Upbeat pub grub
Bars as pleasant local social havens where you can enjoy simple food, soft drinks, board games and the occasional spot of music? Whisper it, we might be onto something here
23-24 Sandport Place, Leith, 0131 476 5268, www.roseleaf.co.uk
Food served 10am—10pm; prices range from 2.5..‘9isifor soup to 27—938 for a cheese
and pate board or a main course from the specials blackboard.
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here's no doubt that the shakeeup ol pubs nearly two
years on from the introduction ol the smoking ban is
well underway. Most of us haye changed our attitudes to pubs in that time we'll go more ol‘ten. but tor a shorth time. we‘re more likely to eat. or haye a col'l’ee or other non alcoholic drink.
Pubs need to respond to this. bill the way to do this isn't by serving tempura king prawns on pesto mash with a chilli dipping sauce. In Scotland there aren't many real gastropubs around. but there are plenty which charge prices imagining they are. There's a crying need l'or pubs to stop trying to imitate trendy lusion restaurants and to head back in the direction of basics. (iood basics.
Roseleal~ opened back in the summer in the premises ol the Black Swan near the Water ol' l.eith. It Used to be a rcdrlight district but the area is now surrounded by new buildings and Leith‘s old boo/ers are becoming scarccr than a tt‘altic ianl
tree day on Leith Walk.
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Lynn Kane. are Aussies GASTRO-PUBS IN SCOTLAND,
with a healthy disrespect for history and fond memories of the open.
upbeat eating and
drinking scene in Melbourne. No longer an old
WHICH CHARGE CASTRO-PUB PRICES'
boo/er. Roseleat' is a hippy-dippy casual neighbourhood cal‘e-pub which sery es beer and spirits alongside treshly squee/ed combo fruit juices. loose leal‘ tea in pots. decent collee and uncomplicated liood. The decor mixes wooden floors witlt patterned wallpaper. l’aux chandeliers and junk-shop l'urniture not pretentious. but not without taste. The junk shop has been well scoured too tor old patterned crockery which miss— matches perfectly. They even make their own ginger beer (mixed with rum. it‘s the best-selling cocktaili. And the cocktails are seryed in old. patterned teapots. Not strictly original. but it sells the place to plenty of l‘olk.
The grub in this pub isn't classic but it is quite good. Homemade pate turns out to be l‘reshly w hi//ed roast veggie and feta pate. a steak sarnie is cooked rare to order. has a spicy chutney on top — again homemade. or at least well chosen — and is seryed in freshly-cut and toasted bread. rather than the usual pale. cotton-wool torpedo. Shepherd's pie trom the daily specials is hot. warming. made with decent mince. From lilam—ltlpm you can get eggs benedict or a baked camembert. beans on toast or a bit of cake. There's no batter or chips in sight. lt's hardly glamorous. but the comtot‘t in this food is that it was cooked in a kitchen a l‘ew yards away rather than a t'actory in the West Midlands.
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