Rhubarb Edinburgh, Restaurant Review

Rhubarb restaurant @ Prestonfield
Prestonfield House
Priestfield Road
Edinburgh

225 1333



I was wary about Rhubarb, various reports had claimed it was all flashy decor and no real substance, one review from the Daily Telegraph really worried me - but I'd enjoyed my prior visits to James Thompsons other institutions and made a booking anyway.

As the taxi swept us up the dramatically lit drive towards the house I knew that we were in for a visual feast if nothing else. Menus and wine lists arrived and we ordered our aperitifs, I had a champagne cocktail and my grandmother had a martini. My cocktail was well made, with good quality spirit and Pol Roger champagne as opposed to bog standard cava. We ordered and were taken to our table post aperitif.

The amuse bouche arrived, it was a frothy white mushroom soup. I alerted the waiter to my allergies and he immediately headed to the kitchen. He came back, whisked away the amuse bouche and told me that the chef was going to make me something else. I found this impressive, as often dietry requirements in places such as Rhubarb are seen as peculiar or catered for with no real thought or dedication. My new amuse bouche came - an oxtail consomme - and I have to say I wasn't overly impressed. It was over salted and uninteresting - it almost made me wish he hadn't bothered as an amuse bouche should be a chance for the chef to show off his skill - and this didn't impress.
My starter, on the other hand, pigeon salad with muscat and raisin dressing, was stunning. Pigeon maybe a relatively simple meat to cook but the tender breast married wonderfuly with the surprisingly delicate sauce. I hadn't expected the nectaine, orangey flavours of muscat to marry with the raisins but it worked well. My grandmother's soup was fine - but uninspired - so uninspired we couldn't recall what the soup was the next day!

I ordered a half bottle of Ridge Geyserville 2003 as Ridge are one of my favourite wineries. I have to note that the wine list at Rhubarb is exceptional and it is not extortionate. All regions of the world are well represented with some interested lines from the New World that you may not expect somewhere like Rhubarb to stock. The other interesting thing about the list is their stocking of a good range of half bottles and magnums - allowing for greater choice and more flexibility. The wine was great - full credit to Ridge for always making lovely wines.

My main course was Veal with a date and plum sauce and potato latticed pancakes. I adore veal, and it was perfect though the sauce was once again a surprising one but it worked well - especially considering the wine we had ordered. There was a little too much of the sauce, and it did tend to overdominate the meat slightly but this is a very very minor complaint. My grandmother's Guineau Fowl was delicious too, with a surprisingly delicate sauce considering it was another odd fruit sauce.

I didn't have a pudding, but I did have an espresso and an Armagnac, the coffee was decent and the Armagnac good.

The atmosphere of the place and the decor is the real draw of Rhubarb, but the food does not disappoint. It's not aiming for stars or anything, but this is almost a themed restaurant - the theme being victorian morgue meets Tim Burton. The bill at the end of the night was steep, but this is somewhere for a special occasion or to impress someone, its not somewhere you go for exceptional food.