chez jules

on my recent trip to edinburgh, my cousin brought me round some of her favourite restaurants in edinburgh. one of them was chez jules, a casual friendly bistro that offers classic french dishes.
inside, there are pillars and blackboards on which menus and specials are scrawled in colourful chalk. the lighting is dimmed in the evenings, with a wine bottle drip candle holder on each table to add abitof a romantic ambience.
upon being seated, we were served their standard complimentary starters of bread and butter, olives and sliced salami, and a heavily dressed bowl of lettuce leaves.
viv started with the grilled goats cheese which was served on toast with balsamic and sesame dressing. there was a subtle sweetness from the honey, and the walnuts added abitof a crunchy texture. i went for the sauteed homemade duck confit leg with fresh thyme and garlic. a lovely piece of tender meat, served with a side of mustard to add abitof spice to it.
the steak tartare was finely chopped and you could taste the luscious flavour of the meat, lightly spiced with worchester sauce, chilli, shallots and garlic mayo.
slow braised french rabbit leg with dijon mustard, white wine, and smoked bacon with gratin dauphinois. delicious flavours and succulent meat, and the crisp bread that it was served on nicely soaked up all that lovely sauce.
we were really full after all that food that we unfortunately did not have space for dessert.
overall, we both enjoyed our meal there - the food was simple and satisfying, and it has a really chilled and relaxing atmosphere.

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went there on a business dinner and it was a very nice experience. delicious food, reasonably priced and a great ambience. only bad thing is that we were abitcrammed, most likely because our group of 16 was abittoo big. but hey, i'd likely go back anytime.

on my recent trip to edinburgh, my cousin brought me round some of her favourite restaurants in edinburgh. one of them was chez jules, a casual friendly bistro that offers classic french dishes. inside, there are pillars and blackboards on which menus and specials are scrawled in colourful chalk. the lighting is dimmed in the evenings, with a wine bottle drip candle holder on each table to add abitof a romantic ambience.

chez joules does amazing french food for fantastic prices. the set lunch offers 3 courses for £9.95 including some of the best steak and chips i've ever had... and that's before i mention the amazing chocolate mousse. tres bien!
i was sat at a table with a rather rickety bench which added abitof excitement to my lunch. a proper chair would have been great.

thanks to urban traveller for the tip!kate re and i loved this place!a cosy and abitloud atmosphere in a true little piece of france in edinburgh! very good house wine and excellent food! stuff and service were perfect, i'll definitely come back!

chez jules is reckoned by some as abitof a find, with a delightful, candlelit interior, french service, and food with stonkingly good prices, there shouldn't be a lot to dislike....overall, we found our mains to be excellent. finally, i felt quite in the mood for some crepes, and asked if rather than coming with ice cream, could i possibly have some chantilly instead? they duly obliged, and i have to say the cream was the only part i liked, as the orange sauce was just too rich for my tastes. i really like chez jules.

chez jules is reckoned by some as abitof a find, with a delightful, candlelit interior, french service, and food with stonkingly good prices, there shouldn't be a lot to dislike.

s.o. and i went for one of our celebratory meals, so whilst supping on prosecco we perused the extensive menu. i had eaten there the week before, choosing the half lobster which was just great served up with french fries. on this occasion, we went for duck confit and smoked salmon to start and both the steaks for main.

i really liked the touch that the complementary charcuterie provided. it seems to me quite civilized to have a languorous meal in sumptuous surroundings, with bread and meat and pickles just a pre-requisite. our starters arrived looking suitably rustic. i found my salmon to be cut quite thickly, and though i'm all for big portions it felt somehow less enjoyable. s.o. wasn't impressed with the haphazard traditional plating, and found the flavours fell abitshort of what he expected. i, on the other hand, loved the luscious duck meat that flaked off of the bone.

our steaks were cooked perfectly. i adored the potato dauphinoise that it came with, and was totally distraught that i couldn't finish it despite my best attempts. all that bread at the beginning clearly did my no favours. overall, we found our mains to be excellent.

finally, i felt quite in the mood for some crepes, and asked if rather than coming with ice cream, could i possibly have some chantilly instead? they duly obliged, and i have to say the cream was the only part i liked, as the orange sauce was just too rich for my tastes.

i really like chez jules. i can see what all the fuss is about, as the experience is overwhelmingly continental. however, s.o. found it distinctly below par and much prefers his fine dining. i suppose it's a matter of taste, but take it from me, you won't go a wanting.

n.b. their lunch menu is extraordinarily priced!

i came here on friday evening with a friend and we had booked a table for 6pm.the restaurant was fairly quiet at this time which was nice but did feel abitstrange!

we were shown to our table and brought over some bread olives and salami to have with our drink. the wine i ordered came in a little glass tumbler as opposed to a wine glass which i was aware they did but it did still seem weird drinking wine that way! the food was really good - i had a half lobster and my friend had a steak which she ordered to be medium but it came abiton the rare side (fine for me but not so much for her). for dessert we had a lemon sorbet and a creme brulee which was very good as well. the restaurant started to get very busy fairly quickly and became pretty noisy so we were quite happy once we finished eating to move on somewhere else.

the staff were lovely and polite but did seem distracted at times- like not bringing the dessert menu once we had requested it and we had to request it again and the bill etc but this wasn't down to how busy it was as there seemed to be a lot of staff working - although they weren't very identifiable as they weren't in a uniform or anything. i gave the review a 3.5 because the evening was good enough but it wasn't spectacular - the food was good but the atmosphere was abitof a non-starter.

french feast!. tucked away in a cellar at the bottom of hanover street is a lovely wee restaraunt serving up fresh french cuisine. though the menu isn't exactly what i would call extensive, there is enough of a choice offered to suit most tastes. upon being seated our table was quickly furnished with a basket of fresh bread, a bowl of leafy salad and a plate of cold meats and olives all of which were a lovely tasty touch. i started my meal with a delicious bowl of onion soup which was piping hot, full of flavour and arrived at the table almost instantly. if you are a fan of onion i highly recommend this dish to start! for my main i selected le filet mignon which i had cooked medium rare. in my experience most chefs will tend to overcook a medium rare into a medium, but at chez jules it was the opposite, there was a little too much pink for the faint of heart, fortunately i prefer my steak more on the rare side so it wasn't a problem for me, but heed my warning, ensure you are very clear on how you want your meat prepared! also included in the meal was a beautifully presented pan of dauphinois potatoes which were just a treat to the tastebuds! by the time we had our main the restaraunt was packed and the nights service underway. our final dish, a piece of brie and sauce (which doesn't appear on the online menu), took a little longer to arrive than i would normally have liked, but it was easy to see that the place was busy and the staff were doing their best to ensure that everyone was being looked after. the layout of the restaraunt is slightly cramped, it was abitdifficult to get into and out of our seats once the surrounding tables were full, though the red and white check tablecloths, the wax covered wine bottle candlesticks and the piped in accordian music did make one feel as though they could be in a parisian bistro. the staff were very friendly and welcoming and constantly could be seen checking on their clients to ensure that everything was to their liking. all in all we had a lovely meal at chez jules and have already made plans with some of our french food loving friends to return.