Hadrian's Brasserie

I ate at hadrian's recently for lunch and was very surprised, I'd always thought that 5 star hotels were stuffy posh places. Hadrian's was very relaxed and friendly, staff all seemed very happy and welcoming. I had a quirky starter of chipolata's wrapped in bacon with black pudding, fried quails' egg and homemade baked beans. It was great, a bit of fun and very tasty.

For main course I had scallops, which I loved. Often restaurants will over cook scallops but these were perfect. Moist and sweet, served with a delicious puree of chick peas and a side of spinach.

The wine list is great, it always frustrates me when I go to places and the same wine I buy in the supermarket is on sale for an extra £20. The list here is well thought out and full of good value wines, although I couldn't strech to the £450 for mouton rothschild, so I plumped for a very nice chilean sauvignon blanc at £25.

Thankfully I had some wine left so I had to have dessert, possibly the best creme brulee I have ever had. Devine!

I should say too that they have a set price menu, I went a la carte as I wanted to treat myself but, at £14 for two courses this is a deal not to be missed!!!

Can't wait to go back.
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rachel cornell
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Monday, May 18, 2009

We ate here on the second night of our three night stay in Edinburgh - also ate at Oloroso and North Bridge Brasserie (see reviews).

The food was a mixed success...we shared the seafood platter starter, which was quite disappointing. Smoked salmon, king prawns, squid and some white fish. These were served with 3 dips which were ok but not great. I then had partridge on shredded sprouts with chestnuts - this was a real joy, beautifully presented and a good balance of ingredients and flavours. My husband had chicken with tomatoes, black olives served on mashed potato, of this he gave a positive review. As we ate late, we passed on pudding.

The wine list was very extensive, but in relation to the reasonable food prices, the starting price was approx £26, of which there were only 1 or 2.

The service was OK, but there were several gaps when we were left waiting to make our order, pour the wine, bring the bill etc, although when they were in attendance they were attentive and polite.

Also, the tables are small and too tight together - we were very aware of our own conversation content, but also keen to keep chatting so that we weren't listening in to the tables either side.
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H. Alston
Friday, November 23, 2007