Edinburgh’s West End has certainly seen better days. The never-ending nightmare that is the city’s ill-conceived trams project has turned Shandwick Place into a battered and mauled piece of road destined to be seemingly forever sieved, diced, gutted and filleted over and over in what must seem like a hideous Groundhog Day for local residents and businesses, all in the vague hope that some day a few curious tourists might use this overpriced novelty transport to get from the airport to St Andrew’s Square.
It is a mess, and now from the first floor of the Rutland Hotel on the corner of this once esteemed city centre gateway disconsolately gazes the life-size model of a cow, sad painted wooden eyes watching over the constant processions of diggers and loaders and yellow-jacketed hardhats.
This effigy belongs to the Rutland’s recently opened new restaurant, Kyloe. The curious name comes from an old Scots word for Highland beef cattle. Appropriate enough, as Kyloe really is all about the beef. Steaks of potentially magnificent sizes are the main event here, and on Friday lunchtime the large dining room is doing a good trade in them, catering to several parties of moneyed wine-slugging business suits. It’s good to know these poor loves can still afford to look after themselves alright. Those platters of meat look fantastic but can command robust prices.
M and I, on the other hand, are penniless commoners and so must suffice with the rather more cautious lunch menu: three choices of three courses for £13. Still, not bad going all things considered. It’s just a shame that, for economic reasons no doubt, there is a noticeable dearth of red meat in the lunch choices. These are still enticing offerings, but one can’t help feeling out of place in this elegant darkly-furnished space which comes with the odd hint of cow hide and ranch-style rusticity leading one to expect a group of oil-spewing Texan businessmen wearing cowboy boots costing as much as the whole of Princes Street to wander by.
Service is extremely breezy and comes with a smile, despite our pauper status. When it comes to quality and flavour, the Kyloe lunch menu is certainly no cheapskate. To start, my smoked salmon pate with small crisp crostini and a simple salad of rocket and radishes makes for a refreshing palate-clearer. M has a gutsier brunch-styled dish consisting of poached egg with black pudding, smoked bacon lardons and spinach, the perfectly poached egg being particularly pleasing.
Mains are a simple choice between meat (a pork dish, in this case), fish or vegetarian options, and we both decide to veer further away from the meat piste. M’s crispy polenta and vegetable stew makes for surprisingly hearty fare. The only thing disappointing with my pan-fried coley with chorizo, leek and spinach is the portion size. I realise we’re very much travelling economy-class today, but the fish is a filleted-to-an-inch-of-its-life sliver. Marvellously cooked, mind, luscious white coley flesh under a crisp skin balanced perfectly with the salty, spiced chorizo, but a little bit more would have been nice.
Having already agreed we’d do two courses and no more, I feel I need a dessert to keep me sated. Thankfully, the strawberry and custard tart is able to complete my satisfaction. Portion size aside, this really is an excellent value-for-money lunch menu. Top notch cooking served by friendly waiting staff in a spacious and comfortable room (just don’t look out the window at the gravel pit below). I’ll be back and next time I’ll be gunning for the steaks!
Two4ten Lunch Menu is 12-5pm
Two courses: £10.00
Three courses: £13.00