Stac Polly, Edinburgh

On a first visit to Edinburgh I had the pleasure to dine with a well known senior Scottish politician. He told me that he knew of a decent restaurant near my hotel on St Mary's Street, and there we were at the Stac Polly.

Subdued, classy, comfortable and quite traditionally and sumptuously furnished, it was like going to a country house in the heart of the city.

Pale colours, deep carpets and linen everywhere - this isn't a place for kids or a cheap night out.

I started with a take on haggis - hey come on I couldn't resit - which was deep friend, and it was delicious! My dining partner's crab tower was impressive.

I went on to the lamb noisettes, which were four round, 50p piece sized morsels of extremely rare, incredibly soft and delicious meat. Melt in the mouth and staggeringly tender.

My colleague went for fish, which he reported as excellent.

I don't recall which wine we had, but we both enjoyed it, and we also enjoyed the vegetable side dishes, coffee and deserts.

Everything was cooked beautifully, but as this wasn't exactly cheap, you wouldn't expect better!

My mistake - yes mine - was that I spent too long talking, and as a result my lamb went cold. Eating rare lamb that is warm is one thing - eating it cold was a bit like eating raw lamb, so I had to give up. Like I said, my fault and loss!

One negative note was the bill - a 10% inclusion for service is fine if your meal has come to £40. As it came in at £98 for two, including a bottle of wine at £30, I thought 10% was a little generous. We weren't exactly difficult customers for a quiet Thursday night!!!

That left a slight bitter taste in the mouth, plus I regretted not eating all the lamb while it was warm, but I would warmly recommend this as an exclusive dinner venue in Edinburgh. Just eat while the food is hot!

I have to say that we were actually dining in one of the private dining rooms at the Stac Polly Restaurant and do wonder weather the impeccable service we recieved runs throughout the public dining area aswell. Greeted with champagne poured to perfection and ushered to our seats, eclectic scottish/irish music quielty playing in the background all was well. For my starter I chose the goats cheese roulade which was not too strong not to crumbly and encased with sweet sweet red pepper, definetley delectable, after tempting the taste buds with that i opted for the crispy salmon. This came prepared in a slighlty mustardy vinagerette with steamed mussels surrounding it, mashed potato and fresh green beens. the salmon was to die for, perfectly cooked.

Desert brought me crannachan which was a first for me, im not a sweet tooth person so this was left unfinished. What was eaten was thouroughly enjoyed especially the two homemade shortbreads that accompanied it.

an extensive wine list is offered with French being my preffered. An amazing dining experience that you will have to fork out for but would definetley say it was worth it!