I went to L’escargot Blue in Broughton Street Edinburgh on Saturday night to celebrate a good friends 40th birthday. We had intended to eat snails for starters & horse steaks as a main, but neither were on the menu that day. This, it turns out was not such a bad thing as the dishes we did have were delicious!

Importantly as well, all the ingredients were organic and ethically sourced which is annother important issue when choosing a fine place to eat.

The restaurant was very busy & quite load with happy chatter from other dinners. The service was attentive & friendly & the dishes were served at a good speed.

The decor was perfect for the place. Huge french posters, quaint table decor & fabulous lights made from old wooden wine boxes.

I chose a starter of pork head croquettes with a salad & mushrooms & my friend ordered rabbit & duck pates. All were very nice. The only thing that I would have liked in addition would have been a fruit jelly or compote for my croquettes as they were slightly dry, but good portion sizes and tasty none the less. A huge basket of bread was also served at the bread was really nice.

For the mains I chose something which I had not tried before, but would not hessitate have again. This was a wonderfully tasty & rustic braised  ox cheek dish, with pancetta & mushrooms that was very tender & delightful. Jay’s main was my favourite of the  night, a dish of pike with a squid sauce. The dish was cheesy with the pike made into a kind of mousseline with a cheese & squid crust. 10/10 for this dish.

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My ox cheeks were served in this dish and the amount of meat was more than plentiful. I asked for one of the cheeks to be taken home in a doggy bag, as I could not waste such good food and would have had no space at all for dessert. I also knew my greyhound would very much enjoy the other ox cheek but alas my friend ate it when I had gone to bed. Oh well, it was his birthday, so I took it as fair.

If I had not been so full after my starter & main  I would have chosen the bread & butter pudding with prunes & armagnac but chose a a pineapple & rum frangipagne tart with creme englaise & ice cream with a lovely 1976 armagnac to help the digestion. Jay had the chocolate torte that was sublime, nice & light, bitter and dark. He could not manage to finnish his which was such a shame, so I wolfed it down with no hessitation at all.

This is a restaurant I would very happily go back to & as their is a sister resaurant L’escargot Blanc I think that is going to be visited soon. The prices were very reasonable & all in all a very good dining experience. I would give this restaurant an overall 8.5 out of 10 for the evenings meal. Everything was exceptionally well cooked, with good service & a bustling ambience. It is good to have found a restaurant that sells offal & creates wonderful dishes from it.

I hope they do very well as I would like this restaurant to thrive and trade for a long time to come.