Dining at the Edinburgh Festival

THE LAST time I visited the Edinburgh Festival half a dozen years ago, eating out was a distinctly limited affair. The big hotels had their restaurants, there were a few bistro-ish places, a couple of adequate Italians and the usual clutch of ethnics. It somehow summed things up that the favourite place for lunch seemed to be a large, crowded, self-serve vegetarian restaurant called Henderson's, off George Street. How things have changed. Now, within the traffic chaos caused by the moronic decision to close Princes Street to motor vehicles, there is a huge choice of eating places, open at all hours and gener- ally on Sundays too. The only problem is see above — getting to them.

On a short visit for the Festival's opening days, I had left my friend Andrew Ham- mond, former baritone, now the Festival's concerts administrator, to research some reasonable places at which to dine. Thus, after the Festival's opening night perfor- mance of Berlioz's Grande Messe des Morts in the Usher Hall, at which the vacuous faces of the Lord Provost and his kilted or tartan-trewed cronies helped to explain the inadequacy of the traffic planning, we ate near the hall at Stac Polly in Grindlay Street. The strange name refers to a moun- tain on Scotland's west coast, north of Ullapool, but the restaurant itself is less extraordinary: a series of fairly small, com- fortably furnished, adequately lit rooms, with a menu of eclectic modern British cooking, acknowledging Scotland in its choice of ingredients.

Andrew began with a summer salad of Ayrshire ham and smoked goose, accompa- nied by leaves, herbs and chickpeas, with a honey and orange dressing. The meats were good, but the salad more nondescript than its description implied. My fib pastry parcels of good haggis were spoilt by the aggressive sweetness of the plum sauce, which might assist Peking duck but did lit- tle for Edinburgh haggis.

Next Andrew chose a grilled breast of maize-fed chicken on butter beans, with an orange and parsley white wine sauce. Slightly congealing at the edges, this caused him to wonder whether a friendly micro- wave had helped in its preparation. My choice of wild duck breast on a bed of braised aubergine with a rosemary and port ins was dictated by the sudden termination of the turbot that I had ordered. The thick slices of duck lacked the sinewy texture and gamy flavour I would expect in a wild bird, and the dish was again marred by the sweetness of its sauce. Andrew ended with a rather solid slice of toffee pudding sur- rounded by a good toffee sauce, and I with admirable blackberry and almond ice cream, from which I had asked for various chocolate additives to be removed. With a bottle of red burgundy and coffee, the bill came to a slightly high £75.50 for cooking whose enthusiasm seemed to outreach its expertise.

More assured cooking of this kind can be found in what is currently regarded as Edinburgh's most successful restaurant (it has a star in the 1998 Michelin Guide), Atrium, part of the new Traverse Theatre complex beside the Usher Hall. Andrew and I lunched there after Ian Bostridge's impressive song recital of Schumann and Wolf in the Queen's Hall. Once we had recovered from the bizarre, dimly illumi- nated, cave-like surroundings, apparently lit by stalactites, with weirdly draped, strangely shaped though comfortable chairs, we enjoyed our meal.

Andrew's roasted tomato soup with basil aioli was reassuringly intense, as was my tasty warm ciabatta, covered with thin slices of well spiced pastrami with peppers and pesto. Next Andrew ate confit of duck leg with red cabbage, good fondant potatoes and tarragon jus, and much enjoyed it: `domestic' duck more flavoursome than Stac Polly's 'wild'. My pan-fried chicken with shallots, peas, broad beans and roast potatoes was similarly fully flavoured and enjoyable. Note that while these main dish- es cost £9.50 at lunchtime, they soar to £18 at dinner. We ended by sharing an excel- lent iced apricot parfait with wafers and caramelised apricots, and with Camparis, coffee and half a bottle of a classy '92 Mar- gaux our bill came to an acceptable £61.50.

The previous day, after Andras Schiff's Yo, Jeremy, tell chef we've found his sock' fine Schumann recital at Queen's Hall, we had lunched at Librizzi's, a basement Ital- ian restaurant opposite the Festival The- atre which specialises in fish and offers an abundant selection of fresh 'fishes of the day'. After Andrew's admirable prawn soup and my powerful crostini of tomato, basil and mozzarella, Andrew ate a small, whole sea bass poached in a light lemon and but- ter sauce, and I enjoyed a succulent piece of halibut, again presented in a simple but conspicuously appropriate jus. Accompany- ing sauté potatoes and salad were impecca- ble. With a bottle of Verdicchio and coffee the bill came to a very reasonable £52.70. So much was right in Librizzi's cheerful cel- lar that it did not surprise me to discover that the charming Glaswegian quartet at the next table were readers of this column.

I had another fish meal late that evening after the Royal Opera's magnificent pro- duction of Verdi's Don Carlos, impressively conducted by Bernard Haitink at the splen- did Festival Theatre. I ate this one at Creelers, a Scottish fish restaurant in sim- ple but charming surroundings in Hunter Square. Here I was joined by the delightful Sandy Meakin, marketing manager of Aus- tralia's Adelaide Festival, currently on attachment to the Edinburgh Festival press office. Despite the late hour, we were served with great warmth and ate admirably.

Sandy began with six baked oysters with onion and herb crusts, and I with six raw ones, from the west coast of Scotland; they were quite delicious — more like Bretons than British. Next Sandy chose grilled salmon on a bed of fennel with a coriander dressing, which she much enjoyed, as did I my pan-fried fillet of hake with a casserole of oyster mushrooms, broad beans and mussels. The final Glayva-flavoured cranachan garnished with raspberries proved too sweet for my taste, though not for Sandy's. With coffee and a bottle of Loire chenin blanc, our bill was a reason- able £72 for a fine meal.

Finally, if you are looking for an interest- ing, inexpensive lunch, try the Cantina Mexicana in Rose Street. I went there with my goddaughter, Rebecca Cordingly, after she had performed in C.P. Taylor's Good at the Pick of the Fringe, and we both greatly enjoyed excellent guacamole and splendid- ly spicy nachos, washed down with a jug of thirst-quenching sangria in attractive sur- roundings for just £22.50. Trust a girl who has just gained a double first to know the right place to go!

Stac 8-10 Grindlay Street, Edinburgh.

Tel: 0131 229 5405.

Atrium: 10 Cambridge Street, Edinburgh. Tel: 0131 228 8882.

224 Nicolson Street, Edinburgh. Tel: 0131 668 1997.

Creelers: 3 Hunter Square, Royal Mile, Edin- burgh. Tel: 0131 220 4447.

Cantina Mexicana: 184 Rose Street, Edin- burgh. Tel: 0131 225 4376.