twenty princes street

now here is a fabulous addition to the edinburgh restaurant scene. great location, wonderful mix of elegant and modern decor. the staff have mastered that (sometimes all too rare) balance of attentiveness and unobtrusiveness whilst being incredibly helpful and relaxed.

but let's be honest it's about the food. i dined there with two friends and we all had different dishes - 9 plates of heaven! the beetroot tart with crowdie followed by the gnocchi thoroughly impressed and delighted the vegetarian. the deliciously delicate starter of scallop and lobster in an apple consomme was indicative of the wonders to follow. i then had the turbot which was cooked to perfection and was swimming in an idyllic sea of langoustine veloute. the fennel potato croquettes were absolutely divine and i savoured every single mouthful. my friend (normally chatty and loud) was pretty much silenced, aside from the groans of sheer pleasure, as she devoured roasted salmon and curried potatoes.

hands down winner of the night was white chocolate and wasabi ice cream which i had as an add-on to the dark chocolate souffle. it was perfection. it bamboozles your taste buds and leaves you wanting more. maybe not for everyone, those with a sensitive pallet may wish to refrain. however, those who are happiest trying new things - hold on to your hats.

put this restaurant straight to the top of your wish list before you're the only person you know who hasn't been.

had a meal with friends here on saturday night. food was delicious, we all cleared our plates, i was debating asking for seconds of the lamb! yum! staff were friendly, great atmosphere, was a pleasure to eat here and would highly recommend!

i couldn’t believe my luck when i won a competition for a complimentary meal for two at twenty princes street. i had previously reviewed this restaurant and thought everything was great; the setting, food and staff. this had been a midweek lunch with friends so i was excited to try the dinner menu on a saturday night.

20 princes is one of my favourite restaurants in a city where the standard of food is consistently through the roof. the room is grand and opulently decorated, making it the perfect place for a special occasion. on my most recent visit i tried the duck liver parfait with homemade brioche bread and bacon jam followed by the salt and rosemary baked sea bass with chilli and anchovy broccoli - both amazing! the atmosphere is one of my favourite aspects of this restaurant. the light is low, candles glow and the space flows directly into the juniper cocktail bar, spreading a lively hum of conversation and a festive atmosphere across the entire floor. the service is great and i have always found the staff to be friendly and polite. couldn't recommend it more!

if you want to go out to celebrate a special occasion, you should definitely consider twenty princes street. the setting is incredible, the food is excellent and served with the flourish that i’ve come to expect from both establishments in the royal british hotel. i’ll definitely be back for the dessert alone!

it's easy to be impressed by the setting - when the grey hallway of the old hotel gives way to a vast space adorned with chandeliers it has the cool vibe of new york or l.a. our marble table by the window under the glow of the balmoral also felt pretty special.
the food is certainly good too - and very reasonably-priced for the standard.
i had the chicken supreme with a confit leg and pumpkin gratin, little cauliflower gougeres (like savoury profiteroles) and a delicious sauce that was rich and, to be a bit fancy, umami. had a side of macaroni cheese to share too (just because...) which had a lovely background flavour i couldn't quite make out.
i finished things off with a scoop of mascarpone sorbet (good, but very sweet) and a scoop of spiced orange ice cream which was tasty but a bit rough in texture.
the service wasn't as slick as the surroundings though- a little slow and two things we ordered were forgotten about (but didn't take too long to emerge when we pointed it out) and the toilets were disappointing and freezing.
there is an extensive drinks list and the lunch deal looks pretty good.

some friends and i went here last night for a get-together christmas meal.

there were originally to be 21 folks in our booking and it eventually whittled down to only 8. our lovely waitress jade was extremely understanding and friendly. due to the slash in numbers she set up the booth so all of us could sit together in the same booth which was great.

the food was delicious. i had the terrine, the steak and then the praline mousse. i can honestly say that it was the best steak i have ever had in a restaurant and it was cooked to perfection.

we all thoroughly enjoyed our night. the atmosphere was great, food was delicious and the service was perfect. we are quite a noisy excitable bunch and the staff really catered to our quite demanding needs, including answering our questions about all the types of cheeses on the cheeseboard, making some (very last minute) swaps for us, taking a few group photos and also just putting up with our general drunken chit chat.

a brilliant evening and i will most definitely return!

great food

i've been dying to try twenty princes street for a long time, ever since the lovely guys at zomato were singing it's praises to me not so long ago. i had heard of their amazing 'twenty's plenty' menu from various sources, including lunchquest, so one day s.o. and i were stuck between a rock and a hard place for somewhere to eat and decided to try twenty.



