Assembly

This review appears in the The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 – in the shops now or buy online.

You can view the Potterrow and Teviot student unions from the windows of this relaxed cocktail bar, so it's no great surprise that it attracts its fair share of students. With tight budgets in mind, the food is served in large, wallet-pleasing portions, and includes full breakfasts on weekends, salads, soups, pizzas and fajitas through the day and snacks such as nachos or spring roll and chicken strip sharing platters until 8.45pm. A good value special of two mains and a bottle of wine for £16 includes steak and peppercorn sauce with chips or crispy battered haddock with chips and peas. For dessert, opt for moist carrot cake or gooey and deliciously sweet banoffee pie or relax on the dark leather couches and pore over the cocktail list, which includes names such as Jammie Jamaican (rum, apricot jam and lemon juice) or Vanilla Rouge (vodka, fresh strawberries and lime juice). Budget cuts mean that the popular live DJ sets have now been reduced from weekly events to occasional 'guest appearances', but the lively atmosphere is maintained by a colourful soundtrack of soul, funk and 80s hits on the stereo.

• High point: Classic and new cocktails for under a fiver
• Low point: Student-phobics may feel outnumbered