The Witchery by the Castle

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• What are these?

• Average price 2 courses:
   £12.95 (set lunch)
   £31 (evening meal)
• House wine: £16.95 per bottle

• High point: Tumble back in time and soak up the mystical atmosphere of 16th century Edinburgh
• Low point: With a solid stream of custom, there's little pressure for the menu to compete with Edinburgh's finest
• Food served: Mon-Sun noon-4pm, 5.30-11.30pm
• No. overnight rooms: 7
• Open since: 1979
• Also offers: Childrens portions, Pre-theatre menu, Post-theatre menu

The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 is now in the shops.

This review is from the 2007 edition.

With arguably one of the best atmospheres of any Edinburgh restaurant, the Witchery deserves its reputation. Entering the original restaurant you feel like Elizabethan gentry, particularly as you take your place on red leather-clad wall benches and admire the wood-panelled roof and walls speckled with coats of arms and hung with tapestries. The Secret Garden - the second dining area at the back of the building - was established ten years after the original in 1989 and exceeds it in elegance, while still maintaining its historical ambience, with a stone stairway and a renaissance-style painted ceiling. This is the place for a romantic encounter. In these surroundings, it's easy to be critical of the food if it doesn't quite live up to the high expectations suggested by price, style and reputation, but this is, nonetheless, a fine dining experience. Starters include a slightly bland vegetable risotto, but beautifully seared scallops are imaginatively accompanied with aubergine compote, and there's a traditional Scottish and all-encompassing seafood platter. Mains are both traditional and creative, and include plenty for lovers of red meat, including a nicely cooked shoulder of lamb, a loin of venison with lime mash and chocolate oil, or steak tartare. Round off a spell-binding evening with one of a selection of standard desserts including a rich chocolate torte or Victoria plum tart tatin.