Blackfriars

NOOOOOOOO :’(
I return to edinburgh after a 3 month trip to find my favourite bar has closed down.
WHYYYYYY

Great atmosphere with non-​pretentious food that is delicious. The restaurant/​bar are tucked on a quiet side street off the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. I would not have gone here if not recommended by a friend, but so glad I did. They offer a mixture of small plate options so you eat tapas style or pick a larger entrée if you’re really hungry. I ordered the lamb sausage roll, fritters and broccoli — all were delicious.

Farm to table or rather backyard to table at its best. The freshest in season produce picked daily, treated and dressed simply, alongside beautiful naturally reared animals and freshly harvested seafood. Modern cooking at its best served in a charming, 35 seat restaurant housed in a 400 year old refurbished building. Exposed brick and patina hard wood floors commingled with ivory drywall and warm, bright lighting in cottage like setting. This is Blackfriar’s. Oh, and it’s good.
Note: the menu changes daily.
Examples from a recent meal includes sautéed purple broccoli greens. Simple treatment of olive oil salt and pepper. Cooked till tender. The vibrancy of the veg is accentuated by the tangy, creamy goat cheese curds. A game terrine with coarsely ground bits of this and that, outstanding. A hint of a anise and black pepper. Its livery mineral flavors greatly accented by a sweet beat purée. The accompanying rocket and shaved sweet, raw beets a perfect foil, readying the pallet for the next bite.
For mains, and outstanding game sausage roll served with sautéed black cabbage and boiled potatoes in a natural jus. The course ground, not oily sausage having a pronounced anise flavor, is wrapped in puff pastry. Surprisingly the pastry provides the necessary richness to balance the tasty dish.
For something more familiar, a brined loin of pork from a naturally reared pig, simply pan roasted and served atop a bed of lentils and couscous with natural jus is outstanding the brining process adds a balanced salinity and brings forth the sweetness of the pork. Natural rearing yields and intensely Porky flavor.
Finally the piece de resistance, muscles cooked with white wine garlic and cream. Outstanding. Ultra sweet, plump and juicy. This cold water mussels blows away even the best PEIs. Rich Scottish butter and cream are perfectly harmonized with the acidic white wine. A scrumptious dish that will leave you begging for more.
A short but very well chosen wine list. Extremely reasonable prices (average £25).
Incredibly friendly, extremely knowledgeable and attentive service.
Very reasonably priced. A two course lunch £14.50. Slight supplement for chalkboard specials.
Advance booking recommended.
500 feet down a steep slope, off the Royal mile, It’s worth the trip (and near fall).

This place was so sweet, so perfect, so lovely. I almost want to open a Trip Advisor account just to throw them more love any way I can (it seemed over there during our trip that TA was more widely used than Unilocal currently). The set menu included preselected courses with a choice of mains (I had the rump of veal, he had the wood pigeon– both came to the table beautifully rare). Highlights were the picture perfect Scottish salmon on toast & the roasted corn that came with a tomato salad. The fish course was John Dory — a white fish neither of us had ever experienced. I’m including a snapshot of the menu of our visit but it changes. Our highest recommendations to this dear perfect place!

This place is awesome. One of my favorite bars anywhere. Great beer selection — when I went, I had a beer which was one of forty-​eight, made in celebration of the place’s two-​year anniversary by a friend of the owner — nice ambience, and a friendly staff. Just off the Royal Mile, meaning it doesn’t get too crowded. Just a fantastic place.

Popped in for late lunch after sightseeing. Mussels and fries were great, husband happy with fish burger. It was quiet, but I think due to off time (4pm). Couldn’t have asked for more with food.

Terrific wee place for a cosy supper. This is my kind of restaurant and dining; a bit of flair without being more style-​over-​substance. It definitely helps that it has the adjoining bar next-​door.
The menu is just different enough to be interesting without trying too hard, and a couple of retro classics (see steak n bernaise) just to make it all a bit more accessible. The service was excellent too. I look forward to returning sometime soon and seeing if I can’t up the rating to 5*. It’s a good 4 ½ after one visit so far…

This was the best meal we have had in the UK. As Californians, we are accustomed to excellent, fresh food. This was the first example of the kind of cuisine we love. The venison was cooked on a charcoal BBQ and was so flavorful and tender. It was accompanied by barley and greens that were perfectly cooked and really enhanced the flavor of the meat. The plaice with muscles and cockles was perfectly cooked. Pan fried in butter, it was moist and melted in your mouth. Dessert was a rhubarb tart with rhubarb sorbet. Scrumptious.

