First and foremost I suppose I must admit this is an exercise in vanity. I aim to search out wonderful and good value places to eat fantastic food and drink well mixed cocktails and then write about my experiences - which assumes that there are people who want to read about my opinion on this subject!
As this is my first post, I will flatter my vanity further and explain a bit about myself... I love to eat out and I enjoy going for cocktails - but dont get me wrong - I am not a high flying rich girl! While in Brighton I was a manager of a small high street store, but I have since decided that I want to follow a life in the catering industry. Through a friend I have found myself working in a lovely Italian deli/ restaurant in Leith. I have absolutely no waitressing experience - so I am learning as I go! I would like to take this opportunity to take my hat off to all waiting staff who never get enough respect - it is a hard job! It is really difficult to remember everything, and to make sure that you have enough information to answer all the questions that customers throw at you!
So, this is coming towards the end of my first 4 weeks back in Edinburgh. I am loving being in my home city and I am just about settling down. My boyfriend, B, and I have managed to get out and about a wee bit, but I am finding it difficult to break out of my comfort zone of the usual suspects that I have frequented throughout my visits to my parents.
Last Monday night was spent infront of the laptop trying to find somewhere different to go - but it is ALWAYS a gamble. What is it that makes us take that chance? I certainly dont know, but I have to admit that along with a huge amount of hunger and a loss of pateince; I was swayed by the design of a randomly found website! B and I found ourselves eating in The Voodoo Rooms on West Register Street. The menu is varied and the prices seemed reasonable - plus they do cocktails! The decor of the place is fabulously gothic and styled, and the clientel pleasantly mixed. We sat in the dining room and shared a platter with various bits and bobs including a fabulous goats cheese crostini and a yummy garlic and chilli mayo for the chips. Without fail, B had the most Mexican orientated meal from the specials board. I had an Italian sausage, bean and olive stew, which was very flavoursome. The portions were on the small side, and the prices high for them, but larger portions would mean our bill would have been larger too! We were able to access a bit of style for a price we were willing to pay and left nicely full but not bloated.
The cocktail menu was fairly extensive but without the usual suspects - no Old Fashioned! I had a drink with the word cherry in the name and thought I'd be into a sure thing... hmmm. The most questionable concoction has to be Irn Bru and Campari - someone must like it for it to make it onto the menu! The tap water was served as standard and was flavoured with mint and cucumber, it was lovely and refreshing. (Yes, I am this excited about tap water!)
I would visit here again for drinks (despite the mark-up, I may even order the Space Raiders from the bar snack menu) but I dont think that I would eat here again. Not that there is anything wrong with the food it is just that I was not blown away and there was no stand out dish that I will crave. The Voodoo Rooms is somewhere that looks good, and will be an interesting place to take my friends from Brighton and London, but there is perhaps only a wee step up from Frankensteins!
Well I guess all that is left to do is to press publish, which I am a bit nervous about!
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