Surprising Edinburgh

My husband and I are just back from a week in Scotland, with most of our time spent in Edinburgh. We were bowled over by the quality of food we had; a couple of meals were transcendent and there wasn't a stinker in the bunch (saving the lousy food on the golf course!). The real standouts were a lunch at The Gardener's Cottage and a dinner at Castle Terrace.

The Gardener's Cottage is just that -- a renovated gardener's dwelling at the edge of the Royal Terrace Gardens. We took advantage of the unseasonably warm (and dry) weather to sit outside, which afforded us the pleasure of watching one of the chefs stoke the fire in a brick oven to ready it for roasting that night's leg of lamb. The menu made the best of local ingredients, with several dishes featuring oyster mushrooms, red currants, gooseberries, broad beans, and hazelnuts. Standout for me was a "BBQ" rabbit (wood roasted) with oyster mushrooms, hazelnuts, kale, and red currants. We washed it all down with a pitcher of the "Garden Hose," a sublime mixture of gin, unfiltered apple juice, and elderflower cordial studded with more red currants and floating mint leaves and elderflowers. A perfect summer drink.

Castle Terrace is the sibling restaurant to the more famous Kitchin. We haven't been there so have no basis for comparison, but have nothing but raves for Castle Terrace. The service was top notch -- attentive without being cloying, warm, personal. The food was inventive and, like Gardener's Cottage, focused on letting local ingredients shine. The standout dish was a perfectly cooked fillet of North Sea Hake served over a nest of shaved baby vegetables, strewn with summer truffles (much milder and more subtle than those I'm familiar with, but still a rare treat). An incredibly simple dish, but perfectly executed to let the taste of the fish and the vegetables shine.

These two were our favorites, but we had other great experiences at Muchhi (Indian seafood), The Scan & Scallie (another Kitchin offspring -- great gastropub marred only by an overly precious menu), The Honours (sibling restaurant to Martin Wishart), and Cafe Fish. All in all a great food week. Edinburgh -- Who knew?

In 2011, I was on a 13-day trip through Ireland, Scotland and ended up 1.5 days in Windsor, England. It was my first time in these parts and I didn't have a bad meal the entire time. I was surprised because others had told me not to expect much from the food offerings. Some of the best salmon and lamb I have ever tasted I enjoyed on this trip.

The only thing I thought odd is there seemed to be a standard breakfast wherever we went; eggs, black and white pudding, sausages, roasted mushrooms, hash browns in a triangular shape, baked beans, half a roasted tomato, breads and tea. Sometimes there was fresh fruit. I often found no appetite for lunch after a breakfast like this!

Davooda