Usually hotels have restaurants: Baba used to be the main hotel restaurant of the Kimpton Charlotte Square, a chi-chi New Town destination. It’s been a few years since I last went to Baba, but in the interim, it seems to have devoured the Kimpton almost in its entirety, having swallowed the entire ground floor. It is definitely now a restaurant with a nice hotel attached…

If you only have one night for a decent meal in Edinburgh, as I did on a fleeting trip through, go to Baba. Michelin gives its recommendation to the Kimpton’s other restaurant, aizle, but anywhere that is pretentious enough to drop usual rules of English grammar before you’ve even walked in the door is definitely best avoided.

Edinburgh is not that big a place, and pretty easy to get around (well, it will be if they ever finish the works on the North Bridge, which seem to have been blocking traffic since before the last time Scotland won the World Cup). The New Town really is a great place to stay and eat, although it does seem to be a hen party magnet, so possibly best avoided after 10 o’clock at the weekend. The sight of one inconsolable (and skirtless), young lady will never quite leave me, I fear.

It is very hard to fault Baba. Reviews point to its somewhat haphazard service, and I have seen it here before, but it was absolutely fine on the night we visited. There certainly aren’t enough waiting staff as you have to send up a flare from time to time to get service, but it was friendly, and helpful.

Baba is again one of those rare places that really understands the small plate concept, and the waitress knew exactly how many plates we should order, and almost begged us to drop one from our list. But it all looked far too yummy (this proved to be a terrible mistake on our part)

Baba is pseudo-Lebanese, with lots of tangy, spicy food that is definitely meant to be shared.

We started with some cocktails and olives, which were delicious and very smoky (the olives, that is). My companions felt their cocktails had far too much ice in them (maybe too many American visitors, who knows)

Of the rest of the meal, only the broccoli was pointless (and should have been the dish we dropped), and the cauliflower fritters were doughy.

Lighting was not good, but my bad photography should not put you off. We had a selection of “starters”, so dips etc. Of those, the BABA Ganoush was the truly outstanding element, followed by the Cod’s Cheeks (and, yes, they are small :-) ). The Whipped Cod’s Roe was excellent, pushing the Hummus into last place, only because all of the other dips were so good.

I have to say, as I write this review and look at the sheer number of pictures, the meal is looking positively gluttonous (there were only three of us), but I shall continue…

The Chicken Thighs and the Lamb Shoulder were both really good, the Falafel was fine (see previous reviews about how these have been ruined for me by Mrs Mo), the Carrots worked really well, but the absolute standout was the steak and charred lettuce. I think we only ordered this to see how on earth you would get away with charring a lettuce, TBH. Charred Hispi Cabbage (while delicious) is clearly a little passé, so why not burn a lettuce? Honestly, it was amazing. But what next? Deep-fried Cucumber?

Anyhow, clearly after loosening a few belt buckles there was no room for dessert. Hah! Wrong. Apparently when there is Grapefruit, Almond and Caraway cake on the menu, it just has to be tried. I think I had passed out from hyperglycemia at this point, as there is no photo, but someone typed into my notes “Dense in the way it’s supposed to be” – I think that was meant to be highly complimentary.

The best thing is that it is not particularly expensive for a really excellent meal. Not as good as the best of Glasgow, but better value than Margo, which is where we ate the night before. Ignore any bad reviews, and make a beeline to Baba!

Conclusion

Overall rating: 4.5/5

• Food: 4.5/5
• Service: 4/5
• Ambiance: 4/5
• Drinks: 4.5/5
• Value: 5/5
• Would we go back: 5/5

Baba: https://baba.restaurant/