Catriona C.
Yelp
Had a very romantic getaway in Melrose last weekend to celebrate another year joining the party. Whilst in town, I wanted to go to a restaurant. Amongst a plethora of pubs and hotel restaurants, it was nice to find one that was neither. The menu sounded pretty delicious as well, with plenty of choices for a non-meat eater. This was the ONE.
But, in reality, this is a 2-3 star review.
My starter was a combination of sweet herring and crawfish. I haven't had crawfish for ages, and the combination of the two was pretty complimentary. The boy had scallops and black pudding - his first scallop experience, that tasted somewhat fishy. Later, it seems that they might not have been so fresh :(
My main was a baked aubergine stuffed with ratatouille with creamed potatoes. whilst the boy had chicken stuff with haggis. Creamed potatoes - while the boy thought it the flavour was more akin to smash, I wasn't too particular won by the texture - too smooth for me to really feel like I am eating potato... but that is down to your own tastes, of course. What let me down, was the ratatouille. I love this dish, and for it to come snuggled in aubergine was an opportunity too good to miss... but the ratatouille included broccoli, red pepper and parsnip. Now the latter two I am fine about, but brocoli is something I can't eat for digestive reasons. I'll usually check if a vegetable dish includes broccoli as I dont' want to eat it and you don't want to see the results if I do, but in a dish so well known to not have it, I didn't ask. And there was tons. Although the ratatouille itself was nice enough, it was spoiled as a result, so much so that my partner and I didn't bother to stay for dessert. A place where we had high hopes, but disappointment in the delivery.