Review: The Gardener’s Cottage, Edinburgh

Nestled in a copse on Edinburgh’s London Road, only a few minutes walk from Toppings & Company Booksellers and The Playhouse, is The Gardener’s Cottage – a restaurant that feels pulled straight out of a countryside fairy tale.

As you walk up the gravel path, trees, shrubs and various herbs line the walkway to the simple one-story, grey-stone restaurant with black painted windowpanes. The first thing you see as you step through the threshold is a bookcase full of wine, and if you look to your right, in a cosy, warm-lit room is another Edinburgh Press decorated with more wine bottles.

I had been meaning to visit The Gardener’s Cottage for years, having heard of the restaurant since I began visiting Edinburgh over ten years ago. Now, under new management by a couple well-versed in the culinary and hospitality industry, we were invited to try their new tasting menu.

We were seated in an intimate room to the left and sat in communal style tables next to a lovely American couple. Despite the seemingly close quarters to our neighbours, it didn’t feel claustrophobic and we could carry conversations comfortably – my guest, however, recommended perhaps not holding an M15 meeting in the restaurant.

Because The Gardener’s Cottage offer a tasting menu (£20 for a 4-course lunch, £40 for a 7-course dinner), almost every diner is sharing the same experience, which makes talking to your neighbours about which course they preferred, the wine they paired and where they came from easy and interesting. While we were there, we had three sets of table mates, two American couples and one local working in tech. This demographic seemed to represent many of the diners — locals looking for a lovely place to eat fine Scottish cuisine and tourists who have found a hidden gem.

The Gardener’s Cottage set menu is very summery – Scottish summer, that is. On this menu you won’t find pineapple or coconut but local ingredients from Scotland and even herbs grown in their own garden. The subtle scents, low-level lighting and music, candles and communal eating added to this summery feeling while the sea was a theme that linked many of the dishes, from sea salt to seaweed to those that swim or waddle along the bottom of the sea.

The first dish was a Dunbar crab tart with fennel. These small parcels were simple with a thin casing that gave a satisfactory crunch packed with crab flavour. The fennel added a subtle hint of seasoning while letting the star of the show shine without any fussy ingredients.

The next two dishes were brought out at the same time: freshly baked sourdough with homemade seaweed butter, and ricotta topped with olive oil, Isle of Wight tomatoes, pickled shallots and lovage. I could have eaten several more slices of the bread and butter – and we did – as the salty seaweed added a beautifully rich but not too intense flavour to pair with the bread. My guest commented that it tasted like a sunny-afternoon paddle in the sea.

The lightly seasoned, creamy ricotta was gorgeously smooth. The sweet tomatoes added an acutely, bright flavour with pickled shallots balancing the sweetness with the right amount of acidity.

I’ve not met a sea creature I haven’t enjoyed but among my favourites are scallops, so I was looking forward to the hand-dived scallops with corn, green beans and almond. This dish was very aesthetic with the scallop – roe included –presented in half its shell, sitting in a bright yellow purée. I had never had corn purée before but the sweetness of it melded beautifully with the delicate flesh of the muscle and richer, meatier roe. The grilled corn and green beans were a tasty bonus.

You can’t have Scottish cuisine without including venison of some variety. Roe deer, commonly found throughout the UK, are often thought of as one of the gamier meats, but if you were to try it for the first time at The Gardener’s Cottage, you wouldn’t think so. The medium rare venison was salty on the first bite but when dipped in the sweet and slightly tart plum sauce beneath, it balanced beautifully, filling your mouth with complementary flavours. Even my guest, not typically a fan of venison, loved this dish.

We had the option of adding on a IJ Mellis cheese course for £14, but despite the small portions sizes, we were actually getting quite full. However, anyone who lives in Edinburgh knows of this cheesemonger’s delights, so I was glad to see our American tablemates thoroughly enjoying it. Instead, we went straight for dessert – because being too full for dessert is a myth – which was financier shaped like a madeleine with rhubarb and raspberry sorbet topped with mint. This was a refreshing palate cleanser, both sweet and tart. The couple next to me remarked at how fast I devoured it while my guest chatted away.

The final item of the night was a miso caramel fudge which we had with a cup of tea – breakfast for my guest and fresh mint from the garden for myself. The caramel was phenomenal, the rich miso balancing out the sweetness  so it was both sweet and a little savoury.

It only took a decade for me to visit The Gardener’s Cottage and would I be back? Absolutely. The wonderful service, intimate but relaxed atmosphere, and more importantly, scrumptious dishes have put this restaurant firmly on my to-revisit list.

The Gardener’s Cottage, Royal Terrace Gardens, 1 London Rd, Edinburgh EH7 5DX, 0131 558 1221

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