Marilyn T.
Yelp
Timberyard came recommended by one of our servers from Ledbury. They were pretty booked up, but we were able to get a 9:30pm Tuesday reservation for 1 of the 2 nights we were in Edinburgh.
The setting is very unique with lots of wood, high ceilings, and a sort of barn/loft feeling. There are 4, 6, and 8 course options with pescetarian and vegetarian versions available. Since we got there at the last seating, they had only the 4 and 6 course. We opted for the 6 course (£65 per person).
To start:
- Malt bread with whipped compressed butter and herbs
- Seed cracker with roe, onion, and a burnt apple sauce
- Mushroom and tarragon broth over raw mushrooms: a bit under-salted for me. The bowl sat in a larger bowl of porcini mushrooms, and I wished I could have gone for some of those
Drinks: £12 each.
1. Tomato, stout, peat, rye: very peaty and spirit driven with light tomato flavor - very interesting, but you need to like peaty whisky (which I do)
2. Pickled nectarine, spruce, mead, whisky: lighter, slightly fruity and effervescent, probably the sweetest of the ones we tried. This is a good one to start with
3. Beetroot, damson, lovage, and rye: it looked like beet juice, but it was well balanced; the lovage added an almost medicinal herb flavor
4. Bramble, egg yolk, vinegar, eau de vie: you could taste the vinegar like a light shrub. The yolk was interesting since most drinks use egg white
We also did some wines by the glass, which come in 125 ml pours. They have a pretty extensive wine list with a lot of wines I've never heard of before.
Food:
1. Smoked eel: served warm, with beets, horseradish, and buttermilk
2. Raw scallop: diced with apple, topped with a bright green parsley sauce, sliced celeriac, and smoked roe. This was a good crudo dish
3a. Plaice: with oyster leaf and oyster, tons of flavor
3b. Mallard: the other option for this course, with fermented grains and chantarelles. The mallard was medium rare, a bit gamey for me, but it was good
4. Duck egg: with shaved black truffles, artichoke, smoked butter, and mushrooms. This was definitely my favorite dish. The egg was soft cooked and runny, and I wiped up every last drop of this dish with my bread
5a. Trout: very tender, served with broccoli and herbs - a lighter dish
5b. Beef: super tender, medium rare, very well seasoned. It came with various carrots, kale, and cabbage. I preferred the beef for this course, but both were excellent
6. Berries: with noble fir snow, fruit leather, ice cream, buttermilk. This had lots of textures and colors and was a nice lighter dish
The main course portions were substantial and larger than I expected, which was great since I liked the beef a lot. I left very satisfied but not overly full.
There was a lot of attention to detail - all of the glassware (Riedel, interesting shapes) and dishes were carefully chosen and complemented the drinks/dishes well. They were also great about refilling my water (complimentary sparkling water!), which I was basically chugging after a long day of travel. All of the cocktails were innovative and used interesting seasonal ingredients in unusual combinations. I was very happy for some whisky based cocktails after being in London (so much gin..) and Dublin.
Since we were the last seating and opted for the 6 course, our meal was a bit rushed, especially for the earlier courses, but pacing got better in the end. We were the last table left, but they still offered tea, coffee, cheese at the end, so it didn't feel like we were being kicked out.