Stockbridge Eating House, Edinburgh
Excellent cooking, homely vibes and a timeless feel make Stockbridge Eating House a great new addition to Edinburgh's food scene
One of the things about food, he Carrie Bradshaw'd to himself at the start of a new year, is it’s very cyclical. Styles of service fall in and out of favour, new influences burst onto the scene then shuffle away to regroup and return two years later, everyone gets obsessed with A Thing as if it’s brand new even though it’s been around for decades. If you don’t believe me, just ask any man in their thirties to tell you about the moment they ‘got into’ the plucky new upstart alcoholic beverage Guinness and prepare to lose the next ten minutes of your evening.
As we pass into 2025, ‘things that never go out of style’ is itself one of the hot new movements in food. We’re talking big round plates, chalkboard menus and no gimmicks – not even the gimmick of not having a gimmick. That’s the feeling at Stockbridge Eating House, in the former Bell’s Diner spot on the corner of Saint Stephen Street. The dining room is white walls, checkered tablecloths, and a bar area made up of one extremely tall fridge and a lovely old wooden dresser next to the coat hooks. Lots of places go for the ‘it’s like being at someone’s house’ vibe, but this captures it better than most – there is a very real sense, both auditory and olfactory, that there is cooking going on just round the corner and we’re gonna see how many folk we can wedge into the living room. The menu is a short trip through Euro-style bistro classics; lots of meat, a bit of fish, and some chunky sharing dishes.
Now, the thing about cooking for people at home is, deep down, you want to impress them; the thing about keeping it simple is, sadly, it does mean you have to nail whatever it is you choose to do. The good news is that the simple things are done very well here. The charred leeks (£10), on a bumper blob of ricotta with a sprinkling of hazelnuts and a dab or two of herby pesto, manage to melt in the mouth without falling to pieces on the fork. In a world where ‘charred’ is often a euphemism for ‘burnt’, these leeks show that you can in fact flame the hell out of something without destroying half of it; good job, good leeks. The monkfish cheeks (£14) are another straightforward dish with an excellent delivery. Hefty chunks in a beautiful orange crumb, all juicy and flaky underneath that crunchy exterior. There’s a big smear of a beautifully zingy homemade tartare sauce, and a bit of lemon if you want to make things even zingier, and that’s all it needs.
Things are a bit more complex with the squid (£13). Actually, the excellently-cooked squid is just one part of a brilliant little pile of food – there are fat chunks of smoky, salty bacon, crunchy sunflower seeds that seem to have been cooked in that bacon fat, and shredded kale to cut through and ground everything while also letting you convince yourself that this is in fact a salad and actually very healthy. It’s a textural treat, it’s loaded with flavour, and apparently it counts as one of your five-a-day. Very healthy.
As things get more advanced, those layers of flavour and skill keep building and building. The skill comes to the fore with a roast partridge (£28) which is supremely juicy but with beautiful mahogany skin and an excellent jus that coats everything it touches in a meaty, winey film. It is also a whole roast partridge, so it’s proper ‘mad king’ shit – if you’re bold with your knifework you’ll have a grand time. Those layers are much more literal in the wedge of gratin which sits next to the partridge; it’s a supremely cheesy and perfectly-cooked bit of decadent potato nonsense, all cream and starch and mustardy goodness. The chips (£5) are also excellent – big crunch, great colour, just a really good chip ready to be thrown into whatever remains of that gravy.
The Stockbridge Eating House opened at the end of October in the site of the former Bell’s Diner, a venue that served food to the people of Stockbridge for over 50 years, and quite literally outlived some of its neighbours. But the thing about food is it’s very cyclical, and everything changes at one point or another. Stockbridge Eating House is stepping into some big shoes, but it’s doing a terrific job – no matter what trends are to come this year, cooking this good will always be near the top of our hitlist.
7 St Stephen St, Edinburgh, EH3 5AN
Thu-Sun, 12-3pm and Thu-Mon, 5-10pm