We recently visited Purnell’s Bistro in Birmingham (separate post to follow) and after the meal we both agreed that it was definitely one of the best dining experiences we had had. On the journey back to Scotland we were discussing our top restaurants and ones we would love to visit, at which point we wondered why we have never been to the Witchery in Edinburgh.
The Witchery had been on our ‘to visit’ list for years, but for various reasons we had never gone. We decided that we would change that and agreed that for our next date night we would go to The Witchery!
Edinburgh is just over an hour away from us and we could easily make it through and back in the same evening, but on this occasion, we decided we would stay over in the capital city and make an evening of it. We booked ourselves into The Carlton hotel on North Bridge (thanks to a good deal on itison) and secured a reservation for The Witchery.
It was a foggy day when we travelled through and as we crossed the bridge, we thought it was going to be miserable, but as we arrived at the hotel the sun made an appearance and the day turned out rather lovely.
Edinburgh is a beautiful city with some stunning buildings and architecture, a lot of which goes un-noticed. It wasn’t until we were looking out the hotel window that we saw and appreciated the stunning brickwork of the buildings on North Bridge.
Once checked in to the hotel we went out and explored the city for a while before going to The Witchery for dinner. Edinburgh is a really explorable city with so much history to be enjoyed, you can see why it is a hit with so many tourists.
When we arrived at the restaurant for dinner, we fell in love with the place immediately, the building was stunning and the atmosphere inside was amazing. An excerpt from their website describes it beautifully:
The Witchery is located in a sixteenth-century merchant’s house, the rich baroque surroundings of the Witchery’s original dining room offers one of the city’s most exceptional and memorable dining destinations.
Dine on red leather seats, surrounded by ancient oak panelling hung with tapestries. Heraldic painted ceilings recalling the Auld Alliance and Edinburgh’s Royal past are reflected in the candlelight of dozens of antique candlesticks, whilst historic stone walls remind of the building’s four hundred years of history.
It was dark when we arrived, and the room was lit by candles which added to the ambience. We opted for three courses from the à la carte menu and we were not disappointed, the highlight for me was the steak tartare with quail egg that I had as a starter. It was delicious and not a dish I would normally order, however one I would definitely order again.
More often than not we order wine with dinner, but tonight we ordered Veuve Clicquot champagne as a treat. It was expensive for what it is and for us it was really pushing the boat out, but we enjoyed it and glad we ordered it.
After dinner we went for some drinks in Edinburgh Old Town and by luck, we found ourselves in a bar with a Rage Against the Machine tribute band playing. They were superb, we were surprised it was free entry as these guys could easily be charging a door fee. The bar was filled with French rugby supporters who were in town for the Scotland versus France game at Murrayfield the following day, sadly we weren’t staying for the game, but we did enjoy chatting with the French fans where we talked rugby, food and drink!
We thoroughly recommend the Witchery; it really is a fantastic dining experience. Next time we go we’re going to try the Secret Garden as it is almost lit entirely by candlelight and hidden down a historic Old Town close in an enclosed historic courtyard!
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