Whiski Rooms

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.

Scotland makes superb whisky. Scotland is home to superb beef. Put the two together and it must work. It does. It’s called the Whiski Rooms. This popular restaurant may lie in the shadow of Edinburgh’s impossibly pretty castle, but this is certainly no exclusively tourist show. Push past the whisky-themed bar and the cosy dining space offers sparkling starters like beef carpaccio laced with truffle oil and smoked North Sea cod spiced with chorizo. Those chunky steaks shine amongst the mains (order the hit of the Ardbeg sauce if you are brave), backed up by posh fish and chips, Macsween’s haggis and the impressively refined roast monkfish with pak choi, mussels and a langoustine bisque. Desserts are of the comfort variety with the highlight being whisky-fuelled cranachan. By no means fine dining, but as honest, earthy and charming as the world-class whiskies that tempt all around. If the Ardbegs get too tempting you can take a bottle of Islay’s finest home as they have a whisky shop too.

• High point: The meeting of two of Scotland’s finest epicurean treats – whisky and beef
• Low point: The rather lived-in menus look like they don’t change too often