Mark Greenaway, Edinburgh

Whilst on a foodie trip to Edinburgh a while back now, I had made reservations for the highly acclaimed 'Castle Terrace', and the popular 'Angels with Bagpipes', however we had one night free, and wanted to try and find a nice place with a pre-theatre type menu. After a little bit of searching online, we came across the restaurant Mark Greenaway, being an avid watcher of the Great British Menu I recognised the name, and after doing a little more research about the place I tried phoning for a table that very evening. I was a little concerned about getting a table as the restaurant (which had gained an excellent reputation elsewhere in the city) had been moved to a new location on Castle Street only few weeks prior to us visiting. Nevertheless, I promised we would be in and out before another booked table arrived later in the evening, and thankfully they were incredibly accommodating.

We arrived for a relatively early dinner sitting to sample their incredibly well-priced 'Market Menu' (3 courses for £20 - and an additional £18.50 if you want to try their matched wine selection). The restaurant itself is contemporary, with crisp white table cloths and dim lighting, which adds to the moody romantic ambiance but made getting a clear photo particularly difficult! For a 'set menu' the choices were all very tempting, there were three options for each course, and luckily due to our different tastes, my partner and I both fancied different things (I particularly like it when this happens as it meant I could have small sample of his dishes too...purely for research purposes of course!).

Ham and Pork Ballontine, Scallop and apple

I opted for the smoked ham hough and pork ballontine with seared scallop, apple meringues, wild garlic mayonnaise and wild Scottish herbs. The picture here does not do it's presentation justice at all, it looked really beautiful, and the classic flavour combination of the tart apple with the sweet scallop and salty pork was a match made in heaven. Texturally it was well thought out too, with the meringues providing a necessary crunch, and the ballontine densely packed with meat similar to that of a good terrine which balanced the soft scallop wonderfully.

Duck egg, duck croquette.

My partner had the pan fried duck egg, duck croquette, brioche, duck ham and baby celery leaves, and I have to admit, I did get a bit of food envy. Despite my starter being delicious, you couldn't ignore the big hearty flavours of a runny egg yolk, crispy duck skin and sweet bread. It was posh comfort food at it's best, and a dish I could easily devour time and time again.

Bream fillet, salt cod and leek brandade

For main course I opted for the pan seared bream fillet, salt cod and leek brandade, and chive veloute. I actually didn't know what a brandade was before that evening, but being anything but a fussy eater, I decided to opt for it anyway and I wasn't disappointed. It was kind of a mixture of a potato-ey fish cake and bubble and squeak, but matched the bream, with it's perfectly crisp skin and the smooth creamy chive veloute faultlessly.

Belly pork, toffee apple jus

Across from me, my partner looked equally delighted with his main of 11 hour slow roasted 'Clash Farm' belly pork, with pomme puree, savoy cabbage and toffee apple jus. Again the flavour combinations were classic enough to make you feel right at home, but had a unique twist (which in this case was the toffee apple sauce) to give the dish that hint of flair and naughtiness, you often expect but don't always find in fine dining restaurants.


Broken chocolate tart

Having done a little bit of research beforehand I knew Mark Greenaway is famed for his weird and wonderful dessert creations (and now even presents an award each year to the most promising up and coming pastry chef in the city) we therefore knew we couldn't resist sampling (and finishing!) both of the sweet dessert options on the menu. I opted for his famous Broken (or 'Knot') chocolate tart, with custard jelly, frozen cookies, crème fraiche parfait, salted caramel and kumquat puree. Sounding like it had literally jumped out of the mind of Willy Wonka himself, I didn't quite know what to expect, but it was a chocoholics dream; rich thick chocolate ganache, creamy parfait, sweet fruit and caramel swirls, crunchy biscuit discs and even popping candy, I couldn't fault it's execution one bit.

Peanut Caramel cheesecake

The other option was the peanut caramel cheesecake, with salted caramel, warm toffee sauce and roasted peanuts, again was pretty as a picture, and tasted divine. Mark Greenaway really knows how to work with desserts, his imagination is out of this world, and even if you are not a dessert person, I urge you to try one of his creations.

Cheese plate

As if we hadn't had enough already, we asked if we could have the cheese plate on the market menu as an extra course to share, and the staff were more than happy to oblige. In rather high spirits, we also ordered a glass of their cheapest port each (however this was not available and the waitress bought out the pricier option at no extra cost)...an even greater reason to celebrate this wonderful find! We told the waiter to surprise us with the cheese, as we ate all kinds and he returned with a wonderful selection of hard nutty varieties, as well as soft, creamy ones and an excellent blue, this was accompanied by frozen grapes, quince jelly, celery and two kinds of cracker - an excellent end to a practically perfect dining experience. 

If I take into consideration the price, the service and the excellent quality of food, I personally think you would be pushed to find a more impressive restaurant than Mark Greenaway's. When we visited the restaurant it was still in it's infancy, and therefore small elements (like the toilets) did not exactly live up to the rest of the experience. I am sure now that these will have been revamped too, and regardless, this is an absolutely brilliant restaurant...you will not regret making a trip down to Castle Street to see for yourself.