Dragonfly

Sprucing up the Grassmarket’s drink offerings, Dragonfly mixes up an innovative cocktail menu, without being too pricey.

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Popular with stags hunting down the nearby strip clubs, West Port is an area that is generally best avoided in the evenings. Yet strangely enough, it is here that the charming Dragonfly bar sits, with a modest entrance to a snug drinking hub. Behind the bar, the team are kept busy mixing up a fresh, interesting list of classic and more contemporary cocktails. The raspberry ripple, deliciously sweet and complete with a hundreds and thousands rim, is the girliest tipple on the menu, whilst the wittily named ‘death becomes Herradura’; tequila, Cointreau, lillet, lemon and absinthe, is served straight up – perhaps those stag parties are missing a trick, after all. The second, more intimate room, has its own private bar but is usually booked out, so you can only admire it from afar. But the jumble of flamboyant, Oriental décor, including an exotic purifying plant to the side of the bar, adds to the originality of this Old Town treasure.

• High point: Cocktails, wines, gins (accompanied by a choice of tonics), and other spirits
• Low point: Missing out on the private bar
• Notable dish: Patna Daiquiri; Mount Gay Eclipse rum, Kwai Feh lychee liqueur, fresh passion fruit, lime and sugar.