cafe st honore

great find

lovely lunch . menu was varied with local ingredients and seasonal choices, good wine choice. service well timed and charming set price and al a carte

maybe it was the prosecco before, and the cocktail, and then the wine, but i think i fell a little bit in love with cafe st honore. i'm all about being transported by food, and this tucked-away restaurant does that: the floor tiles, the chairs, the candlelight.
along with some very quaffable red wine, we had the cafe classic menu - limited options but great value (two courses for £18 or three for £23.50): a pork rillette rolling around with hazelnuts, apples and amazing croutons (i could feel my arteries lining themselves with fat - in a good way) then melt-in-the-mouth venison stew with buttery mash. we shared a perfectly crisp and flavoursome treacle tart that went so well with the dollop of creme fraiche on top. oh and there was delicious crusty bread (soda, i think) with amazing butter that was so thick and rich and creamy it might as well have been cheese.
portions are generous, atmosphere great and service friendly (lack of photos i'm afraid due to the lovely staff taking my jacket, where my phone was, on arrival).
i half expected to see the eiffel tower when i went outside. then again, it might have been the prosecco; and the cocktail, and the wine...

cafe st honore is a real local’s favourite, it serves daily-changing, gluten-free and dairy-free menus using the best local, seasonal and sustainable british ingredients. the owner neil forbes is one of scotland’s most interesting characters leading the slow food movement in edinburgh, baking his own bread every day, writing columns in the national newspapers, teaching and cooking at lots of live events – surprisingly he still has time to make incredibly good food for the fans of café st honore!

this place had been on my wish list for a while. the cafe has a great reputation so i was looking forward to trying it. we booked on this deal using bookatable which offered a three course meal for £19.50 which also included a glass of wine. this menu changes daily so there is no guarantee fussy eaters will find something they like! entering the restaurant it certainly had a very quaint french feel about it and felt incredibly welcoming. i really did feel as if i had been transported to a little parisian café. once seated, we then set about looking at the menu. the set menu doesn’t have many options; two per course but the main menu also had a nice range should you want to choose from that. funnily enough the three of us all opted for the same options of the pork rillette for the starter, battered coley and chips for main and then we opted for the crème fraiche mousse with a compote of blackcurrants and redcurrants for dessert.

now we love a good bargain as much as the next person and when we discovered on bookatable that cafe st honore had a lunchtime special 2 courses for £15.50 or 3 courses for £19.50 we knew we had to go along and try it out. they also offer a full lunchtime menu alongside the set menu. for those of you who don’t know the chef behind cafe st honore is neil forbes. neil was crowned chef of the year 2014 and scottish chef of the year in 2011. the main ethos of cafe st honore is making the most of local produce and showcasing it in a simple yet extremely tasty way. the use of local produce is evident in the ever changing menus with a new one each day for both lunchtime and dinner service offering slightly different choices.

we lunched at cafe st honore on a weekday to celebrate a small cause of happiness. we opted for the 3 course set menu with wine which was exceptional value. though the set menu was a bit limited, we were allowed to choose from outside of it ( express lunch options) for the same price so that was a nice touch. between the 3 of us, we had a course of fish and game each. my herring was very tasty and my pigeon course rich but succulent. the lemon and verbena ice cream was delicately flavoured and very delicious! even the house wines were very very good. all in all, a very pleasant experience!

p.s. my mum's only complaint was that her window seat faced the bins! a glass or two of wine and i'm sure they will look like abstract art anyway (imho)...!

we ventured here on a saturday lunchtime and were surprised how busy the place was. set back of thistle street, it's the sort of place locals in search of great food would know about. we thought what better way to sample the food on offer than to take advantage of their lunchtime deal. 3 courses and a glass of wine for £19.50. we can tell you now that this is an absolute steal!! it's so good we almost don't want to tell any one.

on the lunchtime deal menu there are two options for each of the courses. each dish we ordered was fantastic. it was packed full of local ingredients used to their full potential. 

we'd recommend booking as it's a popular place!

the diners all agreed this was the best sunday lunch in a long time. why didn’t we have roast beef and yorkshire pudding more often? it ŵas a firm fixture of our childhood.

the fact that it happened to be a tuesday evening and that this was the fifth meat course that evening made this statement all the more remarkable. far from our palates being jaded, they were reawakened by the fabulous taste of the meat.

we’d been invited to sample the beef and lamb supplied by hebriddean foods. if the name sounds familiar you might remember me waxing lyrical about their seafood that i tasted. now owner douglas stewart who is astonishingly just 24 years old, is bringing meat raised in the hebrides to a wider audience. we heard how love of sheep had skipped a generation. his grandfather raised sheep but douglas’ father chose to go into lobster fishing instead. the sheep that douglas sources are raised in a very similar way to those his grandfather tended, on a small tidal island vallay from october to june. located off the coast of north uist, the beasts are mostly left to their own devices even when giving birth. part of the year they are taken off the island and are grazed on heather for added flavour.

