I was invited out for a not-often-enough midweek dinner with a friend and she suggested this venue. Despite being an Edinburgh born and bred lass, I didn’t know this place existed.
I arrived in the dark so the pub appeared to be nestled by the waterside. Although not in use on a freezing night in November, there was an outside seating area which I imagine would be very pretty on a summers day.
Having located the adequately sized car park, I headed on in to what appeared to be the bar area. There were some comfortable enough looking chairs and a small bar, and then through another lounge bar area and onto the restaurant I could see my friend waiting patiently on me.
The restaurant is fairly well sized and has a cosy feel to it. They had an early bird dinner menu and a full dinner menu, along with a few specials. The key here is that they don’t have a huge, extensive menu, but place their focus on making a not too limited selection, really tasty.
There are a few traditional favourites, like sausage and mash or fish and chips but there are also some lovely less obvious options, like Tane venison or pheasant with black pudding.
My friend ordered a hummus and pitta starter, the hummus was served in a traditional style, lock-top, jam jar, which presented wonderfully. I chose the oatcakes with chicken liver pate and plum chutney. Both were delicious and were served in quite generous portions.
For our main courses my companion had sausage and mash and I opted for the haunch of Tain venison served with venison salami, braised fennel and red wine sauce (again in a jam jar). It was cooked perfectly and was a very generous dish, served on a lovely wooden platter, so much so that I couldn’t finish it. Reportedly the sausage and mash was also very tasty.
The service was great; dishes were brought out soon after we ordered, there was an appropriate pause between courses and the staff were attentive with drinks.
The website reports that this place is all about ‘picked-that-morning-by-their–own-gardener’ vegetables and meat and eggs produced by their own pigs and chickens etc. The food certainly seemed very fresh and tasty; apparently you can walk along the canal towpath and see the pigs!
There is also a children’s menu, which avoids the usual offerings of chicken nuggets and instead offers smaller versions of some of the dishes offered to the adults. It seemed popular with local families as there were several dining while we were there.
Rooms are also available which I imagine would be fresh and clean much like the restaurant itself.
All in all a very pleasant dining experience where I would certainly go back.
Bridge Inn, 27 Baird Rd, Ratho, Edinburgh EH28 8RA. Website.
