The Gardener's Cottage

Gardener's Cottage

This was exceptional.

They are as much a declaration of intent as sources of food.

The young team here does not just mouth the litany of seasonal and local; they mean it… Lunch in the Gardener’s Cottage is one of those experiences that stops the world for a while, and we can always do with one of those.”

When we forgot we were sharing a table with six other folk, I’m not too sure, but we all agreed the food and atmosphere... all combine to make this a pretty magical experience.”

And by that I mean this magical cottage in Royal Terrace Gardens, where Mailley and Murray can feed me every day (except Tuesdays and Wednesdays, when I will grudgingly cook my own dinner).

http://www.thegardenerscottage.co

The Gardener's Cottage, Edinburgh: Restaurant Review

Kicking off, I started with a beetroot pancake with smoked fish, fermented turnip, crispy kale and yoghurt, which was an underwhelming start to the evening.

Full marks for use of interesting and novel ingredients, because I don't recall the last time I ate purslane, and I am quite certain I have never eaten flower sprouts, a cross between Brussels sprouts and kale which some have hailed as the next vitamin-rich, life-enhancing superfood.

The poached rhubarb was certainly good enough, while the rhubarb sorbet was an absolute delight, vibrant pink, packed not only with flavour but also that delicious, mouth-watering acidity that rhubarb does so well.

Although from time to time friends and well-meaning colleagues give me recommendations, it has to be said that I have received more unsolicited advice urgently imploring me to visit The Gardener's Cottage than any other restaurant in Edinburgh.

My evening at The Gardener's Cottage was, at least, a better experience than that.

The Gardener's Cottage - Edinburgh | Restaurants | Britain's Finest

This intimate restaurant is housed in a beautifully converted former gardener's cottage (hence the name) in the Royal Terrace Gardens in Edinburgh's New Town.

A good value set six course menu is served at communual tables from where you can watch chefs Dale Mailley (ex-the Michelin starred The Kitchen in Leith) and Edward Murray (formerly of acclaimed Edinburgh restaurants Blue and The Atrium) at work.

Their stated aim is to 'create excellent food using the best seasonal, local produce' and the regularly changing menus are testament to their success in that regard.

Co-owners Ed Murray and Dale Mailley are very serious indeed about sourcing their ingredients from Scotland’s foremost farmers, producers and foragers and the result is a menu that harmonises the earth’s produce with the chefs’ skills beautifully.

The Cottage has a very loyal following, in thrall to a seasonal seven-course menu that changes daily, so book ahead.

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Restaurant review: The Gardener's Cottage, London Road, Edinburgh

On the other side, however, a cheery young pair – he had an entertainingly inept home-made mohican and was the lead singer in a band, she was a rather look-into-my-eyes intense Bahraini émigré – engaged us in chat through the generously novel gambit of filling up Rachel’s wine glass as soon as she drained it.

There is so much that is deeply, and engagingly quirky about the Gardener’s Cottage, from the teak tables and lamps made from bits of the recently scrapped liner SS Olympia and the rescued church chairs to the fact that you sit on bench tables in two tiny rooms, forced to acknowledge those around you in a way that is entirely alien to the usual dining experience.

The small, single-storey cottage was designed by William Playfair and was originally the home for the man charged with tending the formal gardens that accompany the big houses on Royal Terrace (the gardens were originally laid out to include a path for the exiled king of France, Charles X, to walk on his way from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to church).

This was served with a generous helping of a broad bean, pea and mint pâté on one side and a dollop of cream cheese crowdie on the other, the whole effect being to conjure up a cacophony of flavours – from the freshness of the mint and peas to the slightly sour notes of the crowdie – and of different textures – from the cloying cream cheese to the moist cracker.

This was followed by the main event: half a dozen slices of roe deer fillet, served with asparagus, broad beans, potatoes, chanterelles and capers and garnished with fat hen, a herb foraged that morning in Perthshire.

Restaurant review: The Gardener's Cottage, Edinburgh | Life and ...

Meal for two, including wine and service: £80 If I was a cynical bastard, and I do have my moments, I would suggest the Gardener's Cottage is too good to be true; that it was like some little girl with corkscrew blonde hair who always says "please" and "thank you" and smells of strawberries.

Pearl barley plays the part of risotto rice, and they love their beans, broad or green or otherwise.

There was a salad of green herbs decorated with violet blooms and dressed with the salt the bread hadn't had, plus a simple plate of crunchy green beans with the ripe, sea-shore kick of chopped winkles.

In other words, a cheese and onion quiche but, for all the posing, a very respectable one with good, crumbly pastry.

A sensitively roasted grouse came with a mix of beans, kale and chestnut mushrooms; a tranche of hake, on one of their risotto-like messes of pearl barley, came with more peas and beans.

The Gardener's Cottage | Restaurants in New Town, Edinburgh

This cottage restaurant boasts quaint decor and an atmosphere of energetic bonhomie Since The Gardener’s Cottage opened its doors in 2012, chef and co- owner duo Ed Murray and Dale Mailley have earned themselves some serious culinary kudos.

Their ethos is simple: create a great sense of place, with seasonal food, that connects the diner, the producer and the landscape.

Housed in a disused William Playfair-designed cottage dating back to 1836, this former (you guessed it) gardener’s cottage, has been transformed to create something unique to Edinburgh’s food scene – all while maintaining the grassroots spirit that started it.

Diners can eye up the home-grown veggie and herb patches outside in the cottage’s gardens as they wander in – an addition that barely hints at how seriously Murray and Mailley take their produce.

The interior is quaint, the atmosphere genial and, most importantly, the food is delicious.