{"id":932,"date":"2013-06-02T08:20:55","date_gmt":"2013-06-02T08:20:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.leilappetit.com\/blog\/?p=932"},"modified":"2013-06-02T08:32:27","modified_gmt":"2013-06-02T08:32:27","slug":"review-of-element","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/leilappetit.com\/?p=932","title":{"rendered":"Review of Element"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.leilappetit.com\/2011\/09\/review-of-the-waterline-for-bite-magazine\/bite-3\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-471\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-471\" alt=\"bite\" src=\"http:\/\/www.leilappetit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/bite2.jpg\" width=\"176\" height=\"77\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nOh crumbs! By the time apple crumble arrived to finish my meal at Element, I realised I\u2019d somehow managed to achieve the seemingly unachievable. From a fairly extensive menu, I\u2019d successfully ordered three courses in a row which featured either a \u2018crumble\u2019, a \u2018crumb\u2019 or \u2018crust\u2019. The menu phrasing was perfectly fine, something jumps out, on this occasion I was seduced by the key ingredient, paying less attention to the overall description.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7294\/8739701885_d4dbb8a34a.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" \/><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">So, did the food at Element jump out at me? Well, let\u2019s rewind back a little. It\u2019s a bar and bistro in a great spot on a corner of Rose Street offering a mix characterful period details such as panelling and fireplaces, comfy furniture and a few modern bling lighting accents. From the wallet-friendly drinks list my friend Emily and I partook in a couple of pre-prandials, Bellini for her, and a fresh Spanish Sauv Blanc for me.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7294\/8739713349_35184a72f0.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" \/><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The menu offers a good mix between pub grub, and a few more imaginative dishes. Starters were an easy pick \u2013 steamed Isle of Eriska mussels in a white wine, garlic and shallot cream sauce (\u00a3 6.75) for Emily, and the stuffed Portobello mushroom with a Dunsyre blue and herb crust (\u00a35) for myself. \u00a0Both dishes were \u00a0spot-on, the mussels were some bonny bivalves, and the tasty liquor great with the chunk of fluffy bread. On my side of the table, full-flavoured plump mushrooms showed that great ingredients can make a simple dish taste so satisfying.<\/p>\n<p>My main course was a bit more of a conundrum, perfectly baked fillet of Shetland hake (\u00a39) topped with a savoury tomato and leek crust. The hake however rested on a flavourless slab of fondant potato, and bafflingly the dish didn\u2019t feature any moisture. A fresh salsa-type sauce would have made all the difference visually and would have excited the palate. My co-diner fared well with her braised Ayrshire pork cheeks (\u00a39) slow cooked in a rich gravy, and served with spring onion mash and chunks of roasted root veggies.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7281\/8740829808_b27caebc84.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7292\/8740833804_4fd76da779.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" \/><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Bringing us back to dessert, where things sadly did crumble and fall. Chunks of mostly crunchy apple,some blackberries and simultaneously hot and cold from a presumed rotation in the microwave. There\u2019s clearly some good direction in the kitchen, but more work\u2019s needed to get the basic \u2018elements\u2019 right.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.urbanspoon.com\/r\/342\/1599050\/restaurant\/New-Town\/Element-Edinburgh\"><img style=\"border: none; padding: 0px; width: 200px; height: 146px;\" alt=\"Element on Urbanspoon\" src=\"http:\/\/www.urbanspoon.com\/b\/link\/1599050\/biglink.gif\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Oh crumbs! By the time apple crumble arrived to finish my meal at Element, I realised I\u2019d somehow managed to achieve the seemingly unachievable. From <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"http:\/\/leilappetit.com\/?p=932\" title=\"Review of Element\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=932"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":938,"href":"http:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932\/revisions\/938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}