The Outsider

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• What are these?

• Average price 2 courses:
   £11 (set lunch)
   £19 (evening meal)
• House wine: £13.60 per bottle

• Hitlisted
• High point: Ultra fashionable surroundings with an unexpected superb castle view
• Low point: Book ahead, even on a Monday in January
• Food served: Mon-Sun noon-11pm.
• Open since: 2002
• Also offers: Childrens high chairs, Wheelchair access

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

This review is from the 2007 edition.

Secure behind its unpretentious façade and faintly pretentious name, the Outsider has been providing discerning Old Town diners with fine food at a relatively wallet-friendly price since 2002. The interior is slightly bewildering and fractured at first glance, but is actually designed with an eye for keeping the more romantic diners cocooned in their own personal, candle-lit space. In fact, while larger tables are in evidence, most diners are in small groups - and the fewer distractions from the food the better. Starters are a choice of shared platters such as skewers of roasted monkfish with sweet red chilli, new potato and spring onion. This really is food to savour: the fish is creamy yet substantial, with just a whiff of smoke from the grill and only the very lightest of accompaniments. The mains are divided into 'fish things' and 'other things', which pretty much covers 'everything', but consider the confit duck with a warm chorizo and watercress salad and lentil vinaigrette. The duck is crispy-skinned, sticky and rich, and a nice contrast to the firm and satisfying lentils. A lighter alternative is the melt-in-the-mouth cod papilotte, delicately steamed with leeks, fennel, white wine and lemon. This is food for food-lovers.