9 Cellars Restaurant and Bar
New Town
- Average price 2 courses:
£5.95 (set lunch)
£16 (evening meal) - House wine: £11.95 per bottle
- BYOB: £4 corkage
- Hitlisted
- High point: Fresh approach, super-fresh food
- Low point: Very quiet Saturday lunchtimes
- Food served: Mon-Sat noon-2.30pm, Mon-Sun 5.30-11pm
- Delivery: Free within 1 mile radius
- Private dining: Up to 30 covers
- Open since: 2003
- Also offers: Vegetarian options (at least 25% of menu), Childrens portions, Childrens high chairs, Take away, Pre-theatre menu
Located down a short flight of stairs close to the National Portrait Gallery, 9 Cellars is really a tale of two halves. Downstairs you'll find a twisty-turny maze of nooks and crannies, complete with a well-stocked subterranean bar and 'spiral' snack menu (nachos, tortillas and basic curries), all designed to lure in hungry visitors from the comedy club next door. Back up top it's a more formal dining experience altogether, with upright tables and chairs, bright walls in Moroccan reds and yellows. The menu focuses on dishes from across India, drawn from chef and owner PC Thakur's own personal globetrotting experience, combined with a stint at Edinburgh's number-one veggie curry house, Kalpna. Starters arrive perkily placed on crisp white china and are as tasty as they are pretty, with spiky horse-chestnut-shaped subzi pakora packing a real tingly crunch. For mains, try the dosa, a lattice-thin rice flour pancake that arrives wrapped around a subtle chutney-flavoured mix of chicken, onion and peppers. Okra and aubergine side dishes are crisp and rich, and the home-made mango ice-cream is sweet, sublime and well worth saving space for. For laid-back style, but on-the-ball cooking, 9 Cellars really is game, set and match.
Comments
- 1. Sam, Edinburgh – 22 April 2008, 10:47pmReport
-
I have been using The List to pick out restaurants for well over four years and I have never been disappointed - until I went to 9 Cellars recently. This restaurant is hit listed and I also noticed that it has got good reviews by other prominent reviewers in the field. However based on my experience at this restaurant I have to disagree with the reviews.
After reading the review on The List, I was rather excited about the dosa but mine was burnt and cold at the same time! The Okra side dish was also cold and rather unexciting. The Rajasthani lamb curry was good but nothing special. And when I asked for a Rasmalai I was told that they don't serve it anymore - though it is still there on the greasy dessert menu card.
I would be interested to get others' view on this restaurant. Maybe I was just unlucky and I am aware I can't come to any conclusions based on a single visit.
To post a comment you'll first need to log in - not registered? - forgotten password?
RSS feed of these comments
