REVIEW : Twenty Princes Street, Lunch menu

I love dining at Twenty Princes Street and daytime during the Summer, the restaurant is one of those places you want to be whilst watching the world go by.

The views out across Edinburgh are spectacular, taking in North Bridge, The Balmoral, Princes Street and the Castle.

The buses whizz past and people are bustling about on the street below, but luckily if you are seated in Twenty Princes Street, time slows down and you get to be in the moment - its ideal conditions for a lazy lunch.

TWENTY PRINCES STREET GRILL AND RESTAURANT

We were here to try out their new lunch menu. The lunch menu changes regularly with the seasons. Great value 1 course is £12, 2 courses for £16 and 3 courses for £20. Available Monday to Saturday , 12 noon to 6pm.

It’s a 3-6-3 menu, which means that you don’t spend 20 minutes of a lunch pondering on what to eat.

Chicken and Whisky Parfait with fig loaf crisps and garden salad.

The parfait looks like a brulee in that the top layer has been caramelised and you need to crack the layer to get to the parfait underneath. Lovely idea.

The parfait is creamy as good chicken liver pate should be. There is a definite hint of whisky and the added sweet touch from the topping adds the crunch but balances out the creaminess with a hint of sweetness.

Fig loaf crisps were crunchy, very snappy but not hard. A good match.

Roasted Beetroot Salad with blue murder croutons and a balsamic and oregano dressing.

This is my dream salad. The sweet to nutty to minerally taste coming off the earthy beetroot; cut into chunks and slices combined with the salty creamy crunchy blue cheese croutons - freaking genius.

Twenty Burger with onion marmalade, Innis and Gunn rarebit croquette, shoestring fries and homemade ketchup.

Burger was tender and soft, well cooked and seasoned with a slight caramelisation of the burger crust. The addition of the croquette was a great move to elevate this burger. The croquette oozed soft warm melted cheese that dripped over the burger and the onion marmalade.

Seriously good!

I was torn between the Smoked Arran Cheddar and Chicken Crepes, the Three Cheese Mac n Cheese and the Pork Belly.

12 hour Slow Braised Pork bell with red cabbage rumbledethumps won.

It’s rare to find a great piece of well cooked pork belly without leaving half of it on your plate. Not this pork belly. The fat was rendered well, and slightly crispy on the sides, whilst still moist and gelatinous without being too wobbly or undercooked in the middle. The rumbledethumps were nice and added substance to the dish but the belly was the star.

Besides these two desserts you could choose a selection of sorbets, so we chose to have the desserts instead.

Chocolate Fudge Cake (gluten free) and raspberry sorbet.

Chocolately - TICK. Cakey - TICK. Moist and soft - TICK.

There was absolutely no complaints about this dish.

Creme Brulee with shortbread and fresh berries.

They are bloody brilliant at caramelised sugar toppings here and again triumphed with the sugar topping for this brulee. The creme was silky smooth, sweet and moreish. Totally loved this dish.

I often recommend Twenty Princes Street for lunches and dinners. They are consistently good and produce good honest food using seasonal ingredients which is how it should be.

The service is always spot on here too. The food order is taken quickly and food comes out the kitchen at a nice pace; and if they know you are on your lunch hour or time is limited they are happy to take that into consideration and inform the kitchen.

Twenty Princes Street is always busy when I visit, and it’s no wonder - they have the service and food nailed!

Twenty Princes Street, 20 Princes Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2AN. Tel : 0131 652 7370 www.twentyprincesstreet.co.uk

My Spoon Award : Gold Spoon 9/10

I was invited by Twenty Princes Street to review their menu. Food and drink were complimentary but the views are very much my own.