Stac Polly

Good old hearty Scottish dining slap-bang in the middle of the the New Town.

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This rustic Alpine style restaurant with terracotta flooring, stone walls and old-fashioned prints on the walls offers a cosy contrast to the stylishness of the New Town above. It’s a popular spot with tourists, offering up a traditional menu complete with typical Scottish ingredients that include scallops, Loch Fyne oysters, lamb and beef. It’s not too bad for vegetarians either, with a couple of starters to choose from including a healthy-sized, but not particularly flavoursome, vegetable cake in breadcrumbs with a red onion, coriander and lemon salsa. Bite-sized baked filo parcels of haggis are a good starter for those looking to dip their toe into Scotland’s best-known traditional dish. Mains are a step up with a tasty red quinoa and fennel stew rather oddly accompanied by steamed broccoli, roast potatoes and a blood-orange aioli, while the dish of the house is a well-cooked pink in the middle fillet of Aberdeen Angus beef. Desserts are a mixed bag: the highlight is an enormous dark chocolate teardrop, bursting at the seams with a strawberry and mascarpone mousse.

• High point: Uncomplicated, traditional typical Scottish dishes
• Low point: It’s beginning to look a little 1990s
• Notable dish: Fillet of Aberdeen Angus Beef