Chef Roberta Hall McCarron’s tiny but popular restaurant at the top of Leith Walk has just reopened after a refit. Richard Bath went to find out what has changed.
With just 16 covers and space for four at the bar, Eleanore – which is on the site where Hall McCarron and husband Shaun McCarron opened their flagship restaurant, The Little Chartoom, in 2018 – has always been small but perfectly formed.
Since reopening recently after a two-month refit that included a new kitchen and a reinstatement of its banquette, it hasn’t changed size, but it has altered its focus. Gone is the fine dining-adjacent tasting menu in favour of a shift to being what the couple describe as ‘a warm neighbourhood bistro’.
The frequently changing, seasonal a la carte menu put together by Hall McCarron and head chef Hamish McNeill is designed to work in tandem with the group’s other two restaurants, The Little Chartroom and Ardfern, to minimise waste and (presumably) admin.
We started by exploring the snacks menu, opting for excellent Lindisfarne oysters, one with a zingy nori hot sauce, the other with citrus vierge (£8 for 2), a huge bowl of outstandingly plump, meaty Gordal olives (£5), and an English muffin lathered in smoked honey butter (£6 for 2).
After that, the starters were as different as they were good. The creamy duck liver parfait was spread thickly over a triangle of sourdough, and topped with slices of blood orange and shards of almonds, while the three slices of beautifully cured trout sat atop a pool of yellow mussel butter and was topped with razor thin slices of turnip topped with roe to make a refreshingly light entrance to the meal.
Our main courses were similarly solid. The lamb rump with puy lentils was a taste-packed winter warmer, while the moist slab of hake with buttermilk sauce, silky smooth mash and broccoli was excellent.
The puddings ranged from transcendent to very good: the former was the luxuriously dark and creamy chocolate mousse with syllabub (which had echoes of a similar dish I tried at The Little Chartroom a few weeks ago) and a refreshingly light – although arguably under-lemony – posset with rhubarb and meringue.
Eleanore has been designed so that if you want, you can rock up and hope to get one of the four seats at the bar, where you can have snacks and a glass or wine or cocktail.
The drinks offering is therefore central to proceedings, and as well as cocktails (the Apple Hi-Ball, mixing whisky, apple, lillet, kummel and cider comes particularly highly recommended) the relatively small but really well thought-out wine list is well worth exploring.
With prices starting at £5 for a 125ml glass (£8.50 for the starter Champagne), £11-12 for cocktails and £5 for a pint of beer or cider, this is good quality at great value.
Eleanore, 30-31 Albert Place, Edinburgh, EH7 5HN. www.eleanore.uk. Evening menu: Two course £38, three courses £43. Lunch: (Wed-Sat): 2 courses £26; 3 courses £29. Sunday Lunch: 2 courses £33; 3 courses £38. Pre-theatre (Wed-Thurs, 5-5.30): 2 courses £26; 3 courses £29. Opening hours: Wed-Sat 12-2.15 & 5-8.30; Sun 12-5.30
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