Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Address: 33/35 Castle Terrace
Type of Meal: Dinner
When we
visited on a Friday evening, it was a packed house at Castle Terrace; with its
laid back atmosphere (for a Michelin restaurant) the dining room was humming
with conversation and laughter. Unfortunately, tables are placed fairly close
together so you wouldn't want to speak too loudly or risk disrupting your
neighbours, but does offer the opportunity to check out what everyone else is
ordering.
The amuse
bouche for the evening followed a comfort food theme. The trio consisted
of a crab meat ravioli, miniature slider and a liquid Caesar salad. The
crispy ravioli and slider were pretty looking and tasted good, but the most
inventive and delicious of the three was the small Caesar salad capsule, which
we were instructed to eat in one bite. As soon as you bite into the half
dome, your taste buds are greeted with a blast of garlic sauce. When paired with the smooth jelly dome and
crispy crouton on the bottom, you can certainly see why the chef describes this
as a Caesar salad.
Next, arrived
an espresso cup filled with the chef's take on a baked potato - smooth cheesy
mashed potatoes top with disc of more potatoes (?) and a hint of bacon dust.
As tasty as creamy mashed potatoes can be, but we were still reminiscing about
the liquid salad.
As soon as
the seared scallops (£19) were placed in front of me, I knew I was in for a
good meal. They were a fair size with a beautiful crust that even Mr. Ramsey
would be proud of and just cooked so that the middle held a bit of the
translucence. I wouldn’t have imagined making scallops Indian style, but
Castle Terrace topped theirs with a light curry sauce (poured table side),
placed it on a bed of fragrant curried basmati rice and placed a small disc of
naan bread beside each.
There was
just so much to try on the dish! The small pieces dotting the left side of the
plate were dried pineapple and raisins, not something I like but thankfully
they didn't mix it into the rice. I did enjoy the slivers of fresh coconut topping
each scallop adding a light crunchy slaw to each delicate Orkney scallop.
This is certainly as dish you have to try if you like flavourful seafood.
On the other
hand, my main of seared hampe of beef (£25) was back to a more traditional
offering. Yet, it was presented in an extraordinary fashion and made me sit
back for a moment and just take it in before diving into taste it. From
left to right on the plate, a piece of roasted carrot & spring onion,
slices of the beef sitting on top of a phyllo pastry filled with crispy ox
tongue and lastly a sweet potato mash rectangle filled with bordelaise sauce,
mini carrots and a ravioli filled with beef jus (?).
At first, I
found the beef to be a bit tough, only to realize when searching
"hampe" later for this blog that it was a synonym for skirt steak.
In this case, the beef was actually cooked wonderfully as it was quite
tender for this cut of meat and the dish provided a good portion of it. The
pastilla (phyllo wrapped ox tongue) was also fairly large and quite delicious.
For anyone who has ever had the Chinese pork floss (often found wrapped in glutinous
rice or topping congee) the ox tongue had that texture but was moistened with
sauce. Although the flavour was fairly condensed, it didn't have a hint
of offal to it and just resembled a gamier beef like bison.
Meanwhile, my
husband ordered off of their seasonal menu starting with the crab (£17) which
arrived cannelloni style piped into thin shavings of avocado. It was a
refreshing dish, much lighter than my scallops, with diced mango and roasted
red pepper mixed into the crab filling. Certainly delicious and beautiful
but I did not have order’s remorse.
Being
adventurous, he ordered the special of the night, grouse (£33; a type of wild
fowl), for his main. You could tell that these weren't raised on a farm
as the menu even warned that the game based dishes "could have traces of
shot" in it. Generally, I'm a fan of gamier tasting meats but even I
could not warm up to this dish - breast or leg. It was either the bird or
the bread sauce but there was an unappetizing bitter taste in the dish.
The only bearable
part was the pan fried gnocchi sitting under the legs, served separately, but
even these were slightly tainted with a gross aftertaste. My husband ate it and
enjoyed it as an "experience" but agreed my beef was the better
choice.
Luckily, the
meal for him ended off on a sweet note when we ordered the caramel soufflé
(£11) to share. Made to order, it arrived at the table towering over the
ramekin. Castle Terrace takes the cake
for the most beautiful soufflé I’ve seen. Our server scored the soufflé and
then poured a warm dark chocolate sauce on top so that it soaked into the
middle. A generous portion of honeycomb (or what you may know as sponge -
the crunchy sweet candy in the middle of a Crunchie bar) and scoop of vanilla
bean ice cream topped everything.
The dessert
was positively decadent and made to be shared as we couldn't nearly have eaten
it to ourselves. The soufflé was airy and moist and undoubtedly the best
sweet version I've ever had. Normally, I prefer my soufflés on the drier side,
but even with the addition of the dark chocolate syrup and melting ice cream
the structure still remained intact. The honeycomb was also a smart
choice adding a crunchy contrast to the smooth soufflé.
It appears
that both of the Michelin restaurants in Edinburgh we visited have some sort of
table side cart. When my husband ordered a scotch (some year of Lagavulin
for £11.50) the waiter wheeled over an entire whisky cart and poured it table
side - perhaps to entice the other patrons and a great conversation starter.
Coffee or tea,
served with petit fours, will set you back £4.95. During our visit, the
selection consisted of a pistachio cream cookie sandwich, a coconut chocolate
macaroon and a chocolate filled with pineapple jam. After such a
delicious soufflé all were a bit of a disappointment and a bit sweet.
Castle
Terrace did have their service down pat. Despite being more laid back
and casual than Martin Wishart, the servers just had a bit more polish. For
example, they remembered my water preference (ice) compared to my other dinner
companions (sparkling at £4.50/bottle) without having to be reminded. It’s these little things that make all the
difference.
I did notice
a random £1 "charity" charge added onto the bill. It's unclear
what this is exactly for, but after shelling out so much for a meal what's
another £1? And perhaps it's a way of having diners look back at the meal
without guilt... sure I've splurged and ingested quite a number of calories
from the decadent dishes, but in the end I helped someone out so surely all
that would be negated right?
Overall mark - 8.5 out of 10
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Gastro World's Grading System
- Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
- 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
- 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
- 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
- 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
- 10 - absolute perfection!
