Saturday, 17 May 2014

Dusit

Dusit Thai restaurant tucked away in Thistle Street, has high reputation of fine quality food. They have a long standing lunch offer- 2 courses for £12.95, a little more expensive than similar deals around, however will the quality and experience make up for it?

On arrival we were asked if we wanted our coats hung up, a kind initial show of service, then we taken to our seats. The interior of the restaurant is quite dark, with a fine quality stone and wood atmosphere to it adjoined by oriental statues.

Drink options including quite a broad selection of oriental beers, including two Thai beers. Firstly the ubiquitous Singha beer and the less common Chang beer which I opted for.

The food menu was simple and to the point, presenting us with four options of starter and main. The lunch menu changes every fortnight to guarantee variety for revisits. The selection included a good mixture of familiar and the unfamiliar. The starters included a wonderful sounding chicken salad and your usual deep fried delicacies. The benchmark standard green curry was also present on the mains which proved the popular choice.




The food quality was at a very high standard. The green curry was one of the best I have ever eaten. The ingredients was fresh, the sauce was thick and almost velvety, the mixtures of spices and flavours was divine. The meat was tender and almost melt in your mouth good.

I would recommend Dusit Thai to anyone who is a fan of Thai food. Everyone agreed that the food quality was particularly good. It is more expensive than your average thai restaurant and so you have to determine if you believe this is worth it?

Quality Food                     8.60
Quality Drinks                   7.20
Value                                 7.00
Service                              7.80
Ambience                           8.00
Overall                                8.00
Bill (2 courses, chang beer)      £16 + tip

Comments:
- Good food, not the cheapest though.
- A great lunch deal with very high quality food.
- Had a delicious firey chicken salad, served in a red cabage leaf, followed by a well balanced beef curry. Very impressed - though not cheap at £18 including a bottle of beer.
- Starter was excellent, main course was average
- Quality of food was amazing.


Sunday, 11 May 2014

Spice Pavilion

Spice Pavilion is and Indian restaurant, tucked away in the basement at the top of the steeply inclined Dundas street. We were tempted by their long running lunch deal - starter, main and tea / coffee for £8.95.



Perusing their drinks menu it was good to see they had Cobra on draught, a good bonus in a restaurant like this, a pint was quite reasonably priced at £3.95. The options on the lunch menu were the usual array of Indian classics, Tikka Masala, Jalfrezi, Jogan Josh all making an appearance. The starter options also followed suit, being a choice between various Pakora options or Onion Bhajee. The food quality was definitely better than your usual Indian affair, good quality ingredients, freshly cooked and not lacking in spice either!

The service was efficient and polite. I have been here a couple of times for lunch and have always noticed that it is never that busy, it could however make a good weekend dinner trade. I think for the quality and value of the food, this place is a little underrated and would recommend a visit.



Quality Food                     7.08
Quality Drinks                   7.00
Value                                 7.83
Service                              7.58
Ambience                          6.50
Overall                              7.50

Full Leaderboard

Price (lunch deal, pint cobra, poppadom, tip)        £15

Comments:
- Good tasty curry at a good price. Cobra on draft was good.
- The lunch deal seemed reasonable (8.95 for starter main and coffee). Food was tasty, and reasonably well made - standard Indian dishes on the menu.
- Decent lunch and good value for £8.95 with the coffee. Shame it's so empty.
- Food was Tasty, but portions very small (5 bits of chicken in my curry). Starter Onion Badjee was very nice
- Above average business lunch for Indian food. Cobra on draft is always a winner
- Very nice food for the price.
- Good quality food and value. Nice touch to have Cobra on tap.

Sunday, 4 May 2014

Cambridge Bar

The Cambridge and Oxford bars are Edinburgh institutions, both tucked away on the east end of Thistle street, the latter often used by the fictional Inspector Rebus character made famous by local resident Ian Rankin. The Cambridge bar is famous amongst locals for its burgers, often controversially used in the sentence 'Best burgers in Edinburgh'. Others that sometimes use this sentence include Bell's Diner and Holyrood 9A. So we thought we would come and give them the test!

The Cambridge bar has a great atmosphere to it - everything you would expect from a classic style pub. It has a nice dark rustic feel to it. Also what you would expect from classic pub is a good beer selection and the Cambridge definitely delivers here. They offer a wide range of local beers, including a rotating IPA tap. They also curiously had on a local microbrew called Barney's, which is supplied from the arts space Summerhall across town, which proved to be the popular choice.


Now on to the burgers! The menu is dominated by them giving you pretty much no other option except the Caesar Salad. You choose between beef, chicken, lamb, buffalo and bean patty and then choose to add an optional topping. These range from spicy Mexican and Cajun options, to the more filling breakfast options including bacon and egg. Chips and salad are also found in the extras section. If you are really hungry you can also opt for a double patty. Also a nice touch is the special option on the board that mean there is always ongoing variety - this week was monterey jack, onions rings and bacon. I decided to go the no bun option, which substituted the bun for more salad and dressing - probably a healthier and less heavy option for lunch. The burgers were big and filling and everyone was eating it with a smile of their face!




Quality Food                      8.50
Quality Drinks                    9.13
Value                                  7.00
Service                               8.00
Ambience                           8.63
Overall                                8.38
Bill (including tip) - £16 

Comments

- Great burger and beer, no siginifcant complaints at all!
- One of the best burgers in Edinburgh and the beer was top notch too.
- Burger = Excellent Beer (Barneys) = Excellent Amience = Bustling, ,lively, vibrant. Service = Staff very friendly, chatting and quick. One of the Best
- Hard to beat the Cambridge for drinks and ambience. Looked like they had revamped their menu. I went for day's special - an adventurous "ranch burger" - with streaky bacon, 7oz beef and cheese - oh, and onion rings. I didn't think it was the freshest of cooking - the bacon looked like it had been sitting around for a while - but the home-made burger was tasty, the stack was almost as high as my pint, and the big selection of hot sauces helped me get it down. Best of all was the finest IPA I've ever tasted - a special cask from Barney's beer.
- Good atmosphere and great beer selection. I don't think you should have to pay extra for chips
- The bomb....