Copyright scotsman
I must’ve been living under a rock, as I hadn’t heard of The Gilded Saloon until a week ago. Although it’s been open since July, this place completely passed me by. I was in the dark, cold and oblivious place with my besties - the slaters and slugs. It’s probably time I gave my usually-very-efficient restaurant radar a service, using pipecleaners and Mr Muscle. It turns out that this venue/bar/restaurant is a collaboration between live entertainment honchos, The Gilded Balloon, as well as Paradise Palms - the bar that’s next door to this new place, on Lothian Street - and arts festival people, Kelburn Garden Party. There is a 200-capacity venue downstairs, don’t you know? They also have a next door venue, the People’s Leisure Club. However, I’m at pavement level in the restaurant, where they have recently launched a new menu with their executive chef Tomas Gormley, co-founder of Heron and owner of Stockbridge bar Skua and Eyre Place’s Cardinal. They’ve also taken on head chef, Josh Rich, formerly of Edinburgh’s excellent Spry and The Cellar Door Restaurant. We’re in a forest green upholstered booth, and I have a view of hundreds of ceramic Wally dugs lining the shelves. Some are partnered up, and others have lost their beaus. So sad. I reach for my husband’s paw, but he’s already clutching the menu. I don’t blame him, it looks pretty good. Of course it does, with clever Gormley at the helm. Prices seem very reasonable, too, and make us anticipate titchy portions, so we double up on Snacks with a pork skewer (£3 each) and the fried chicken thigh (£8), which is a nod to Gormley’s Edinburgh Festival pop-up, Coop. Both are supersized. The pork, served on a long skewer and vintage crockery, is the size of a Funny Feet ice-lolly, and the meat is varnished in a Tarmacadam of black garlic and egg yolk, with a chiffonade of chives on top to give it grassy knoll vibes. It’s so good - super savoury. There’s also a large bowlful of fleshy-pink chicken globules, all coated in a stealthily fiery but sweet and pleasingly vinegary sauce. We can blame our greed and the third dish - from the Starters list - on the fact that the clocks had just gone back, so our lunch was an hour later than usual. While the Snacks were perfect for guzzling alongside drinks, the Phantassie baby beetroots dish was a bit fancier, with golden and blood red salt-baked beets, some pickled, and with blobs of labneh, dill fronds, and a herby oil. For mains, we’d gone for the two bestsellers. I had chicken and chips (£22), which was on the specials board that day, though this protein also appears on the regular menu, except as a leg served with lentils a la Francaise. Anyway, I received a monolithic portion. I don’t think I’ll be able to eat for a week. There was half a chicken, with a charred flavour and basted in a gorgeously stocky gravy and chopped parsley. Its gelatinous juices were filtering onto a huge pile of chips, with each one absorbing the salty essence as efficiently as a Brillo pad. My matching Wally dug had gone for the pie (£12). I always know when he’s enjoying something, because he goes all mindful and takes it slow, pausing between bites. He’s like Pac-Man, when the wi-fi is broken. His focus was a beautifully neat conker-coloured and glossy pithivier that was filled with Free Company beef and little nibs of root veg, with a moat of super concentrated and rich gravy. He’d also gone for chips (£5) on the side. They are great, but we ended up taking them away, as the pie had taken his hunger by the shirt collar, then booted it down the street. Despite the mass of excellent food, I’d been saving a small cavity, like a little spelunker’s channel, for their take on sticky toffee pudding (£6). Anyway, I’m very glad I did, because I’ll be fantasising about this perfect mahogany sponge, with a gingery tinge and miso ice-cream on top, for the rest of the year. I doubt dessert could get any better, though you could always take their Basque cheesecake for a test drive. Anyway, it’s better late than never to be alerted to The Gilded Saloon’s existence. Once more people know about this place, it’s going to be rammed. I hope they save a spot for me and my matching Wally dug. 47 Lothian Street, Edinburgh, www.thegildedsaloon.co.uk Read more: “I already love this delightful Edinburgh restaurant, but now it’s even more special” Read more: “The seaside ‘labour of love’ restaurant that’s opened in time for the Edinburgh Festival” Read more: “I’m always asked where to find Edinburgh ‘s best Sunday lunch, now I know what to tell them”
