Seasons – A different way to dine in Edinburgh
We were looking forward to our visit to Seasons, hoping that their Scandi-Scottish approach came close to some of the exciting dishes we ate on our visit to Copenhagen last year. The decor is simple with candles dotted about the wooden tables, and you catch a whiff of pine from the wood panelling on the walls as you relax into the incredibly comfortable chairs that almost hug you. There are no menus here, just a long scroll of that evening’s ingredients neatly rolled and perched on top of the tasteful linen napkins. It’s a bit like a posh version of ready steady cook. As you would expect from a restaurant called Seasons, the ingredients are seasonal, and our list sounded very agreeable although chef can work around any allergies or particular dislikes.
Five Courses or Seven Courses – with matched wines or not?
You can choose from a five-course dinner for £40pp (plus £25pp for matched wines) or a seven-course dinner for £55pp (plus £35pp for matched wines) with no other decisions required from the diner – how refreshing. We went for the five courses and ordered a bottle of house white. The restaurant was starting to fill up, and the atmosphere was quite jovial with staff kept busy dotting about from table to table with plates of delicious looking food in an incredible selection of crockery that would satisfy the most demanding Bridezilla’s wedding list.
Amuse-bouche
Our amuse-bouche arrived soon after we ordered and was a tasty morsel of Arbroath Smokie with a verdant bright green dill foam served in an egg shaped dish nestling in some decorative moss – all very cute.
Tobermory Langoustines
Our next dish was a real taste of summer with a couple of Tobermory langoustines served atop a light heritage tomato broth. The shellfish were plump and juicy, and this was a lovely light and sunny dish that puts a smile on your face, and you get a free bowl of soup too.
Scottish Lamb
Our lamb dish felt more Spring than Summer but was also delicious served with a fricassee of fresh peas and beans with a light scattering of feta cheese. The lamb was nicely cooked, served pink and moist – pretty perfect actually.
Scottish Strawberries
I do love a pre-dessert but the strawberries three ways deserved to be the main event, a simple but stunning combination of honey oats, fresh strawberries, strawberry gel, frozen honeycomb espuma and strawberry sorbet. The smell is quite overwhelming, bringing back childhood memories of berry picking in the Carse of Gowrie.
Scottish Cherries
Our main dessert had its work cut out after the strawberries and looked impressive on the plate. It included fat, juicy Scottish cherries, wild cherry ice cream, a grassy flavoured Woodruff sponge, white chocolate and some crunchy dark chocolate soil. The combination of flavours, textures and sweet and sour were lots of fun to eat.
Seasons is an excellent place to relax, enjoy each others company and let someone else take responsibility for your dining choices. You know roughly what’s going to be served, just not in what order or combination. This makes Seasons refreshingly different to other Edinburgh restaurants, and we thoroughly enjoyed all of our courses. There’s plenty of Scandic influence in the decor and menu style, but in this seasonal offering, the ingredients swayed more on Scotland’s side. The great thing about Seasons is that you can return time and time again and never get sick of the menu.
How to book a table at Seasons.
Seasons Restaurant
36 Broughton Street
Edinburgh
EH1 3SP
Tel: 0131 466 9851