Come to La Garrigue and sample the flavours of the Languedoc, in the South of France. Beat the credit crunch with our special offers. At lunch times from Monday to Saturday order one main course, a glass of wine and a coffee for £14.50 or enjoy 3 courses for the price of 2 (£13.50). Sample the deep South's food, its terroir wines and the warmth of its welcome.
Café St Honoré
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- Food served: Mon–Fri noon–2.15pm, 5.30–10pm; Sat/Sun noon–2.15pm, 6–10pm
- Pre-theatre times: Mon–Fri 5.15–7pm
- Number of wines sold by the glass: 13
- Private dining: Up to 16 covers
- Also offers: Gluten-free options, Children's portions, Pre-theatre menu
- Music on stereo: Soft jazz
- Capacity: 40
- Largest group: 40
- Open since: 1993
- Average price 2 courses:
£16 (lunch)
£26 (evening meal) - Pre-theatre price: £12.50 (one course and glass of wine)
- House wine: £15 per bottle
Nominate this restaurant forThe List Reader Award 2010
This review appears in the The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2009 – in the shops now or buy online.
Identifying the source of the food that graces your plate is a prominent feature of Café St Honoré. Whether Skye for the smoked salmon and Shetland for the fresh variety, or down to the Scottish Borders to raid its rich game larder of pheasant, rabbit and venison, or just across the water to pretty East Neuk harbours for fish, Scotland’s produce is an essential component for this long-established French restaurant, now one year into its new management. Vegetables, too, are described as local, further assuring diners that they are not ordering extra portions of carbon footprints along with their dinner. What is done with these fresh ingredients, however, is variable. Roulade of smoked salmon and crème fraiche, served with deftly light blini, verges on being under-dressed. Not so the rabbit ballantine, where bacon wrapping and a bed of lentils adds stylish interest to complement the dish’s base. Main course potato accompaniments of rosti and fondant can both, curiously, be overcooked. Desserts bring with them the classic flavours of France, particularly apple. Calvados parfait with caramelised apples gives a double dose, but roast plum puree with crème brulée is just as distinctive.
- High point: Good quality and varied wine list
- Low point: Back dining room feels divorced from livelier French atmosphere up front
Comments for Café St Honoré (34 North West Thistle Street Lane, Edinburgh)
- 1. Nicholas Ashton, Edinburgh – 28 September 2008, 4:45pm
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This delightful restaurant has been a favourite of mine ever since I came to Edinburgh 17 years ago and I am pleased and relieved that the modus operandum is essentially the same since the handover - a concentration on extremely skilled but unfussily executed French cuisine tending to the provincial ( in the best sense of that word), framed by relaxed and efficient professional service. I've just had a close to perfect Sunday lunch with four friends.
The table was spotless with white linen and two tiny orange roses. We were brought warm bread (which I think was Poillane) and offered faultless pumpkin ravioi, an unusual take on coq au vin (with crisped legs) some marvellous locally reared steak and a rather clever dish of cod in a lobster bisque decorated with pea-shoots. I have never had a better bargain for a house red: a very good 2005 Bordeaux- although the list extends to some classy numbers: a special Margaux ( I think Marquis de Terme) and St Estephe. The desserts were broadly of equal quality: a kind of tarte-tatin but with pears, an apple crumble with an intense sorbet; their tiramisu wasn't quite what it seemed - with pannacotta rather than cream - but still very attractive with sweet little biscotti.
Great coffee- my second best espresso in Edinburgh.
The only slight downside is mentioned above in that the old style wooden bistro chairs do not encourage lingering - they are better for a swift cafe-complet on the way to work. Otherwise, this place should be very high up on your list of the best restaurants in the city, especially if you prefer lack of pretention but where they really know how to cook and to create the best atmosphere for a convivial meeting with good friends - especially discerning ones like mine! It also gives far better value than most of its competitors of similar quality. The three courses plus two bottles of house wine, water and coffee worked out at £40 each including a generous tip. Cafe St-Honore has been around for a long time for a very good reason.
- 2. alan – 23 February 2009, 8:06pmReport
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Cafe St Honore was a great experience for us. The food was terrific, the wine was terrific, I loved the whole evening. The staff very friendly and informative. Wide selection of food to cater for all. I will go back as soon as possible.
- 3. the forager, edinburgh – 1 November 2009, 10:49pmReport
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We have just enjoyed a truly superb evening in Cafe St Honore. The meal was faultless; tender pigeon with slithers of apple, celeriac and wood sorrel, perfectly cooked salmon in a delicate tomato broth, delicious venison with rosti potato followed by creamy creme brulee and poached pears. Even the coffee was from a local artisan roaster.
For service, location and atmosphere it would be hard to beat. One of the great meals of 2009!
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