Eatery Hopping: Cadiz, Edinburgh
If you have ever been to Edinburgh, you may know that George Street is a hub of all things high-end and swishy and gorgeous. Where better, then, to go enjoy beautiful food with a beautiful view than in a beautiful restaurant on George Street? (Rhetorical. Don't go pointing out views from the gherkin/shard/burj khalifa etc., thanks.)
Fulfilling these wishes to a tee, the newly opened Cadiz restaurant invited me (and numerous other peeps too, before I give the impression of crowning myself the most I of foodie VIPs Edinburgh has to offer..) to a (very generous thank you thank you thank you) four-course tasting menu complete with cocktails and wine. Let the photo reel begin.
Ever keen for food, we arrived very promptly and were shown to the bar area for some pre-meal cocktails to whet our appetites. Passionfruit martini + 'the pink sea' (grapefruit!!! my one true love) + marble countertop = 10/10 aesthetic. I only wish it had been next to the window for the natural lighting - we spent a while trying to get *the shot* for Instagram, but the laws of artificial lighting were not exactly in our favour.
I asked for my pink grapefruit concoction without vodka, simply because I wholeheartedly detest the stuff after having it as my drink of choice for nights out in first year of uni. Happily, this was easy peasy for them to cater to and I enjoyed my drink very much.
And lo! Just a matter of minutes later, we were escorted over to the more restauranty bit, drinks in hand (that's how efficient they were - no waiting around here), to sit at a table complete with little gift bags containing none other than some very adorbs boxes of Charbonnel & Walker Marc de Champagne truffles! Swoon.
Now, Cadiz is a seafood restaurant, and I am a vegetarian. I had let them know in advance, and also checked the menu online (success! they have one veggie starter, one veggie main and plenty of veggie sides) so was relieved that they had remembered and didn't seem put about by it at all.
An aperitif of oysters was up first, which I was excused from in favour of some sourdough bread with smoked paprika butter (which they make themselves!). I'm a firm fan of sourdough, and the butter was delicious - can't say I really felt like I was missing out on the oysters as they aren't exactly the most.. visually appealing.. of foods.
They were served on ice with soy sauce, pickled ginger, red chilli and coriander, which are apparently supposed to be doused on pretty liberally. The verdict was that oysters are an acquired taste for those with saltier palates ("It's like drinking the sea.") but interesting to have tried, nonetheless. The bread was great, though. Highly recommend.
We had been presented with a menu of selected dishes when we were seated, and very quickly after the oysters had been (valiantly) tried and bread had been (eagerly) gobbled, our chosen starters arrived. My Cadiz salad was, quite honestly, the most enormous 'starter' I have ever set eyes on in my whole entire existence. The photos don't even begin to convey how huge it was.
This is the only veggie dish of the 'small plates', but if you don't fancy it then the bread or any of the sides we didn't try (olives, padron peppers, potatoes, chips etc.) would, I'm sure, be equally tasty. I, however, am a sucker for a strong cheese, and this combo of asparagus and Spanish Picon Blue was right up my street. I didn't manage to finish it, as I was strategically saving space for my main (and pudding, obvs), so would absolutely say you could justifiably go for this as a main.
The king prawns came with a black garlic alioli (Spanish, and different from the creamy French aïoli), a (SO CUTE) wrapped up lemon, and a little finger bowl - any restaurant that gives you a finger bowl for prawns gets a thumbs up, as they are just such a guddly mess otherwise. The prawns themselves also got a thumbs up, as prawns generally do. (Prawns were the only fish I would eat before I went veggie - and I ate loads of them, specifically my chilli/garlic/ginger prawns.)
Next to arrive was the wine, of which I have stupidly completely forgotten the name. All I can tell you is that it must have been a good one, as it didn't make me wince like it often can. I try so hard with wine, I really do. I have attempted many a time to make myself enjoy it, but wine and I just don't jive quite yet. Maybe we will in future, maybe we won't. Either way, there are bigger fish to fry.
Like this lemon sole. (Wasn't that a brilliantly seamless segue?!)
Not wanting to break with tradition, this was also gigantic. Very tasty, I was assured, but gigantic. It was grilled (ha I just wrote gilled by accident and am now finding myself hilarious) with burnt butter, lemon and capers and, if you weren't full enough from this fish that must have taken up about half the sea, a dinky bucket of skinny fries (in the same special branded Cadiz paper that filled our gift bags, no less).
