The Voodoo Rooms

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

When the Voodoo Rooms opened at the end of 2007 the promise of an intoxicating blend of tiki cocktails and live music in decadent surroundings created a fair old sensation. And if you're off to check it all out, know this: there's a Devil's Kitchen in the mix. It provides a Creole-inspired menu in the black and gold restaurant off the black and gold bar, as well as a Friday night supper club in the ballroom (5.30–8.30pm, £14.95 for three courses) with live jazz or swing and a Sunday roast. Lunchtimes have soups, sandwiches and a 'pasta and eggs' list for speedier dining, while the à la carte menu takes the Creole theme all the way from homey and subtle in the yellow lentil and smoked paprika soup up to brilliant spicing in the medley of jumbo crab meat, tiger prawn and scallop in white truffle vinaigrette. The house ribs in spicy tomato sauce present a heap of shards of pig of every size and shape, which is likely to bring the diner relishing the soft meat and sticky sauce closer to their dark side. And an order of Voodoo Doll chocolate cake for pudding confirms the devilment, when their piquant strawberry blood turns out to be all too enjoyable.

• High point: Gorgeous black glass tabletops
• Low point: Liberal salad garnishes aren't opulent in the same way

The LIST Card F2

The Voodoo Rooms

The following information has been provided by the restaurant.

The Voodoo Rooms, just off the east end of Edinburgh's Princes Street, opened in November 2007. Careful restoration of the building's original features, including its wonderfully distinctive windows, cornicing and wood-panelled bars and gantries, has turned it into an impressive new venue with a stunning black and gold colour scheme.

Food at the Voodoo Rooms recently underwent a makeover and reflects the straightforward feel of a gastro-pub; good, solid food that never fails to deliver. As well as an array of à la carte delights, diners can enjoy a twist on the traditional Sunday Roast or select a sandwich from the new lunchtime menu.

The à la carte menu offers entrees, snacks, pasta, seafood, grills, roasts and delights from the rotisserie and is available from 12 - 3 pm, and 6 - 10 pm Monday to Thursday; 12 - 10 pm Friday to Sunday. There is plenty to choose from and vegetarians are well catered for with dishes like crushed peas, mozzarella on toast with pecorino cheese, aubergine filled with a Portobello mushroom, pine nut and herb stuffing and the tartlet of spinach and asparagus.

The lunchtime offerings are divided into sections including soups, salads, open sandwiches and pasta and eggs and is perfect for those requiring a quick refuel during a busy day. For those lucky enough to enjoy a lingering lunch, the rib-eye steak from the grills and roasts section followed by a decadent dessert, such as poached pear, chantilly cream and sliced stem ginger might be the order of the day.

The Sunday Roast Menu adds vigour to the traditional roast beef and chicken we all know and love. The Devil's Kitchen, who operate the kitchen at Voodoo Rooms, commissioned a robust rotisserie from Spain, and on it roast the most succulent combination of meat including suckling pig, Scottish beef, de-boned quail and leg of lamb and serve it up with red wine gravy, oven-roasted root vegetables and seasonal greens.

All menus are prepared by a talented team of chefs from the Devil's Kitchen, and are packed full of no-nonsense dishes, many of which are inspired by the Creole cuisine of New Orleans, like the Creole-spiced baby octopus.

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