{"id":233206,"date":"2025-07-02T23:19:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T23:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/233206\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T23:19:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T23:19:25","slug":"lescargot-bleu-restaurant-review-an-edinburgh-institution-moving-with-the-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/233206\/","title":{"rendered":"L\u2019Escargot Bleu restaurant review \u2014 an Edinburgh institution moving with the times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Such is the global outlook of this country\u2019s food scenes \u2014 a dashi poured here, a sprinkle of za\u2019atar there \u2014 that to review a traditional French restaurant that\u2019s been doing its thing since long before you could pick up preserved lemons at your local Tesco feels like a subversive act. At L\u2019Escargot Bleu on Edinburgh\u2019s equal parts chichi and foodie Broughton Street, the baguettes are sliced on an antique French dresser. There are vintage adverts for 19th-century fortified wines on the walls and the small open kitchen is framed by dangling copper pans. Everyone speaks French, even us self-conscious British monoglots who, as if by magic in such environs, suddenly find ourselves mumbling the petit peu of fran\u00e7ais from our schooldays. And the prix fixe \u2014 chalked, naturellement, on a blackboard \u2014 is brought to the table by one of the no-nonsense French servers (all women on the night I\u2019m in) and set on its own bistro caf\u00e9 chair as if it were a Parisian papillon spaniel presented for mutual appreciation. None of these are ironic touches. They are simply the hallmarks of classic French bistro dining. <\/p>\n

Edinburgh, being a well-heeled European-to-its-bones city, has form when it comes to French cuisine. From the high-end Cafe St Honor\u00e9 and La Garrigue to the rowdy bonhomie of Chez Jules and Petit Paris (not forgetting the municipal bustle of Le Bistrot in the French Embassy), there are many places to go for moules marini\u00e8re and steak frites. <\/p>\n

\"Seafood<\/p>\n

Shetland mussels and squid in a velvet crab bisque<\/p>\n

EYMERIC CHAT-BON<\/p>\n

According to a guest post on L\u2019Escargot Bleu\u2019s website, penned by one of its New Town regulars (who goes by the very New Town regular name of Barclay Price), the first use of \u201crestaurant\u201d in an Edinburgh newspaper, in 1828, was in reference to a French restaurant. The links between Edinburgh and France are as well established as steak tartare on small plates menus. <\/p>\n

\u2022 Le Bistrot, Edinburgh, restaurant review: a little piece of France<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

L\u2019Escargot Bleu opened in 2009; the creation of chef-patron Fred Berkmiller, from the Loire Valley, and his wife and ma\u00eetre d\u2019, Betty. Both are still in their original roles. It\u2019s the formidable, warm Betty who sets the prix fixe on the chair in front of us, insists on a glass of gamay to complement the steak tartare and praises us for our good strong appetites. <\/p>\n

\"Interior<\/p>\n

The restaurant opened in 2009<\/p>\n

EYMERIC CHAT-BON<\/p>\n

The munificent prix fixe \u2014 three courses for \u00a365 \u2014 consists of all the right things: grilled snails, terrine with Armagnac, hake brandade, cockerel roulade, beef bourguignon. A vegan\u2019s nightmare, true, but this is hearty, rustic French cooking we\u2019re talking about. I was excessively excited about L\u2019Escargot Bleu\u2019s signature steak tartare, prepared at the table to the customer\u2019s preferences. But tonight it\u2019s made with rose veal (Pasture for Life-accredited veal, I should add, but even so \u2014 veal I cannot do). My dining companion, Anna, who lives nearby and feels genuine affection for L\u2019Escargot Bleu, goes for the fish soup. For me? Tonight\u2019s special of Shetland mussels and squid in a velvet crab bisque. <\/p>\n

\u2022 The 15 best restaurants in Edinburgh \u2014 our critic\u2019s guide<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

The seafood is fresh and generous and the bisque silken as promised, even if more depth of flavour would be welcome. The terracotta-hued fish soup is more velveteen still, bearing a sheen of which most soups can only dream. It comes with a warning. The accompanying rouille \u2014 a Proven\u00e7al sauce made by combining egg yolk and olive oil with breadcrumbs, garlic, saffron and cayenne pepper \u2014 is very garlicky indeed. So I spoon the entire bowl in. There\u2019s also a dish of grated gruy\u00e8re that results in a frankly outrageous amount of cheese-pull photo ops. What fun. <\/p>\n

\"Steak<\/p>\n

Beef bourguignon scattered with garniture grand-m\u00e8re<\/p>\n

EYMERIC CHAT-BON<\/p>\n

Beef bourguignon is dished up at the table from a violently hot cast-iron dish. As soon as the lid is unclamped, the earthy scent arises of Dexter beef shoulder slow cooked with new potatoes and carrots, scattered with garniture grand-m\u00e8re \u2014 a classic garnish of bacon, mushrooms, potatoes and onions. Anna says the beef could be more tender but this is the sort of homely cooking that, in the right circumstances, is precisely what you want from a restaurant. My organic shorthorn sirloin steak is also not as meltingly soft as I hoped but the pepper sauce, not creamy but dark, glossy and spiked with thinly sliced broad beans, is wonderful. The accompanying dauphinoise is superlative, flawless, all the words for perfect. A side of boiled veg is simple, seasonal, not trying to be anything but itself. Dessert is the best course of all: a rich dark ingot of chocolate nemesis and \u00eele flottante \u2014 a towering block of airily soft meringue in surrounds of impeccable cr\u00e8me anglaise, rained on by flaked almonds.<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

L\u2019Escargot Bleu is aiming for 100 per cent self-sufficiency and has its own garden<\/p>\n

L\u2019Escargot Bleu was the first Pasture for Life-certified restaurant in the UK, meaning all its meat comes from farms where the animals are 100 per cent pasture fed. It\u2019s also aiming for 100 per cent self-sufficiency and has its own garden, Monkton, on the outskirts of Edinburgh, where Fred grows the vegetables, herbs, salads and flowers supplying the restaurant, while 100 per cent of the restaurant\u2019s food waste is used to make compost. These are impressive modern achievements that I suspect most don\u2019t know about an institution as old school as L\u2019Escargot Bleu. And the thing about institutions is we too easily forget about them, abandon them to the tourists while we chase the thrill of the new. L\u2019Escargot Bleu is a joyous reminder of why we shouldn\u2019t.
L\u2019Escargot Bleu, 56 Broughton St, Edinburgh, <\/b>lescargotbleu.co.uk<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

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