hiking up the shabby chic stairway, we were amazed when ushered into a glorious georgian, open plan dining area. the enormous windows, chandeliers, and polite clinking of glasses made both of us feel that we'd stepped into a very sophisticated other life. what made the experience all the more pleasant was the exceptional quality of service. our waitress was lovely, polite, and actually seemed to be enjoying her job and happy to help. it also seemed to welcome an array of clientele, from yuppies, to couples on holiday, to older guests probably staying at the hotel. everyone seemed to be quite impressed with the room and views overlooking edinburgh castle.



enough about the interior design i hear you say! the food! the exceptionally well priced lunch menu (twenty's plenty) entitles two people to two mains and two drinks. the menu is fairly extensive and comes off of the a la carte menu. i had heard wondrous things about josper grills (which the kitchen uses to ensure tender meat), but despite this i went for the 'togarashi marinated salmon'. s.o. chose the burger, josper grilled.



food envy soon ensued, for though my salmon was perfectly cooked and the broth was tasty, i found the dish to be heavily underseasoned for my tastes. i was pleased that they have salt and pepper on the table, so i didn't have to suffer the embarrassment of asking for it. the burger on the other hand was outstanding. the meat was divine, and the chips were pretty good too (i ate most of them!).



so our first foray into twenty princes street proved fruitful. next time we'll stick with the red meat and most likely be heading for the steak menu!

i've been dying to try twenty princes street for a long time, ever since the lovely guys at zomato were singing it's praises to me not so long ago. i had heard of their amazing 'twenty's plenty' menu from various sources, including lunchquest, so one day s.o. and i were stuck between a rock and a hard place for somewhere to eat and decided to try twenty. hiking up the shabby chic stairway, we were amazed when ushered into a glorious georgian, open plan dining area. the enormous windows, chandeliers, and polite clinking of glasses made both of us feel that we'd stepped into a very sophisticated other life. what made the experience all the more pleasant was the exceptional quality of service. our waitress was lovely, polite, and actually seemed to be enjoying her job and happy to help. it also seemed to welcome an array of clientele, from yuppies, to couples on holiday, to older guests probably staying at the hotel. everyone seemed to be quite impressed with the room and views overlookin

this is another short and snappy post but thought it was worth sharing with you all the lovely dinner i had at twenty princes street at the start of the week. twenty princes street had been on my radar for a long time and when i was catching  up with a good friend it seemed like the perfect place to meet. the inside is gorgeous! i loved all the decoration and it’s got lovely views of the castle. we were seated at a lovely table in the middle and it was a perfect viewing spot to see what everyone else had ordered. the menu has a lot of things on it i like to eat but my eye was caught by the salt and rosemary baked sea bass with creme fraiche and chive potato salad and marinated vegetables. when i ordered the waitress said i had ordered well and it was one of her favourites. getting the seal of approval from the staff is also a nice thing to hear. i really hoped i had chosen well. the presentation of this dish gets a two thumbs up. i was so intrigued by my sea bass coming out and having

absolutely loved this place. this was my first visit and it won't be my last. it was great from start to finish. the surroundings are fabulous and you definitely feel like you are in somewhere fancy.
i had the salt baked sea bass and it was a great choice. the presentation and serving of the fish was an experience in itself. everything about my dish was delicious. the sea bass just fell to pieces it was cooked perfectly and had a fantastic flavour to it. the potato salad and marinated vegetables work well in accompanying the fish. 

overall it was a fantastic and the staff looked after us very well. i will definitely be back to try some of the cocktails and there are loads of other things on the menu i can't wait to try out.

this evening provided one of my very favourite meals in edinburgh. sadly i've let far too much time elapse since that great night back in may 2014 so i shall stick to the knowns. 

firstly, they went to enormous trouble to accommodate a group of five of us on a jam-packed saturday night. i find reviews that say such things a bit tedious - well done on getting seated - but the effort was so great and the erosion to the standard of service so little that it was commendable above and beyond usual expectations. 

twenty princes st is a stunning steak restaurant and smokehouse sitting in an elegant marble-clad room above edinburgh's main thoroughfare. the real highlight for me was the tomahawk steak, a frenched rib-eye of two-man proportions. it ranked in flavour, finish and tenderness to anything i've had at hawksmoor, goodmans, or any other better-known southerly steak vendors. 

the lesson for me is the need to keep my reviews up-to-date, but hopefully the photographs with this review suffice as an indication of the quality of what was served.

arrived at the door and it was near 7pm. we were super lucky to get the last available table. staff were excellent. food was not a long wait. portions were fantastic. all the dishes we ordered really were of incredible taste. bread was freshly made which was a bonus. mac and cheese was super nice. best looking dish : steak tartare with watercress ice cream. booking here again in the weekend.

best burger i've ever had!! then went back here again and had one of the best steaks too! but their burger.... cooked steak to how you like it, beer infused cheese.... ohh.... take me back there now!!