The Wee Windaes – Royal Mile, Edinburgh

If you can all just pop your jaws back in place and come to terms with me writing a review of somewhere not in the Trafford Centre, we can begin.

Conveniently located on Edinburgh's main tourist street, The Wee Windaes is flanked by fast food outlets, tourist shops and purveyors of ludicrously strong whisky & ginger tinctures. It takes up the second floor of about three shops, so if you're lucky enough to get a window table, as we did, you can get in some serious people-watching while you eat. Anyway, on with the food!

Food

Somewhat unusually, we both opted for soup to start. I tucked into a hearty Scottish classic, Cullen Skink (£3.95), while L tested the Soup of the Day (£3.95). Straight away, it became apparent that the two of us would have radically different dining experiences. I loved my soup – creamy, rich and very fresh. I would've preferred a tiny bit more fish, but that wasn't a deal breaker. L however wasn't overly impressed. Carrot and Coriander soup's not going to blow anyone away, and serving a mouldy bread roll with it won't win you any accolades from us.

Onto the mains. I yet again chose the fish option, a fillet of Sea Bass with a cherry tomato sauce (£13.95) while L splashed the cash for a Barbary Duck Breast on a red berry sauce (£16.95). My fish was lovely. Fresh, succulent and almost bone-free¹, it was a million miles away from the awful catfish I ordered in my last review. The sauce didn't really work, but I did manage to avoid most of it thanks to a fortuitous bit of bass skin. L's duck however, was awful. Fatty, even for duck breast, and literally dripping grease from every forkful – it's no wonder she didn't finish it. The overly-sour sauce didn't help either, bringing out all the worst qualities of the duck. Both mains were served with a side of sliced new potatoes, carrots and sweet peas, in a quarter-inch deep puddle of melted margarine. Hardly the stuff a budding critic dreams of.

For dessert, we opted to share a sticky toffee pudding (£4.95) and the cheese board (£5.95). The pudding looked very familiar for some strange reason – which became painfully apparent once I took a bite. A few months ago, I had to write some marketing for an industrial caterer who specialise in sending pre-made frozen desserts to Scottish restaurants. I'm almost certain that The Wee Windaes is on their client list. That said, the toffee sauce was wonderful. The cheese board was nothing special, featuring such local delicacies as Brie, Cheddar, Blue Stilton and a German smoked cheese. It was enjoyable enough, but I'd have preferred something more Scottish.

Atmosphere

This place, as you'd expect for a restaurant in a tourist hotspot, was packed to the rafters. The atmosphere was really enjoyable, with a bustling feel and a distinct lack of distracting music. The view of the Royal Mile lets you spy on tourists and drunken stag parties alike – and I'm fairly sure a woman in the apartment opposite was getting undressed at the window. Then again, that could've been wishful thinking on my part.

Service

When we came in, we were warned that we could be kept waiting, as they had a party of 25 German tourists to feed. They needn't have worried. The service was fast and efficient, even if the waiter couldn't get his head around the concept of 'one dessert, two spoons'.

Overall

At nearly £75 (including drinks), the Wee Windaes is surprisingly reasonably priced for its location, given that a similar meal across the road would probably have pushed the £100 mark for the pair of us. I'd recommend it, L wouldn't. Oh, and whatever you do, don't have the duck. 4.5/10

This column is open to contributions from all members of the h2g2 community. All submissions are accepted on the basis that they are honest and unbiased, and all opinions expressed are those of the reviewers, who may not be professional restaurant critics. Send your reviews to the usual submissions address.

Our Man in Milliways Archive

Psycorp

19.06.08 Front Page

Back Issue Page