Dragonfly

The 2013 edition of The List's Eating & Drinking Guide is out now – only £5.95 (+p&p).

This review is taken from the current (2013) edition.

Dragonfly is stylishly relaxed with a kick of kitsch providing character – a description that applies to the drinks, decor and general feel of the place. Kung fu stencilled walls and purple prints are enjoyably diverting rather than distractingly ironic, as is the hip-hop and dub soundtrack. Cocktails are generally imaginative, bold but well balanced, as in the sweet and bitter combination of a Guinness daiquiri. It may be just up the hill from the Grassmarket but this is somewhere to come for a good drink rather than to get raucously drunk. Here you’ll find absinthe used to add a subtle herbal note to the apple and bourbon in a Marty McFly cocktail, for example. And if you fancy staying a bit longer you can even intersperse the drinks with a pizza delivered from Mamma’s down the road.

• High point: Good cocktails, good music and a relaxed atmosphere
• Low point: Standing room only at weekends