Hamiltons Bar Kitchen

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• What are these?

• Average price 2 courses:
   £13 (lunch)
   £15 (evening meal)
• House wine: £12.50 per bottle

• High point: Genuinely locally sourced products
• Low point: Stockbridge prices
• Food served: Mon-Fri noon-3pm, 6-10pm; Sat/Sun 10am-5pm, 6-10pm
• Bar open: Sun-Wed 11am-midnight; Thu-Sat 10am-1am
• Private dining: Up to 30 covers
• Open since: Aug 2002
• Also offers: Vegetarian options (at least 25% of menu), Childrens portions, Childrens high chairs, Wheelchair access

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

This review is from the 2007 edition.

In a prime position in Stockbridge, with a well-heeled middle-class market on its doorstep, the relatively new owners of Hamiltons should be onto a winner. Their product plays pretty well to its potential customers. There are high chairs and an accommodating attitude for ladies who lunch (or latté) with tiny lunchers in tow. West End workers throng the grown-up style bar area for cocktails. A continental café menu (mussels, chilli prawns, and so on) is promising, and the slightly steep prices reflect the commendable efforts of the owners to source locally. The Mellis goat's cheese in a warm salad with pine nuts and roasted beetroot is a nice example of this. Effort is also evident in the presentation, such as a tower of haggis, neeps and tatties. Spot-on sea bass with a generous asparagus accompaniment sits on incongruous couscous, but delicate Dauphinoise potatoes are a perfect fit for a fine fillet of beef. As for afters, cranachan doesn't quite live up to expectations, and, at six quid, the chocolate and raspberry gateaux by Plaisir du Chocolate ought to smash the stars, but is sensuous all the same.