /​board that the pie rested on, and the picture of the pie (see my uploaded photo!)
The interesting thing is, it wasn’t really a pie — not the traditional one-​person pie, or even a slice of a larger pie. It must have been more like a long terrine-​shaped log of pie, cut into square slices.
The inside of the pie had no gravy, but also no gellatine. Instead, it was pure pulled pork. Big chunks of pork, tender and moist.
The pastry was quite thick and buttery and crumbly but substantial. I like it, the lovely Leila A commented it wasn’t like normal pastry. I agree, but I liked it.
It came presented on a wooden board with some winter chutney (like the filling on a mincemeat pie), coleslaw, salad, and beautiful home-​made oatcakes. The oatcakes were a bit confusing — the pie was perfect as it was, and there was nothing to put on the oatcakes. So of course Leila and I asked to take them away, tucked up in napkins, for supper that evening.
The Edinburgh Larder Bistro is tucked in basement level on a street that is itself tucked into the West End. It may not get much footfall. But I’d urge anyone to seek it out. The menu is traditional Scottish, cooked beautifully, with some interesting twists.
I was here for lunch and it was cosy. There are booths, bigger tables, the staff are very friendly and I would happily come back here weekly for a special lunch or dinner.

Recently, at Unilocal’s Winterfall Wonderland we had a chance to sample some delicious treats from The Edinburgh Larder. So when brunch was suggested it was the only choice.
We booked in advance as there were quite a number of us, though The Edinburgh Larder isn’t as popular as I expected on a Sunday morning/​afternoon. They have a brunch menu specifically for Sundays which is packed full of the usual scrambled eggs and bacon but also includes some nice treats such as pumpkin drop scones, soft-​boiled duck eggs and delicious sour dough bread.
The venue is quite nice, all wood and twisted metal with blue and green hues. Very relaxing! Since the Bistro is in a basement I was expecting it to be dark but they have done some stellar tricks to make the lighting quite natural and bright.
I had the soft boiled duck egg and my eyes lit up when I was presented with three eggs (I was very happy!) and some delicious buttery toast with watercress. The OH had salmon and scrambled eggs which were up to standard (but, quote, not as good as mine… he knows just what to say!) while elsewhere on the table there were full breakfasts, which I sampled the black pudding off and it was lovely, and some poached egg with ham dishes. Everything was good quality and prepared very well. I should note that one of our party had been the week before for brunch and the dishes were slightly different (think bacon instead of ham) but the menu the same. I, personally, would take this as a good thing because it implies everything is fresh!
The Edinburgh Larder offers a selection of teas from Eteaket and their coffee is from Artisan Roast so no comment is needed there (it’s all good!)
We had some minor problems with the service, our dishes took a while (though I assume that it was so everything could come at once) and our waitress couldn’t answer a few questions we had about the menu. Minor things but definitely means I can’t give the 5 star rating I would like to give the food!
All in all a lovely Sunday!

What a delight! A great new place in the West End. Being friend’s with the chef I have to promote this place but I must admit it’s a great place. The food is fresh and tasty and quite Scandinavian in style.
Staff were extremely friendly and helpful and the food we ordered was beautifully presented.
I went for a Fennel salad to start with (which is unusual for me!) and the Skirt Steak for mains, followed by a delicious chocolate tart. My companion went for Stornoway black pudding, with duck egg and piccalilli which worked very well. The seasonal mixed vegetables is presented as a frittata which is quite different too.
I saw other people having the cheese board which did look delicious and small enough to not be overpowering!
Have a look at their website and give it a go.
It looks tiny when you walk in but through the back is a lovely, bright conservatory area which is very nice indeed!
It’s a nice wee haven in the city from all the hustle and bustle of town! I hope it does well and gets a lot more visitors :)

The Edinburgh Larder Bistro is brand new (open one month). It has some kinks to work out; we waited at the door with no one to help us for a long time and eventually tracked down a host, and it is a bit hidden on Alva street, hopefully they will get enough foot traffic. However, the food and wine menu does not need tampering!
The meat and produce was seasonal Scottish and the preparation was absolutely delicious. It was a bit difficult to eat around dairy and gluten allergies, but hopefully the next season’s menu will be more favorable to common concerns like that. Also, if you dont have those concerns, then there are many, many appealing things to choose from!
We ordered, due to allergies, all starters: The Fennel and Chicory Salad, The Lamb with Minted Hummus, Wood Pigeon, Smoked Salmon and side salad. All were excellently prepared and the flavours stood out from other restaurants. Even the simple side salad was superb-​would love it as a larger dinner portion.
The restaurant itself is very small and well laid out, as it was warm, well lit (read: not dark, cozy, and I could read the menu without aid) and intimate feeling. We sat in the conservatory, which was somewhat brighter than the main dining room. It was probably one of my favorite dining spaces in Edinburgh so far: comfortable, modern, clean lines, and still very warm and inviting.
Even with the allergies I will be going back to the Edinburgh Larder Bistro, and I would recommend it to others