Porto Grill in the City

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• What are these?

• Average price 2 courses:
   £8.50 (lunch)
   £8.50 (evening meal)

• High point: Slap-up nosh
• Low point: Unlikely to be part of the diet plan
• Food served: Mon-Sun 8am-10pm
• Also offers: Childrens portions, Take away

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

This review is from the 2007 edition.

After many decades running the Porto Grill in Portobello, Bill Westwood has stepped of retirement to reinstate the atmosphere of a decent, no-frills neighbourhood café to Clerk Street on Edinburgh's Southside. Open just a few weeks as a daytime operation as this guide went to press, the plan was to stay open into the evening after Easter. The formula is essentially somewhere between a greasy spoon, an old-fashioned diner and a sit-in fish and chip shop. Stop in for breakfast, a three-egg omelette or grilled liver and bacon, and, following a sizzle and clatter behind the scenes as it's cooked to order, you'll be served a larger-than-expected plate filled to each edge with food including chips, peas and token salad, not forgetting a side plate of white bread and butter and a pot of tea. Some might relish the retro style of a place that serves Bovril and beans on toast; some will think it dated; no small number will take to it because it's straightforward and it's what they want. Various types of fish are available battered or breaded, chips are crip and golden, there's ice-cream galore and it can all be taken away.