The Barologist

The newest Commercial Street watering hole is a weather-themed bar offering a crowd-pleasing range of pub food and drinks.

The 2019/20 edition of The List's Eating & Drinking Guide is out now – only £5.95 (+p&p).

Being greeted at the door by an eccentric top-hatted man isn’t the most conventional start to a Leith night out. It transpires that this character is fictitious inventor Ulysses G Houston, aka the barologist, who is keen to show off his weather-themed home. The former Cameo Bar, always a bit of a tardis, has been transformed into a set of seasonal rooms embellished by an abundance of ornaments; a Phileas Fogg-inspired rotating hot-air balloon, rain statues, brass contraptions that produce clouds – you name it, and if it’s weather-related it’s probably there. The theme extends to the cocktails, which can even come with an image of your own face projected on to the foam top – handy if you need reminding what it looks like. The cocktail list’s extreme weather section might involve a Dark and Stormy or Filthy Pornstar, while the sunshine in a glass section features a cinnamon cough-syrupy number. Ulysses’ food tastes are less adventurous – crowd-pleasers like burgers, fish and chips and mushroom linguine all reinforce that the décor is the main event here.