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| The Magnum |
We have passed this restaurant & bar on Albany Street a few times on our travels and always comment on how welcoming it looks from the outside and how we must pop in for a visit sometime. When we received an invitation to try out their menu, we were delighted to go along on a cold, damp Tuesday evening in November. From the outside, The Magnum looked like a welcoming beacon of warmth, its windows twinkling with fairy lights. We received a friendly welcome from the staff, one of whom showed us to a lovely table looking out on to the dreich street beyond.
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| The restaurant |
The menu was a bit more adventurous than we were expecting (we were thinking more pub grub to be honest) and it took us a while to choose – everything sounded so good. For starters I decided on the breast of spice marinated pigeon with a roast butternut squash and red onion salad (£7.20) and Donnie went for the Buccleuch haggis spring roll with barbeque hickory relish and a rocket salad (£6.25). The pigeon breast was juicy and deliciously pink in the middle with a hint of Christmas spice – it melted in the mouth. Donnie loved his spring rolls that were light and crisp with a good hit of unapologetically spicy haggis – the chutney was an added bonus.
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| Haggis Spring Rolls |
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| Pigeon |
For the main course I tried their Scottish beef and rosemary burger on a toasted focaccia bun served with hickory relish, rocket, grilled cheddar, coleslaw and hand cut potato chips (£12.50). Donnie went for the pan fried fillet of salmon with oven roasted Jerusalem artichokes and a kaffir lime and dill butter (£17.50). The burger was meaty and very tasty and the chips were hot and crunchy – a very decent burger indeed. Donnie’s very generous piece of salmon was fragrant and delicious and was served on a bed of sweet roasted Jerusalem artichokes and broccoli – the garnish of frisee lettuce in amongst the broccoli was slightly odd though and added nothing to the dish.
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| Burger |
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| Salmon |
A wee look at the dessert menu resulted in a pear, apple and stem ginger crumble with vanilla bean ice cream (£6.50) to share. The crumble had a slightly smooth texture with a taste of ginger (a bit like a blitzed Ginger snap biscuit) – I prefer a bit more crunch in my crumble but it still tasted great with the ice cream melting around it.
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| Crumble |
We finished off with coffee and were delighted to see that The Magnum serve a chunk of tablet with their after dinner beverages. This gesture makes such a difference and is a lovely way to end the meal.
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| Coffee and Tablet |
Our evening at the Magnum was lovely and it’s the kind of place you could spend a whole evening in, moving from the welcoming bar to the restaurant where the menu has something for everyone. It feels more off the beaten track than it actually is – it’s an easy walk from town, Broughton Street or Stockbridge and we wondered why we hadn’t made it before now. The Magnum is a great place to meet friends and family for a drink and a bite to eat and I’m sure we’ll be visiting again sometime soon…
1 Albany Street
Edinburgh
EH1 3PY
TEL: 0131 557 4366
Twitter: @magnumbar_rest
Thank you to The Magnum for our very kind invitation. Although we were guests of The Magnum all thoughts above are our own.