The Caley Sample Room, Edinburgh

If you’ve read this blog before you’ll know I’m from BitterSweet Partnership, which works to change beer’s reputation and relationship with women, because we feel women are missing out. One thing we know though is that for women it’s not just about the beer it’s about the whole drinking experience so lately we’ve been focussing on pubs and what makes the perfect pub for women. We’ve surveyed thousands of women about their thoughts on pubs, and – this is the best part of our job – we’ve been visiting lots to find out for ourselves. So expect to see more pub reviews here in the future to find out more about who’s getting it right, who’s getting wrong and what we think pubs could improve upon to get more women through their doors.

Last week I was lucky enough to have some holiday and sample some French hospitality so Kate from BitterSweet visited The Caley Sample Room in Edinburgh – here’s what she thought:

‘If you Google ‘The Caley Sample Room’ you’ll see a description underneath: ‘The Caley Sample Room is one of Edinburgh's best pubs.’ So with high expectations, we visited the pub on a Friday evening to enjoy a meal and a pint. It’s encouraging to see right away that they are a runner up in the Scottish Restaurant Awards for best pub food, and their menu is certainly more impressive than the norm – a mixture of pub staples (with a sophisticated twist) and more progressive-sounding dishes, such as ‘Parmesan crusted smoked haddock and prawn fishcakes with a sun dried tomato pesto’. We shared the Antipasti deliboard to start, which was delicious – roasted vegetables, sundried tomatoes, hummus and olives with toasted pitta bread. It was beautifully served in pots on a board. For my main, I had the fish and chips – and while it was an unoriginal choice for me to make, it was served in a fresh and original way, with the perfectly rectangular chips stacked in order.

‘The service was excellent too – our server was very friendly and efficient, making sure we had water before we’d even asked (and not just a normal jug of water either: it had cucumber and other garnishes which made it look fantastic as well as taste better than usual). What’s more, she knew her stuff: she could talk knowledgably about the ales, as well as tell us what a biodynamic wine is. I chose Bitter and Twisted, which tasted fresh, aromatic and slightly fruity.

‘While I couldn’t judge authoritatively on whether it’s one of the best pubs in Edinburgh (not having been to enough of them – yet!), I definitely think it’s a great place to bring friends, family or a date – the little touches make the place feel much more special than your average pub, so it’d be a great place to take people who don’t think they like pubs. My one small quibble would me that the emphasis is on the wine rather than the beer – it’d be great to see the ales up on the board with the wine, and the list up on the website – the Bitter and Twisted I tried was fantastic and definitely worthy of being shouted about!’

The Caley Sample Room, 42 – 58 Angle Park Terrace, Edinburgh, EH11 2JR. Image from chatiryworld