Metro Brasserie and Café Bar

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The 2011/12 edition of The List's Eating & Drinking Guide is out now – only £5.95 (+p&p).

This review is taken from the 2010 edition.

Metro Brasserie fills the barn-like ground and basement floors of the Apex City Hotel in buzzing Grassmarket. Ground-floor diners eat at small window tables with views of the castle, while the basement level seems reserved for larger hen or birthday parties. The lengthy menu is a list of starter, meat, fish, veggie and dessert ‘bowls’. A starter of haggis, neeps and tatties comes with a mustard and whisky sauce, while a bowl of small mussels is barely full enough to satisfy. There’s little else to inspire: a sirloin steak arrives cold and topped with yellowy watercress, while a middle rib of beef is more raw than rare. A side order of thick-cut chips with sea salt turns out to be floury caterpack fries, while desserts of sticky toffee pudding and mascarpone cheesecake have a distinctly bought-in feel. Metro Brasserie’s reasonably priced set menus attract plenty of large groups and passing tourists looking to load up before a night on the town, but the kitchen really needs to take fewer shortcuts.

• High point: Great views of the castle and Grassmarket
• Low point: Lazy cooking and shortcut food