The Salisbury Arms on the southside site facing the Commonwealth pool, has recently opened following a total revamp. Branded as a local ‘village pub’, it’s a great spot to head after a Holyrood Park jaunt. The general vibe is a pleasingly coherent blend of cosy pub-cum-hunting-lodge, with a bit of trendy plush thrown, and a beer garden crying out for that elusive sunny afternoon!
The menu has pleenty of options to please the casual and formal diner alike, and boasts well-sourced ingredients. Whilst looking through choices, we started with some of their house bread(£2.60); still-warm slices of white bread cooked with rosemary and red onions.
We were ready to order when a genuine !STOP PRESS! moment occurred; a late addition to the menu of scallops with black pudding and apple(£6). The Silver Fox got his claim in first, but I did steal a few fork-fulls! Each bite brought together the seared slightly caramelised scallops, a touch more sweetness from the soft apple, and contrasting spice from the black pudding. My starter (£4.95) was equally satisfying, featuring three giant grilled portabella mushrooms, topped with crisp bacon. The addition of a fair bit of chilli and garlic to pique the palate made it really fly.
Main courses were also from the day’s specials. Mine, a Gallic charmer of roast lamb (£17.95), dauphinoise potatoes and a Provençal-style ratatouille. The lamb was perfectly tender and pink, and there’s no better accompaniment than these creamy potatoes. More garlic for me then! The tomato-ey stew cut through it all, and featured large olives which still had a firm bite. Mister went for the veal dish (£13.95). Not for the faint-hearted, this was a sizeable parmesan-crusted escalope of veal, served atop a huge pile of al-dente linguine, which was dressed with another tomato-based sauce.
To finish we had the Pudding Sharing Platter (£10.50), which just erred on the wrong side of epic. Highlights were proper ‘adult’ dark chocolate brownie with a dense vanilla ice cream, and rich baked cheesecake with berry compôte. Slightly underwhelming were the lemon tarte and Eton mess, the latter of which should have had more fruit and meringue to contrast against the cream.
Minor gripe aside, we were really impressed, and welcome this newbie with open arms!
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