Review: Bonnar’s, The Scott Hotel

This year has been one characterised by pleasant surprises, but few have come more out of the blue than this cracking little restaurant inside a hotel on Edinburgh University grounds just off Salisbury Crags, says Richard Bath. It’s almost a year old, and is one of the best kept secrets in Edinburgh.

The Scott Hotel is inside Edinburgh University’s Pollock Halls campus, just next to the Commonwealth Pool. You drive in through the gates and immediately there’s a grand old pile which was once the home of celebrated architect and interior designer Thomas Bonnar. It’s a baronial mansion that is exactly as you’d expect for the home of a gentleman of means from 1750 – the walls are encased in intricately carved wood panelling, the proportions are exquisite and light floods in from unfeasibly large sash windows and overhead cupola. 

There’s a lovely little bar, the Velvet Bar, that will instantly transport you back in time given that it is barely changed from when it was first constructed by Bonnar in 1750. With its large range of mirrors, original Italian marble fireplace, pink carpets and eponymous red velvet wallpaper, it’s a memorably authentic space in which to wet the whistle. If that sounds a little OTT, then think again – this is a classy snug in which to decompress over cocktails or drams. 

There’s also a collection of tables in what they call The Gallery, which is great for afternoon tea or meeting an aged aunt, but if you really want to impress her, then take her for a bite to eat at Bonnar’s.

The hotel restaurant is a fine rococo dining salon that reminds me of Edinburgh’s fabled Pompadour, just far more intimate and cheaper, with less impressive views. Judging by the outrageously intricate cornicing, the beautiful classical mural on the ceiling, the elegant proportions and the views out onto what must once have been a lovely garden, this must have been Bonnar’s drawing room. Fast forward to 2025 and it makes a perfect 25-cover dining room. 

Great bread gets any meal off to a good start, and this was some of the most memorable I’ve ever had – a brioche dough with a Marmite and tarragon glaze, served with two butters, one Marmite infused and the other hand-turned. If that sounds horrible (and I’m a Bovril boy who only touches Marmite in extremis) then you’d be dead wrong – this is so good that they now make twice as much as they serve at dinner because guests always want more with their breakfast. 

Our starters were equally impactful. A lovely dry cured sea trout served with daikon (white radish) and a silky buttermilk and dill sauce (£15) pushed all the right buttons, while I had to applaud the ambition of a dish of broad beans with a hen’s egg yolk, celeriac ketchup and shiitake XO (£14). The beans were marginally overdone and the egg marginally underdone, yet this was still an excellent dish which showed ambition and brio. 

There were no misgivings with the main courses. The sublime saddle of roe venison (£27) was perfectly cooked and came with unusual but successful accompaniments of charred greens, roasted corn and what I can only describe as a muted BBQ sauce. The dish of Orkney scallops with fish cassoulet and a roe and carrot butter sauce (£26) was equally impressive. Even the side of beef fat potato terrine with Cora Linn sheep’s cheese (£6) passed muster. 

We rounded off with two wildly different puddings which were both produced with a conspicuous level of confidence. The meadowsweet and rhubarb eton mess (£10) was interesting and beautifully balanced, while the ice cream made with the Italian bitters of fernet branca (£12) meshed well with a mint gel and an espresso shot. Neither was perfect but you had to admire the ambition in both, which comes from head chef Pier Beretta. Formerly of the late lamented Fhior, the self-described Roman farm boy is producing excellent food at prices that are kept low in order to build a name and a following. That, however, won’t last – so get in while you can.  

Bonnar’s, The Scott Hotel, 18 Holyrood Park Road, Edinburgh EH16 5AY.