Great Places to Eat in Scotland
- Redwood Restaurant, Stockbridge, Edinburgh
The Location
This intimate, cosy wee restaurant is hidden down a short flight of steps located between Sprio Italian deli and Scotland art gallery on the lively, bohemian St. Stephen's Street in the heart of Edinburgh's urban village of Stockbridge. It is only a ten minute walk down from the city centre. The Head chef and proprietor is Annette Sprague, an equally lively and energetic Californian lady who formerly ran her own catering company, The Perfect Palate. She had relocated from San Francisco to Edinburgh in 2003 where she was surprised by the comparatively low levels of service and food being served. "People should expect outstanding food and service when hiring us as their caterer," she commented at the time, and then went on to develop her successful upmarket company aimed at private parties and corporate events. Five years on and she felt it was time to stop driving around the country preparing banquets but to stay in one place and open a city restaurant so that diners could come to her - instead of the other way round. Redwood was launched in December 2008.
The Restaurant
At the foot of the steps before you enter the front door, a poster size image of the iconic Californian Redwood trees of the John Muir country park greets you to lead you into the American landscape. Inside the interior décor and colour scheme has been carefully planned to continue the natural outdoors/ forestry theme. The floor is covered in rich burgundy copper polished wood, the walls are painted a soft sandy gold with raspberry red wood panelling and featuring more photographs of the giant redwood trees, mirrors and blackboards. There are glowing candles and a huge vase of flowers offering a whiff of sweet scent. It is all very fresh, warm and inviting where you will be welcomed by a small team of waiting staff. Sit in comfortable high backed chairs at uncovered shiny dark mahogany-style wood tables. The restaurant caters for a maximum of 22 diners creating a friendly, casual dinner party ambience.
The Food
Annette Sprague graduated from the famous Le Cordon Bleu cookery school in 1999 As well as studying French culinary techniques she has also travelled widely, working in California, Australia and Europe. The cuisine at Redwood is essentially Californian, which itself is inspired by a multicultural society drawing on Asian, Mexican and Pacific rim influences. This is colourful, exciting cooking, featuring the fresh, seasonal character of American dishes with an occasional Vietnamese spice, a touch of Thai, a hint of Hawaiian and a dash of classic French. Produce is sourced locally such as west coast seafood, Aberdeen Angus beef, Perthshire game and Borders lamb. The menu may be short and sweet but the great asset is that it changes weekly offering seasonal market produce and the opportunity to ring the changes with new inventive dishes.The menu is well written and enticing with good descriptions to explain all the ingredients. In early December, the choices, quite wisely, were wintry, but not festive. Who wants turkey three weeks before Christmas! I selected Crab, avocado and apple salad with greens. Only Americans - indeed Californians - can turn a simple salad into a feast. While it may sound summery, this had hearty fishy texture and a mountain of delicious salad leaves drizzled with a tangy lemon and tarragon vinaigrette. My dining partner Ken selected the goat's cheese and apricot salad, which was sprinkled with pecan nuts and pomegranate seeds and again a substantial salad. Starters are accompanied by freshly bread, olive oil and home roasted garlic cloves which were so delicious.
As well as tenderloin of Scottish Roe Deer, main courses included Herb Crusted haddock or home made Gnocchi with ricotta cheese. Ken selected the fish which was fresh, delicately baked, jazzed up Mexican style with beetroot and orange salsa and served with warm mixed rice and green beans. The rice was particularly superb, a blend of wild, organic and black rice and the whole concoction was imaginative and tasty. I very much enjoyed a huge plate of gnocchi, smothered in fresh ricotta cheese, cherry tomatoes, rocket pesto sauce and pine nuts. The only comment I would make is that the half dozen tiny tomatoes were simply diced, chunky and ice cold; it would have been much better if they had been char grilled (and hot) to complement the soft gnocchi. The Dessert menu was most enticing on this particular evening featuring very seasonal and North American Christmas inspired Eggnog Cheesecake with berries as well as Fig Tart with lemon mascarpone. The latter was quickly consumed at the other side of the table while I sampled an fine selection of Scottish and French cheese (from I J Mellis cheesemonger located just around the corner), with tiny oatcakes, sliced apple and grapes. Wisely the cheese had been taken out of the fridge a few hours before service to gain room temperature and ripen the Camembert. After dinner, coffee and tea is offered as part of the two and three course menu price.
The Bill
Dinner, 2 courses: £20.95 3 courses: £25.95, both including coffee or tea.
Bring Your Own Bottle (BYOB) (at present), corkage £4. Bottled water £2.50. (1 litre). Coke £2.Further Information
Redwood Restaurant is at 33a St. Stephen's Street, Edinburgh EH3 5AH. For reservations, phone 0131 225 8342. For more information, see the Redwood Restaurant Website. Currently open Tuesday to Saturday, 6pm - 10pm. Closed Sunday and Mondays. No licence at present, BYOB.Conclusion
Redwood is a truly happy, sunshiny kind of place bringing a breath of fresh air to the Stockbridge dining scene - which already offers a global selection of diners and bistros including Italian, Spanish, Indian, Scottish and South American. Personally run and managed by Annette Sprague and her young team, at Redwood you can be assured of inspiring food and fine hospitality. For a truly different and memorable night out, book a table at Redwood - whether for a romantic meal for two, a group of friends or book the restaurant for a private dinner party (16 or more guests). You will not be disappointed. It is extraordinary how combining fresh, simple food, warm ambience, California landscape images, soft music and friendly attentive staff can create a truly American dining experience.What other diners say:
My husband and I ate here last week and the food was fantastic! It was the best-tasting meal I've ever had in Edinburgh -- aside from Martin Wishart's. But the price at Redwood is excellent for the amount of food you get (our bill was just over £50 for 2.5 courses each -- we split a dessert). I highly recommend this small restaurant with a definite neighbourhood feel. (R. G Williams, December 8th 2008)"I dined at Redwood for our company Christmas lunch and, I have to say, it was FANTASTIC! The quality of the food and the service were both excellent. The majority had opted for the crab, avocado and apple salad starter which was a good size and was delicious. The main course of the deer tenderloin was beautifully cooked and the jus was just fabulous. I'm told the other main courses were delicious too.
All plates were cleared - I think that speaks for itself. As Redwood doesn't yet have a drinks license, they are happy with BYOB with a reasonable £4 corkage. We left the restaurant very full and decidedly happy.
Well done Annette. We hope that your restaurant is around for a long time and goes from strength to strength. (Colin, 18 December, 2008).Vivien Devlin
January 2009
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