TheGardener's Cottage - a highly celebrated new restaurant just north of
the centre and neatly five minutes walk from my dad's flat - is a
sign of exciting new possibilities in Edinburgh eating. Here, on my
recent trip back home to visit family and friends, I had some of the
most exciting Scottish food in the warmest, most convivial
surroundings.
It's
located in, you guessed it, an old gardener's cottage (three rooms,
effectively) on the northern slope of Calton Hill. A gravel path
through growing beds leads you up to the cottage. The door is open,
but you push through thick velvet curtains to get in. There are two
dining rooms, with three ten seater communal dining tables between
them, a record player sits in a chimney breast with a stack of blues
records piled up, changed by the staff as the stylus lifts.
The
menu changes daily, based on what's in season, what's available, what
they've foraged that morning. A couple of brunch dishes are on offer
at the weekend, a short lunch menu through the week, and every
evening there's a single seven course taster menu, priced at a very,
very, very reasonable £25 (or thereabouts).
I'm
going to walk you through what we had, but given the menu changes
daily, it's more a flavour of the kinds of tasty morsels you might
expect from the Gardener's Cottage.
We
started with freshly baked (still warm!) sourdough with an olive and
anchovy tapenade, and venison and duck potted meat - like a Scottish,
gamey rilettes. The bread was amazing, rivalling E5 bakehouse for
tangy, bounciness, and the toppings were exceptional.
Next
up was the soup course: leek, potato and wild garlic soup, topped
with smoky, meaty bacon and winkles they'd foraged from the coast
that morning. Cured pork and shellfish is a winning combination at
the best of times and a favourite in Iberian cuisine, but I like the
distinctively Scottish flavour here.
This
was followed by treacle cured trout, served with a soft boiled egg,
tart creme fraiche with toasted hazelnuts, a couple of thin wild
leeks, fermented celariac, and a bit of the aniseedy and lesser-used
herb Sweet Cicely.
Next
up was a salt baked carrot, served with fermented cauliflower, smoked
yoghurt, toasted seeds and some interesting leaves. Salt-baking is a
technique I'm most familiar with being used for fish in
a Mediterranean context, but it worked well here. The carrot was
sweet, salty and full of flavour.
Now
for the 'main course' - hay smoked duck breast, on top of a gravy
flavoured pearl barley risotto, served with braised january cabbage,
with bits of fermented pak choi. The smokiness was quite subtle, and
the barley added a lovely earthy nutty flavour.
The
main was followed by a cheese course: a lovely smooth Rachel goat
cheese, served with a long crispy thin cracker, apple and pickled walnuts. A perfect
combination, and delicious even for those who don't always love
goat's cheese (that's me!).
Finally,
for dessert we were served sweet little bits of Alexander beetroot,
lavender infused cream and beetroot and apple granita. It was a great
combination of flavours and sensitations, crisp and sweet, cold and
melt in your mouth, creamy and rich. Wow.
Booking
is pretty much essential for the Gardener's Cottage, but they make
sure it's a relaxed and well paced service. Our table (booked two
days before and their last available) started at 5.15 and was ours
til 8, meaning we had lots of time to enjoy the meal in a relaxed
way. Tables started at different times, and the whole process was
exceptionally managed.
I
left thinking that the Gardener's Cottage is exactly the kind of
restaurant I'd love to run in a parallel world where I didn't work in
policy. Friendly, fun, unpretentious and good value. If you are
planning a trip to Edinburgh any time soon, make sure you get a
reservation in - this is an exceptional restaurant.
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