A lovely view, but not entirely persuading dinner menu: Restaurant The Lookout by Gardener’s Cottage (9. October 2024)
I’ve been to the top of Calton Hill in the past and I had even walked by the restaurant, but didn’t have the chance to visit it. In the context of a work event, I ended up here, and I must say, the view is absolutely nice. They offer a standardized “tasting menu” (GBP 65.00) with a “wine pairing” (GBP 38.00), which starts with “home-made bread and butter”, and while the bread wasn’t anything special, the butter was actually quite delicious.
The amuse bouche consisted of “beetroot & ewes curd waffle”, “Dunbar crab tart”, and “truffle, duck & walnut crisp”. They were all refined in terms of flavour profile and were perfect to get your palate started.
The next course in line were “tomatoes, ewes curd & nasturtium” and I must admit that I was a bit surprised (also over the coming days) how often they would serve tomatoes. I mean, Scotland is not necessarily a country I would associate with tomatoes. In any case, the combination of the curd with the tomatoes was a nice one.
Next in line were “hand dived Orkney scallop, lobster butter, sea vegetables” and, as always, I was wondering if I was going to enjoy the scallop. And, surprisingly, I did. It wasn’t as tender and refined as the famous one at O Paparico back in 2014 (see here), but it was quite nice, and the lobster butter and the sea vegetables it was served with worked well together.
As a main course, we had “Perthshire Roe deer loin, squash purée & plum”. I absolutely liked the deer since it was tender and full of flavour, and went quite well with the onion. The only thing, which doesn’t really work – for me – was the plum sauce. It was just somewhat too sweet and overwhelmed the deliciousness of the deer.
For dessert, they served “raspberry, white chocolate, yoghurt”, which was nice, although I’m not too big a fan of the rhubarb pieces in the middle, it actually worked quite well. What was a bit disappointing was the fact that they would not have the cheese plate, which was mentioned on the menu (even though it would cost an additional 14 GBP) and didn’t inform us upfront.
And while the last bite, i.e., a “blood orange sorbet” and a “salted caramel chocolate” were nice, I found it a bit semi-inspiring to have two – even if different ones – sorbets in a row. So, all in all, the food experience was a good one, but nothing, which blows you away.
Other than that, the waitress did a marvellous job and was outstandingly friendly, making sure we would have everything we needed at all times of the evening. So, in a nutshell, The Lookout by Gardener’s Cottage is a nice place in terms of atmosphere, you get to watch the chefs prepare the food, the waitress is superbly friendly, but when it comes to the food, it didn’t quite blow me away.
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Contact Details:
Restaurant The Lookout by Gardener’s Cottage
Calton Hill 38
EH7 5AA Edinburgh (UK)
Tel.: +44 13 13 22 12 47
E-Mail: eat@thelookoutedinburgh.co
Homepage: https://www.thelookoutedinburgh.co