I’ve had a few pleasant restaurant reviewing surprises recently, but few more than the new, surprisingly affordable W Lounge. So here’s my verdict:
What is it:
With its 360 degree panoramic views over the whole city from its city centre site, the five-star W Edinburgh hotel, recently named Scottish Hotel of the Year 2025, has become a popular eating and drinking spot in the capital. To date, its main eating option has been the Asian-South American fusion restaurant Sushisamba, but the arrival of the W Lounge on the floor below has added a new option.
About the lounge:
The W Lounge is effectively an indoor extension of the W Deck, a cocktail bar and dining area on the eleventh floor which is open from 11am to midnight every day. It has, it’s fair to say, been insanely popular when the sun has come out, helped by the live music every Friday evening through April and May. The W Lounge is the indoor space which has a bar and both high and low tables with great views out over Carlton Hill and Arthur’s Seat. With a good cocktail and drinks list, and a relaxed mix of small and large plates so that you can share if you wish, it’s a great place to hang out.
The Food:
We started with a couple of cocktails (£15) and then got stuck into what turned out to be an excellent and substantial meal from head chef David Lilley. Our starters of charcoal baked beetroot with goats curd, horseradish and pickled mouli (£9) and three large slices if ham hock sausage roll with a cider apple sauce (£11) were both excellent. Large enough to satisfy our hunger, they were of good quality, well presented and surprisingly good value.
If our meal started well, if anything it got even better. The three thick slices of lamb rump (£26) were so tender they could be cut with a fork, and came with excellent potato gnocchi, a lovely watercress reduction and a gravy with a slight hint of café au lait. If that was good, the spiced cod (£22) with samphire pakora, Bombay potato and tomato chutney was memorable. The sauce was so good I had to order a serving of Koffman fries (£8) with truffle and pecorino to soak up the excess – this was far too tasty to waste.
Puddings of sticky date cake (£8) with malted caramel and vanilla bean ice cream, and blood orange sorbet with vanilla crumble (£8) were very solid, but without quite the same impact as our mains. But overall, this was impressive.
Drinks at the Lounge:
Following cocktails, we looked over the sensibly priced wine list, which had some solid options starting at £35, and chose a nice Albariño, Pulpo, Pagos del Rey, Rías Baixas (£40) which didn’t disappoint. But then the W Lounge plays host to over 400 wines and Champagnes, the better ones of which are displayed on the W Lounge’s dedicated wine tasting space, the Wine Wall. This is where diners can attend a 45-minute sommelier-led New Horizons Cheese and Wine Flight in which three wines are paired with cheeses.
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