After hearing quite a bit of positive feedback about this place I booked the set festive lunch menu (£30 per head) for my brothers birthday lunch. Overall it was lovely! Not one of us had a food option that didn’t go down well.
My starter of pumpkin gnocchi, wild mushrooms and a sage and Parmesan butter was scrummy! Forks from the other members of the table immediately pointed in my direction (ironic considering they all poo-​pooed the vegetarian starter option initially!). The gin cured sea trout, buttermilk pancakes and caviar also got a thumbs up from my boyfriend however as an avid fish and seafood hater there was no way I could sample. 3 of the party were tempted by the baked eggs, ham hough & sauteed greens — soft & tasty. The winner however was definitely the gnocchi!
For the main, I was really disappointed to hear that the partridge was off as the supplier had ran out. However it had been replaced with pheasant. Having salivated over the menu for weeks, I’d really gotten my hopes up on sampling partridge which I hadn’t eaten before… grrr… however, I was assured the pheasant was equally as nice. Hmmmm… not sure… the meat itself was slightly tough for my liking and had quite a lot of blood vessels through it which turned my stomach a bit. The actual foot (yes foot, claws and all!!) hanging off the end of the pheasant leg put me off a bit too… however I’m a wimpy, squeamish person, not used to eating game meat. It genuinely didn’t bother my Mum who had the same dish.
I was delighted to find my main accompanied by the obligatory Christmas sprouts — cooked perfectly, with some additional raw sprout shells sprinkled on top! There was a gorgeously textured, creamy chestnut purée and perfectly balanced ju, with some unidentifiable crunchy nutty flakes on top which actually turned out to be shaved raw chestnut — drooooolllll… The baked Jerusalem artichokes replaced the usual side of potato and it worked! The texture was amazing… sooo good in fact my brother went out and bought some artichokes to cook with our Xmas dinner. For the sides alone, this dish got a huge thumbs up from me.
The rest of my party chose the poached ling (some kind of meaty white fish similar to the texture of monkfish) with cockles, brown butter & sea herbs and the rib eye steak with chips (slightly oversalted) and béarnaise sauce. Cleared plates across the table!
For dessert I opted for the apple and almond tart with mulled wine sorbet — lovely tart but I’m not a fan of sorbet in general and this was no exception. The blue murder blue cheese and ale cake went down well although we had a split opinion at the table on the bread which was spiced and dense and resembled too much like a cake. Some liked it with the cheese, some didn’t. I actually had a similar view with the ‘treacle soda’ bread offered at the beginning — tasted too much like a treacle scone. I’m in the camp that wants savoury bread with my meal! Stop experimenting with the bread Mr Chef! :)
The service was excellent and the Australian (?) waitress was very attentive and friendly. It wasn’t busy, which on the last sat before Xmas I was actually surprised at, however it must be the location. Like Michael Neave (another one of my rated places) it wont get much passing traffic. Well worth a visit however my fellow Unilocalers. They even do tasting events which i’ll be checking out in the new Year. The January 5 courses & matched beer event is fully booked but the next one is beign planned for April and might be worth a visit…

I have been here several times for drinks over the past few months and can not fault this cozy wee bar. The staff is always so lovely and friendly and the drink selection is immense with a full bar. During the summer they made some nice gin cocktails and they still offered it when I asked about them with no hesitation. They generally always have a good selection of beers on tap, but mainly I go to have a gin. There is an adjoining restaurant, which I haven’t eaten in, but they offer some nibbles in the bar from the kitchen next door. It also isn’t outrageously expensive.
The seating is really nice, with some cushions on the wall or some nice wooden tables with stools. During the summer they have a beer garden. There isn’t really any standing place for people with drinks, but they do offer that you can do next door if there is no where to sit. Worth the wait though if you have the time. They also have one large table for a party of 10 if you have a few people with you. It is a lovely place to go before or after dinner, show, etc. and I’ve heard their food is good, hopefully one day soon I can try it. They are currently offering an amazing looking Christmas dinner, which sounded incredible and for the low price of 25 pounds. Maybe that’s when I will get to try it.

Blackfriars is hidden on the road parallel to the one on which the Festival theatre stands. The street is a wee bit run down and we thought we were in the wrong place! However, once we found the restaurant, it could not be faulted. From the warm welcome we received to the modern, casual ambience and the good wine. The menu is a compact choice of unusual combinations, but all perfect cooked and presented. Every course was delicious!
I had for starters 3 Oysters with fresh lemon which were very tasty and my friends had home smoked trout and apple salad, and black pudding and eggs on toast which I had slight food envy over! Main course for me was Hake with summer peas, beans and samphire in a light butter sauce — yum! They guys had steak and chips and the silence said it all! Wonderful food and great service.

I really only have come here for drinks. It’s a really funky little bar tucked aweay on the royal mile on Blackfriars street. I like it for it’s chilled atmosphere, and decent beer selection. Schiehallion on tap is always welcome!
I imagine in the evening it’s got a great atmosphere too with it’s weird tables and odd layout. I like it. Will check out food and report back!

We had quite a mixed experience in Blackfriars. Much like Gardener’s Cottage and Timberyard, this place has been getting a lot of positive coverage for their commendable approach to sourcing and commitment to local produce, which is excellent news.
Unfortunately, their dishes are a really mixed bag in terms of the quality and, in particular, the balance. Too often, there is one or two too many elements at work, making dishes quite frustrating. The idea of making their own black pudding, for example, is tremendous, but it’s just not very tasty, which is a huge shame.
The restaurant is quite stylish (we only briefly looked in to the bar, which looked fairly similar) and the waiters and waitresses are lovely, but it has some way to go before it’s producing dishes that are really going to impress.
So overall, we said: «Blackfriars has some work to do to improve how the various elements of their dishes come together. There’s no reason why they can’t do that, though, given the quality of ingredients they’re sourcing, so I look forward to seeing how things progress. For now, the place is smart and the service very good, but the food is very likely to divide opinion.»