{"id":859,"date":"2012-10-29T13:08:27","date_gmt":"2012-10-29T13:08:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.leilappetit.com\/blog\/?p=859"},"modified":"2012-11-02T20:24:17","modified_gmt":"2012-11-02T20:24:17","slug":"review-of-the-blackbird-for-bite-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/?p=859","title":{"rendered":"Review of The Blackbird for Bite Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.leilappetit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/bite4.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-473\" title=\"bite\" src=\"http:\/\/www.leilappetit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/bite4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"151\" height=\"66\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8459\/8050112718_1a1dac3621.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"333\" height=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"internal-source-marker_0.5272936944155403\" dir=\"ltr\">\u00a0Tollcross has always had something of a no-man\u2019s land air about it when it comes to eating and drinking spots . Beyond the old-school pubs, (and with the exception of The Apartment &amp; Henricks), lately there haven\u2019t been any real go-to places. Until now.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8176\/8050109452_83b91d09c1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"333\" height=\"500\" \/>Landing in the middle of Leven Street is The Blackbird, the latest project from Martin &amp; Colin of Hamilton\u2019s &amp; Treacle fame. The interior gives the eye plenty to catch upon, including original exposed stonework, plaster and fireplaces, bright fabrics, prints and specially-commissioned artwork. The drinks list, with the tempting Alice-referencing \u2018Drink Me\u2019 on the front reveals an accomplished compendium of cocktails, which cover everything from the girly sweet, to serious bitters and everything in between.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8176\/8050099299_e56a5597e7.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" \/><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Lou and I started with \u2018Crispy fishcake\u2019 (\u00a34.95) and \u2018Wild mushrooms on sourdough\u2019 (\u00a35.95) respectively. The fishcake &#8211; singular yet sizeable &#8211; was excellent with a crisp golden crumb and good balance between fish and potato filler. A hint of fragrant Thai-style seasoning and coriander kept the bites light, and the addition of tangerine perked up the sometimes sledge-hammer-esque qualities of the accompanying sweet chili jam. The funghi plate wasn\u2019t quite so perfect, but very nearly so. The selection of wild mushrooms was generous, including skinny enoki and chunky oysters, however they could have taken much more of the promised \u00a0Tallegio and Dijon, and the toast deserved to be much crunchier.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8171\/8050094099_19d2dfbb7f.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"333\" height=\"500\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8456\/8050089637_aa6e18cb4a.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" \/><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">On to mains, and my appetite was ready for \u2018Charred Auchterarder venison steak\u2019 (\u00a313.95), the meat cooked pink and the plate-fellows of sweet pumpkin mash, and moreish haggis fritters (which Louise suggested would make for amazing late night bar snacks, hint, hint!) convinces that the food quality is more \u2018bistro\u2019 than \u2018boozer\u2019. My seafood-loving pal chose the \u2018Grilled salmon with chorizo and butterbean stew\u2019 (\u00a312.95), which with the addition of sweet bright broad beans was presented even better than its menu billing, and sported a fine lemony butter sauce.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Despite being thus-far extremely well fed, we were soon tempted down the rabbit-hole of the dessert menu. \u00a0Lou took on the surprisingly non-icky warm chocolate and peanut butter brownie (\u00a34.95) and I chose homely pear and blackberry crumble which came with the comfort blanket of vanilla custard.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8458\/8050083143_36b9d412ef.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8031\/8050087860_94a9f45936.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" \/><br \/>\nWith an emphasis on local and Scottish ingredients, good flavours and skilled presentation, The Blackbird will soon have a flock of fans.<\/p>\n<p><strong>37-39 Leven Street<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Edinburgh <\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>EH3 9LH<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theblackbirdedinburgh.co.uk\">www.theblackbirdedinburgh.co.uk<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.urbanspoon.com\/r\/342\/1712066\/restaurant\/Old-Town\/Blackbird-Edinburgh\"><img alt=\"Blackbird on Urbanspoon\" src=\"http:\/\/www.urbanspoon.com\/b\/link\/1712066\/biglink.gif\" style=\"border:none;padding:0px;width:200px;height:146px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>\u00a0Tollcross has always had something of a no-man\u2019s land air about it when it comes to eating and drinking spots . Beyond the old-school pubs, <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/?p=859\" title=\"Review of The Blackbird for Bite Magazine\">[&#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":"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=859"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":873,"href":"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859\/revisions\/873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leilappetit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}