Stac Polly

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• What are these?

• Average price 2 courses:
   £14.95 (set lunch)
   £28 (evening meal)
• House wine: £16.95 per bottle

• Food served: Mon-Fri noon-2pm, 6-10pm; Sat/Sun 6-10pm
• Private dining: Up to 10 covers
• Open since: 1993
• Also offers: Childrens portions, Childrens high chairs

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

This review is from the 2007 edition.

They call themselves the 'The Scottish Restaurants' and, to be fair, the three Stac Polly venues (named after a bonnie mountain in northwest Scotland) are a reliable hit with visitors to Edinburgh for offering a smart but understated take on contemporary native cuisine and décor. Locals, on the other hand, can't quite decide whether or not they're just a bit more Scottish than they're used to in day-to-day life here. That said, dining out needn't be humdrum and should offer a bit of theatre, and Stac Polly's performances are polished. Joining the well-established restaurants in theatreland and the New Town is a third version, opened in early 2007, on St Mary's Street off the Royal Mile. Good taste prevails, with muted tartans, heather-purples and thistle emblems complemented by historic local prints on the walls. The menu is upmarket and based around the familiar big hitters of Scottish dining: salmon, deer and beef. Savoury and sweet are often combined: baby goat's cheese, for example, does well coated in a pine nut crumble and served with gooey onion marmalade, while a loin of venison has an intriguing, but appealing, liquorice and red wine jus. Cooking is precise and confident, with service and wine to match, though it's worth bearing in mind that prices are at the higher end of the Edinburgh spectrum.