Edinburgh: The Scran & Scallie

My mother is a big Tom Kitchin fan and one of her ambitions is to eat in his restaurant, The Kitchin.

Unfortunately it’s booked up months in advance and as our trip to Edinburgh was very last minute, I decided to take my mother to the next best thing, Kitchin and Dominic Jack’s gastropub The Scran & Scallie.

Boy, did this turn out to be one of my best calls in Edinburgh. It was fabulous and well worth the visit.

The pub saves a few tables each service for walk-ins and on our Sunday evening in the Scottish capital, we decided to chance our luck.

We had to wait around an hour for our table (the pub was packed), but we had a great time sitting at the bar while we waited, sipping cucumber martinis (me, delicious and refreshing) and sauvignon blanc (mum).

It turns out there’s always live music in the bar on a Sunday night and we really enjoyed listening to the Scottish folk songs being played. It created a jolly atmosphere in the pub and was a wonderful accompaniment to our meal.

The food? Delicious. We both chose one of the specials for a starter, mackerel tartare, which was quite simply, superb. I could easily have polished off a second plateful, everything about it was just right – it was light and delicate, yet full of flavour. Just incredible.

We chose monkfish wrapped in pancetta for our mains and that too was very tasty. I then opted for a cheese board, while mum went for the chocolate brownie with stout ice cream, which she loved.

My cheese board was very generous with a good variety of flavour-packed cheeses (including a blue, soft and hard cheese) served on a platter alongside accompaniments, such as small home made oatcakes and damson jam. Despite being rather full at this point, I demolished the lot. The wines were very good, too.

A shout out to the staff, too, who were friendly and attentive (while not being overbearing). I’d highly recommend it if you’re looking for somewhere special to eat in Edinburgh, I will definitely be returning on my next trip to the Scottish capital.