Stravaigin 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 current (2011) edition.

September 2010 saw this long-standing Gibson Street favourite undergo a successful renovation, taking over the neighbouring hairdressers and doubling the size of its kitchens and expanding the café bar by a similar degree. Only months old yet with its smoky open fire, effortlessly attractive wood-clad décor and enormous bar the old place feels comfortably lived in and instantly welcoming. The café bar is a laid-back alternative to the formal restaurant downstairs but without compromise in quality or choice as they share the same menu – a menu that reading alone is a satisfying dining experience. Enticing and successful dishes include Tuscan baby aubergine, Brussels sprout and ham hough-spiked barley risotto, and Jerusalem artichoke and Arbroath smokie stuffed rice balls. The Perthshire pigeon breasts perch on a stack of potato scone, mushrooms and shallots moistened with a deeply savoury kale and merlot gravy, while slow-cooked Inverurie lamb shoulder is topped with a herby burst of salsa verde. Everything out of the kitchen looks and tastes delicious. Sunday brunch is becoming an institution, and sharing platters of olives, smoked pork loin and chorizo are available until 1am.

• High point: An exciting menu and ingredients that are hard to beat
• Low point: Don't expect to fit in 3 courses in your lunch hour

1. Mere Cat, West End – 16 June 2009, 1:04pmStravaigin Café BarReport

I cannot agree more about the food, they really make the effort and most of the time (not all) it's perfectly cooked and very, very tasty. I'm sure however i'm not the only diner to often experience service that at best can be self important and at worst arrogant and rude. This is not to say there aren't some people working here who are warm and pleasant as they take your order, but many of the staff are brusque to the point where you get the impression you are supposed to feel honoured to be allowed inside their hallowed portals. Its definitely the food - and not the service - which keeps the place busy.