Its deliciousness was confirmed with a glance over to the next table where another lemon sole had been enjoyed so completely that only the bare bones were left. Not exaggerating. It was clean. We were impressed to say the least, and are still not quite sure how such a feat was managed, given the size of all the portions.
My main of choice was the only veggie option of the 'large plates', but considering Cadiz do pride themselves on their seafood, I wouldn't necessarily expect them to have a whole load of vegetarian dishes. Well, I might if the dishes on offer weren't great. But they are. So there we go.
An individually-sized Spanish potato tortilla filled with red peppers and onions, and served with (more) salad. Again, very large; again, very tasty. Although as a self-proclaimed not-enormous-fan of potato, I did find myself getting a little bored of it after a while, and aimed for the extras rather than the potatoey bit itself (although this was more than likely due in part to me already being more than a little full).
Not tooooooo full, though. Not so full that we didn't have space for pudding.
Crème catalan. Presented to you mid-brûlée, so you can watch the sugar caramelise and frantically adjust your camera settings to try to capture the magic of a pyrotechnic pudding display, before admitting the fact that it is virtually impossibly to get a flame in focus.
The crème catalan itself was fantastic, but I wasn't so keen on the 'chocolate crackle-top biscuits' it was served with. They were more of a teeny tiny cake than a biscuit, being spongier than I expected, but they were very much the sideshow to the main event so honestly I didn't mind. I would have been perfectly happy with the adorable little Le Creuset dish of delish on its own, without the biscuits - its flamey entrance was more than enough of a spectacle.
The praline cheesecake received equally high praise, as did its salted caramel sauce and almond crisp, however by this point we were both so completely stuffed full of incredible food that there was no hope of ever finishing these (wonderful as they were). A peppermint tea aided with digestion before we gave our thanks and waddled out.
Conclusion? Amazing food, gorgeous interiors, superb service. Even though they don't seem particularly veggie-friendly on the face of it, I had more than enough and enjoyed it all thoroughly. All the dishes looked great, and tasted greater, but their sheer size was the greatest of all (literally, as in size-wise), so much so that I don't think we actually managed to finish any of the courses. Obviously this wouldn't usually be an issue, as most meals out do not comprise four courses, but if you know any hungry Americans missing giant portions, then send them this way.
Thank you so much for having us, Cadiz - I have absolutely no doubts that you will do well.
Disclaimer: we dined complimentary for review purposes, but all opinions, photos, and post-meal reminisces are my own.
*All photos in this post are mine. If you wish to use any, please ask my permission and credit me!*
Ever keen for food, we arrived very promptly and were shown to the bar area for some pre-meal cocktails to whet our appetites. Passionfruit martini + 'the pink sea' (grapefruit!!! my one true love) + marble countertop = 10/10 aesthetic. I only wish it had been next to the window for the natural lighting - we spent a while trying to get *the shot* for Instagram, but the laws of artificial lighting were not exactly in our favour.
I asked for my pink grapefruit concoction without vodka, simply because I wholeheartedly detest the stuff after having it as my drink of choice for nights out in first year of uni. Happily, this was easy peasy for them to cater to and I enjoyed my drink very much.
And lo! Just a matter of minutes later, we were escorted over to the more restauranty bit, drinks in hand (that's how efficient they were - no waiting around here), to sit at a table complete with little gift bags containing none other than some very adorbs boxes of Charbonnel & Walker Marc de Champagne truffles! Swoon.
Now, Cadiz is a seafood restaurant, and I am a vegetarian. I had let them know in advance, and also checked the menu online (success! they have one veggie starter, one veggie main and plenty of veggie sides) so was relieved that they had remembered and didn't seem put about by it at all.
An aperitif of oysters was up first, which I was excused from in favour of some sourdough bread with smoked paprika butter (which they make themselves!). I'm a firm fan of sourdough, and the butter was delicious - can't say I really felt like I was missing out on the oysters as they aren't exactly the most.. visually appealing.. of foods.
They were served on ice with soy sauce, pickled ginger, red chilli and coriander, which are apparently supposed to be doused on pretty liberally. The verdict was that oysters are an acquired taste for those with saltier palates ("It's like drinking the sea.") but interesting to have tried, nonetheless. The bread was great, though. Highly recommend.
