The King's Wark

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• What are these?

• Average price 2 courses:
   £11 (lunch)
   £17 (evening meal)
• House wine: £10.50 per bottle

• Hitlisted
• High point: Proves that pub grub can be great quality
• Low point: Small dining area fills up quickly
• Food served: Mon-Sat noon-3pm, 6-10pm; Sun 11am-3pm, 6-10pm
• Bar open: Sun-Thu noon-11pm; Fri/Sat noon-midnight
• Private dining: Up to 20 covers
• Open since: 1991
• Also offers: Childrens portions

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

This review is from the 2007 edition.

The Leith dining scene has had a busy time of it lately, with another Michelin star rising and lots of money being spent on refurbishments both afloat and on dry land. Amid it all, the King's Wark carries on what it seems to have been doing for centuries (the building is one of the oldest in Leith), which is principally serving up some of Edinburgh's better pub food. There is a small, separate restaurant area where slightly grander dishes are served, but whether you secure a table in this part (it's worth booking) or in the bar, there's little let-up in quality. Rough stone walls and candles keep the pub on the cosy side, yet there's space enough to eat comfortably. Haddock has a thick, crisp and airy batter and the chips taste of decent potato. Pork belly comes in a huge portion with lovely caramel-coloured crackling and decent black pudding and mash alongside it. It's a place for a proper weekend brunch or lunch too. The menus can seem disarmingly simple, but they're full of expert touches: fish chowder is thinner in consistency than you might normally expect, but is still generous with salmon and haddock, and flavoured somewhat unusually with turmeric.