Smoke Stack, Edinburgh

On a break to Scotland's capital we decided that out final evening in the city should be the obligatory 'slap up' meal.
Being somewhat of a carnivore some kind of cooked animal was in order.

Having talked to some local's earlier one chargrill restaurant's name had cropped up a few times, the Smoke Stack.

First opened in '96 'The Stack' as the locals called it has stylish surroundings and a relaxed atmosphere right in the trendy part of Edinburgh, Broughton Street, this makes it a very popular venue though so do book before you go.
I called them at 6.20pm, a mere twenty minutes after opening and they didn't have a table until 9.45, so I think the causal drop in is pretty much out of the question if you are going for an evening meal. It may be a different case for the lunch openings Mon-Fri 12pm- 2.30pm. The evening opening times are 6pm to last order at 10.30pm (Sunday's last order at 10pm) but I would recommend a call first.

We arrived at 9.30ish (if you are arriving by car give yourself plenty of time to find somewhere to leave your vehicle as there isn't any parking directly outside the restaurant) pushed the door open to be greeted with the aromas of cooked food and the voices of the clientele drowning out the music in the background. We confirmed our booking to be told that "it will be a couple of minutes to be seated and would we like to order a drink and look at the menus while we waited?"
Shown to the small seating area near the entrance we ordered two beers from their drinks list which comprises of the normal bottled beers like Budweiser and Beck's for £2.75 a pop. The drinks also on offer are a vast list of sprits and liqueurs and all manner of soft drinks from Pepsi to fruit juices ranging from £3.50 for a shot of Laproaig down to £1 for a glass of Pepsi, but that is a glass and not pint.
True to her word the waitress asked if we were ready to be seated a couple of minutes later and with only one entrance/exit to the place we didn't see anybody leave so I had the feeling that they were making sure that our table was clean, it wasn't, it was spotless.

The décor is wooden floors with deep red walls and the tables are adorned with crisp white linen. All cutlery and condiments are sparking clean with tables for two which some were pushed together for diners with bigger numbers in their party. The whole place has a relaxed atmosphere and you feel like that you are a valued customer even on your first visit.

Our table was directly next to the window but all there was to see was the passing calves of the people outside as the restaurant is sunken below the street level.
Even though we had viewed the menus beforehand we were asked if we like to see the wine menu before we decided on the food.
The wine list has a good selection of red and white starting at £8.50 for the house wine heading all the way up to £30 for top notch stuff. As we were having steaks a good red was needed, I went for an Australian Shiraz cabernet at £12.95. Full bodied and described as made from 'happy grapes', it was excellent.
The waitress was attentive, ready to answer any questions and even added a couple of her own recommendations on what to order. A nice touch was the items she had pointed out weren't the most expensive on the menus, this I've found is the ploy of many a serving staff.

Starters were the normal soup, pate, corn on the cob variety; I did find that if you are vegetation muncher who doesn't eat fish your choice will be a bit limited for the starters.
We had the ribs, at a steak house what else? These were honey and tomato roasted pork ribs. One of the top prices at £4.95 but one plate was enough for two; we thought this would be enough as we all know the filling feeling properties of steak which would be our mains.
Fingers and mouths wiped clean, slurp of the grape juice and we waited for ten minutes or before the mains arrived, this to me seemed just the right amount of time to let your starter settle before you tucked into the mains.

Unusually for a chargrill restaurant the menu had chicken, seafood, fajitas, pasta and salads to choose from so every taste is catered for, but I just had to go for a lump of cow.
Their steaks, the menu braggingly tells you, are prime Scottish cattle under 24 months old and is hand-trimmed on the premises and of course cooked to your liking.
The ribeye I ordered turned up along with the sirloin of my partners, both done to exactly how we wanted; mine the medium rare and hers the well done.
These steaks we absolutely stupendous, succulent, tasty and not too much fat, well laid out on the ice white plates, adorned with the standard bit of foliage that comes with steaks plus the fries delivered in a separate bowl. Word of warning; the fries we had were hot enough to melt lead but still a very enjoyable chip. Added to our order we accompanied the mains with a side order of mixed salad. This was assorted vegetables, fruit and pinenuts with raspberry vinaigrette which was lush. There is a charge for any sauces that you should want with your steak which run at £1 each but I prefer mine 'bareback', and by sauces I mean blue cheese, drambuie and mushroom types, not ketchup.

Stuffed to the gills we opted not to have a dessert but they supply cheesecakes, crème brulee, hot sticky toffee pudding, various ice creams and teas or coffees. All range from £3.95 for the puds down to £1.50 for a tea or coffee but the do have some more expensive coffees like the cappuccino's and espresso's.

The level of service was excellent and the waitress was very friendly and by no means pushy. We sat for some 20 minutes finishing off the wine and was not pressured or frowned upon to feel we had to leave at any time.

I highly recommend The Smoke stack if you are ever in Edinburgh and a testament as to how good we found it? When we were back at work the following Monday we did think about booking for Friday night and driving to 200 odd miles from West Yorkshire just to go again.

Our bill came to £55.80 but bear in mind that our drinks were £18.45 and that we both had the 12oz steaks rather than the 8oz. A 10% service charge is added to tables of 6 or more people, smoking is permitted in designated areas.

Details;
The Smoke Stack
53-55 Broughton Street
Edinburgh
EH1 3RJ
Tel: 0131 556 6032