We had been presented with a menu of selected dishes when we were seated, and very quickly after the oysters had been (valiantly) tried and bread had been (eagerly) gobbled, our chosen starters arrived. My Cadiz salad was, quite honestly, the most enormous 'starter' I have ever set eyes on in my whole entire existence. The photos don't even begin to convey how huge it was.
This is the only veggie dish of the 'small plates', but if you don't fancy it then the bread or any of the sides we didn't try (olives, padron peppers, potatoes, chips etc.) would, I'm sure, be equally tasty. I, however, am a sucker for a strong cheese, and this combo of asparagus and Spanish Picon Blue was right up my street. I didn't manage to finish it, as I was strategically saving space for my main (and pudding, obvs), so would absolutely say you could justifiably go for this as a main.
The king prawns came with a black garlic alioli (Spanish, and different from the creamy French aïoli), a (SO CUTE) wrapped up lemon, and a little finger bowl - any restaurant that gives you a finger bowl for prawns gets a thumbs up, as they are just such a guddly mess otherwise. The prawns themselves also got a thumbs up, as prawns generally do. (Prawns were the only fish I would eat before I went veggie - and I ate loads of them, specifically my chilli/garlic/ginger prawns.)
Next to arrive was the wine, of which I have stupidly completely forgotten the name. All I can tell you is that it must have been a good one, as it didn't make me wince like it often can. I try so hard with wine, I really do. I have attempted many a time to make myself enjoy it, but wine and I just don't jive quite yet. Maybe we will in future, maybe we won't. Either way, there are bigger fish to fry.
Like this lemon sole. (Wasn't that a brilliantly seamless segue?!)
Not wanting to break with tradition, this was also gigantic. Very tasty, I was assured, but gigantic. It was grilled (ha I just wrote gilled by accident and am now finding myself hilarious) with burnt butter, lemon and capers and, if you weren't full enough from this fish that must have taken up about half the sea, a dinky bucket of skinny fries (in the same special branded Cadiz paper that filled our gift bags, no less).
Its deliciousness was confirmed with a glance over to the next table where another lemon sole had been enjoyed so completely that only the bare bones were left. Not exaggerating. It was clean. We were impressed to say the least, and are still not quite sure how such a feat was managed, given the size of all the portions.
An individually-sized Spanish potato tortilla filled with red peppers and onions, and served with (more) salad. Again, very large; again, very tasty. Although as a self-proclaimed not-enormous-fan of potato, I did find myself getting a little bored of it after a while, and aimed for the extras rather than the potatoey bit itself (although this was more than likely due in part to me already being more than a little full).
Not tooooooo full, though. Not so full that we didn't have space for pudding.
Crème catalan. Presented to you mid-brûlée, so you can watch the sugar caramelise and frantically adjust your camera settings to try to capture the magic of a pyrotechnic pudding display, before admitting the fact that it is virtually impossibly to get a flame in focus.
The crème catalan itself was fantastic, but I wasn't so keen on the 'chocolate crackle-top biscuits' it was served with. They were more of a teeny tiny cake than a biscuit, being spongier than I expected, but they were very much the sideshow to the main event so honestly I didn't mind. I would have been perfectly happy with the adorable little Le Creuset dish of delish on its own, without the biscuits - its flamey entrance was more than enough of a spectacle.
The praline cheesecake received equally high praise, as did its salted caramel sauce and almond crisp, however by this point we were both so completely stuffed full of incredible food that there was no hope of ever finishing these (wonderful as they were). A peppermint tea aided with digestion before we gave our thanks and waddled out.
Conclusion? Amazing food, gorgeous interiors, superb service. Even though they don't seem particularly veggie-friendly on the face of it, I had more than enough and enjoyed it all thoroughly. All the dishes looked great, and tasted greater, but their sheer size was the greatest of all (literally, as in size-wise), so much so that I don't think we actually managed to finish any of the courses. Obviously this wouldn't usually be an issue, as most meals out do not comprise four courses, but if you know any hungry Americans missing giant portions, then send them this way.
Thank you so much for having us, Cadiz - I have absolutely no doubts that you will do well.
Disclaimer: we dined complimentary for review purposes, but all opinions, photos, and post-meal reminisces are my own.
*All photos in this post are mine. If you wish to use any, please ask my permission and credit me!*
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