The Birdcage Bar & Restaurant

Hmmm… despite the surroundings the staff at the birdcage didn’t get off to the best of starts…
A beautiful sunny day with an entire restaurant empty and the only other table besides ours was next to us outside. In spite of having more staff than you could shake a stick at I still had to go inside to firstly get hold of a menu so that we could order. We were quite hungry so thought a couple of snack plates out in the sunshine would be nice. 10 minutes later we’d still not had our drinks order taken. Along comes a waitress… one Passionfruit Margarita and a coke please. No problem. 10 minutes after that someone comes out to say that «I’m sorry we have no passionfruit would you like a normal Margarita?» No worries, yes please. 10 minutes after that a lady comes outside with the one drink, the Margarita… erm excuse me we ordered a coke too please. «Oh sorry, I’ll just go and get it for you…» 5 minutes later it arrived. She didn’t even ask if we would like any food. My god not that we would now given the it’s taken 35minutes to get a drink in an empty restaurant/​bar…
The menu however does look nice. Perhaps we will give it a try during one of their 50% off days as if we receive the same level of service I won’t feel so enraged with half off the meal.
The Jury is out but in the meantime I’m giving this place a 2 and it’s only really for the surroundings not the minging Margarita or the poor poor service.

Another hidden gem — you would not know it was there! Don’t let the location fool you, this is a classy venue for a quiet meal out. Food is excellent and the ambience delightful. Great for an evening meal, weekend brunch or afternoon tea. Gorgeous interior and exterior view.

Took a chance on this place and was pleasantly surprised. Don’t be put off by the location (a business park just off a busy roundabout) because once you’re inside it doesn’t matter. The food is a mix of standard Thai dishes (which seem to be the chef’s speciality) and standard British/​American dishes. The atmosphere is classy but relaxed and the service is friendly and efficient.
The Thai Fish Cakes and Green Chicken Curry were excellent, and at £9.95 for two courses (early bird deal) very good value. The menu is very Veggie friendly too with several choices of main.
Good wine selection and nice to see Blue Moon on draught (though sadly off the night I went).

Not bad for a Saturday afternoon.
I’m a fan of tea, all kinds of tea, ALL THE TEA! But I am especially a fan of afternoon tea, high tea and cream tea. So you can imagine how pleased I was when I saw a Living Social deal for afternoon tea which included Prosecco AND a cocktail for a very reasonable price.
Very.
So off we went to Musselburgh, having never been it was an adventure. It was more of an adventure when we tried to find the place, all tucked away. It’s an odd place for a restaurant/​café, in the middle (literally) of a business park! The building looks like an old part of the Esk Mill has been reconstructed by keeping the front and replacing the back with a huge glass conservatory. When you walk in it looks quite chic and modern, you could be in the middle of New Town.
The barman saw me walking in and picked me out despite the party that was going on. He asked me if I had a reservation and when I said yes, he said ‘You must be Sara’…well that’s service!
We were seated in the back, glassy, area. Decorated with some beautiful wallpaper, exposed pipes and birdcages hanging from the ceiling. The furniture is a mish-​mash of leather couches and wooden chairs.
The tea itself was grand, we had a glass of cold Prosecco poured for us and then we were presented with sandwiches, tarts, scones and some delicious banana cake. A huge thumbs up for the vanilla infused whipped cream, they know what I like!
The negatives of this place to me are the location (I had to get 2 buses from work, then got lost… but adventure!) and, weirdly, the flat bottomed sinks in the bathroom… they just make no sense, a teensy bit of pressure from the tap and BAM your front is splashed. Overall it was a lovely visit and if I’m out that way I’ll definitely pop in (I could smell mussels at one stage and they smelled divine!)

I first came here years ago when it opened as The Glasshouse. To be honest, I wasn’t that impressed and didn’t go back again until it re-​opened as The Birdcage.
If you don’t know the area, you would probably struggle to find the place as friends of mine did when they came to meet me. Unfortunately its located behind the job centre in Musselburgh, however, if you can find the place, its a lovely venue, modern inside, large bar area in which you can eat and drink and they also have a restaurant area through the back, nice booths which seat 2 – 4 peeps. I do like a booth! Its quite a different establishment to other eateries in Musselburgh and if you didn’t know otherwise and were sitting merrily drinking, you might think you were in Edinburgh.
I’ve eaten in here a few times now and haven’t been disappointed. In fact, their pork belly, is by far the best I’ve had in a long time. Succulent and crispy as you expect from pork belly, served with red onion mash, spring greens and a gorgeous rich jus which I have on occasion, been tempted to lick! Again, photo posted for maximum drool factor when we dined here in September and oh yes, had it again in Oct, Nov. and so on.;o)
I can’t quite move away from the goats cheese starter as its my absolute favourite cheese just now, but I have tried the thai fishcakes and they were good and my boy has tried the mussels and seafood chowder and gave both of them the thumbs up too.
Price wise, you do notice a drop in prices compared to Edinburgh, so that’s a good thing, on both the food and the alcohol. Mondays and Tuesdays you can dine 2 for 1 on main courses so its a bargain. They also offer 2 dine for £29 where you can get a starter/​main or main/​pudding plus a bottle of house wine. I’ve tried this and whilst the menu is restricted to 3 choices per course, its still excellent value at less than £15 per head.
Midweek I’ve found the place to be quiet, but Saturdays its a busy buzzing place. I just hope that the locals continue to support this place, as will we, because it is a very good addition to East Lothian and for me, only a short bus journey down the road! ;o)

Ah, ye old half star debate. Really, I think this place deserves 3.5 stars — definitely not a 3 but not ready for a 4 yet. But I want to give it positive vibes, as I think that the Birdcage is a fab addition to Musselburgh. If you can find it, that is. Be warned, it’s off the main drag, in a semi-​industrial estate (it’s a converted cotton mill) and in the dark, an absolute bugger to find (first road on the left by the job centre, folks). I had all but given up when I saw my friend run out of her car, so followed her into a pedestrian quadrant where the Birdcage sat.
It’s a very modern bar and restaurant, serving pretty modern dishes that are really rather unheard of in this town. Balsamic roasted beetroot with goats cheese and rocket salad? How on earth does that fit in with the local chippy? I don’t think it does, but really, honestly and truly not a bad thing. Sadly, said salad didn’t have the flavour I was expecting, the beetroot and rocket both overpowered by the cheese, and the vinegar didn’t carry over any flavour at all, so I was a little disappointed, although overall it was a pleasant salad.
My main was a gnocchi (home made by the looks of it) with wild mushroom, drizzled with truffle oil. A little greasy for my liking, but I find mushroom dishes to be generally more greasy, so you can take that comment with a pinch of salt. My friend’s angus burger and chips looked fabulous, and meaty (both chips and burger).
We both went all out with dessert — chocolate fondant for her, and sticky toffee pudding for me. Not something I normally order, but damn, the flavours were outstanding, with toffee and cinammon screaming out. Sponge itself was a little dry.
So you can probably see why this is a 3.5 star. Although the food was good, it wasn’t amazing or hit the level of sophistication that this place is striving for. However, I don’t want Birdcage to fail — perhaps, as it hasn’t been open too long, it just needs to stretch its wings out a little more and will improve in time. I think that now that I have the option of old mans pub or trendy bar in my hometown as well, that I will be definitely back to drink some more here too, beats a bus ride into Edinburgh on a dark wintery night.