we are dining at café st honoré. chef neil,forbes is the obvious choice to showcase the meat. his style of cooking which has previously won him chef of the year focuses on taste and cooking prime ingredients simply.

we start with a breaded lamb cutlet. i’d consider this something of a retro dish and something i wouldn’t choose from a menu usually. if all breaded lamb cutlets were like this i would have them more often. the meat is beautifully juicy with a perfect crust. the portions were supposed to be small but if these are small i can only wonder at what large portions look like.

next up is a seam boned leg of lamb. this means it is butchered following the natural seams of the lamb. it’s moist and has a slight chewiness. we sample rump steak which is one of the best i have tried, then slow cooked shin of beef which neil later confesses to being his favourite to cook. it has a deep unctuous flavour and is served with neil’s very buttery mash – heaven. all completely delicious. time to bring back sunday lunch?

the prime highland bullocks are processed at 3 years, longer than the industry standard. this is in part due to the slow-growing attributes of the highland breed as well as environmental factors. the result is an overall rich depth of flavour that stands out from other commercial breeds and systems of farming.

the beef is then dry-aged on the hook for 3- 4 weeks. douglas plans to experiment with longer hanging times for a more intense flavour and texture in the near future. the lamb has a hanging time of 2 weeks.

these days getting produce delivered in prime condition is perfectly possible. ice packs keep the meat or fish fresh for ages. no excuse then to try some meat from hebriddean foods. the meat is in sensibly sized portions and is reasonable in price. please forget that well known scottish sounding purveyor of meat and taste the real thing.

i tried the rack of lamb. i cooked it in the sous vide at 60c for 2.5 hours, then finished it off in the pan. it was very moist and tasty! you can imagine where the meat was raised on that island happily and without stress. you can also think of douglas who is already thinking up new ideas of how to bring more fabulous meat to us by courier

the hebridean food company

ronay, 7 kallin

grimsay, isle of north uist hs6 5hy

follow hebridean food on twitter

like hebridean food on facebook 

douglas will be attending various scottish events over the summer including the foodies festival in august.

absolute value for money, and not short on delish dishes either! the steak tartare was nicely seasoned, the quiche had a lovely crumbly buttery texture. the mains are impressively priced with the beef fillet priced at £25. i did feel that the meat was overdone for a rare, i tend to have my meats soft and juicey.. but thats us aussies. the chessecake with strawberries is fantastic! creamy subtle sweetness with fruit bursting with flavour! highly must get!!

do you wish to discover france in the 1950's? don't look further! the café st honoré is the place to be.
out of time this establishment is a real french brasserie. you could be in paris without a doubt (although the staff is way nicer than typical parisian waiters ;)).
i went 2 times for lunch and diner and there was nothing to argue about the experience!
we enjoyed the classic brasserie menu (3 courses for £19,50) both time. the dishes are local, seasonal and always reflecting the core concept of the brasserie food : simplicity and deliciousness.
the chef neil forbes is fond of his producers and always try to use the best of scotland in his dishes. he is completely involved in the slow food movement.
only downside of the experience: the wine. they are very expensive and sometimes not up to the expectations (for instance, i was disappointed really by the albariño ...)
the café st honoré is a place to try if you love scottish food and products prepared with a french twist!

if you want to know more about my experience, check my restaurant review on my blog:
http://travel.oohmyworld.com/2013/11/08/restaurant-tasting-cafe-st-honore-between-france-and-scotland-mon-coeur-balance/

wednesday 7th september 2011. 7:32pm. i'm literally moping around the kitchen. the silver fox asks 'what's for dinner…' i'm staring blankly into the fridge. there's ham. there's mayo. loaf of granary on the counter. i debate hacking open the bag of maltesers instead. my awaiting tastebuds are preparing themselves for massive, crushing disappointment. i can visualise a 'strongly worded letter of complaint'. 'dear madam. the ham sandwich concept is way below par. can't you do something with - oh , we don't know - maybe some scallops, bacon…' yesterday, you see, the felly and i had been privileged to hands-down awesome dinner at café st. honoré. tuesday 6th september 2011. 7:32pm. the silver fox and i are sitting in the back room of café st. honoré. this little bistro is a très authentic tranche of paris, here in our dear 'burgh. we've just booked a trip to the city of lights, so sitting in the candlelit dining room ambience with mirrored panels, bentwood chairs and linen, we're

with immediate reminders of one of our favourite parisian bistros, le taxi jaune on rue chapon, this was going to be 'impressionnant'.