It's a monster drive from Baddidarroch to Edinburgh but I admit it feels good to have the car pointing South again. A last minute change of plan has given us a two night stay in Edinburgh and we both agreed on how to use our new found free evening: steak night. But asking Twitter where to get a good steak in Edinburgh, there was no real consensus. Kyloe was suggested by some and on checking the website it proclaimed itself as 'Edinburgh's first gourmet steak restaurant'. Well, I'm sold then, Kyloe it is.
Located at the end of Princes Street in the Rutland Hotel, Kyloe has taken the steak theme to heart with cow hide seating and, if you like cows, amusing artwork on the wall. Indeed, no one can accuse Kyloe of taking itself too seriously, there's half a cow poking out of the façade of the building while the other half, the rear, protrudes its rump into the dining room. Staff meanwhile excelled in delivering friendly approachable service and made us feel most welcome; everybody smiled too, which can only make the experience more enjoyable. The post dinner comment card invites you to 'fillet in' so this is very much a place where you can let your hair down and have a good time.
The menu is a touch above many steakhouses in the cuts they offer that include amongst others Bavette, Onglet and Feather steak as well as the usual rumps, sirloins, fillets and T-bones, while ingredients are largely, possibly entirely Scottish. The beef is Angus, dry aged 21 days for the most part, though there's a rump steak available that's 45 day aged.
Of course, the challenge they are going to face is in comparison: our home territory of London is now blessed with many a great steak house, and it will be impossible not to compare. That said, prices at Kyloe are somewhat cheaper than what you are now paying in London for the same fare and this needs to be taken in to account.
Located at the end of Princes Street in the Rutland Hotel, Kyloe has taken the steak theme to heart with cow hide seating and, if you like cows, amusing artwork on the wall. Indeed, no one can accuse Kyloe of taking itself too seriously, there's half a cow poking out of the façade of the building while the other half, the rear, protrudes its rump into the dining room. Staff meanwhile excelled in delivering friendly approachable service and made us feel most welcome; everybody smiled too, which can only make the experience more enjoyable. The post dinner comment card invites you to 'fillet in' so this is very much a place where you can let your hair down and have a good time.
The menu is a touch above many steakhouses in the cuts they offer that include amongst others Bavette, Onglet and Feather steak as well as the usual rumps, sirloins, fillets and T-bones, while ingredients are largely, possibly entirely Scottish. The beef is Angus, dry aged 21 days for the most part, though there's a rump steak available that's 45 day aged.
Of course, the challenge they are going to face is in comparison: our home territory of London is now blessed with many a great steak house, and it will be impossible not to compare. That said, prices at Kyloe are somewhat cheaper than what you are now paying in London for the same fare and this needs to be taken in to account.
outside the restaurant
Starters offer a number of decent options and despite scallop overload, Kyloe's offering of Shetland scallops with braised baby gem lettuce, bacon lardons, peas and onions actually sounds reasonably good, but I can't. Local oysters and seafood cocktail are not enough of a test but lobster tempura sounds ideal. When it arrives, it's pretty good, the lobster, from down the road at North Berwick (home of The Lobster Shack) is of course good as Scottish lobster always is, and the ginger dressing adds a nice tang. If there's a criticism, it's that the batter is just a little soft.
Lobster tempura: North Berwick lobster, pickled vegetables, soy & ginger dipping sauce
Spoiled for choice on the steaks then, but a T-bone is not so often seen on menus, such that I couldn't resist (500grm, £32). Accompanying this were skinny fries and a red wine and Stilton sauce. It was pretty good, my dining companion certainly enjoyed his steak with no complaints. I'd note two things where I thought things could though be a little better: first seasoning, this should have been a lot bolder to really bring out the flavours. Second, possibly being picky here, but it felt that a higher temperature grill would impart a significantly enhanced char to the meat whereas in fact there was little by way of char at all here; I wonder if the charcoal burning Jospers in London have conditioned me towards that extra little bit of smokiness too that's imparted to the meat during cooking. Not to get carried away however, I did enjoy it.
T bone steak
and skinny fries
With a decent house red (£20) and sides hardly costing the earth (£2.50 for most) a full house when we were there testifies to local popularity. Lucky enough to have eaten at London's best however, it would be wrong not to acknowledge that there's a gap in quality between the two, for there is. Kyloe might not care for London is not exactly close by (and so a substitute product), and Kyloe's prices are lower, so if the question is value, the waters are muddied. Relevance can therefore be debated but Kyloe are actually very close to delivering Edinburgh a truly great steak house, they just have to take the final step, but that of course is only if they want to, business is doing just fine as is.
Visit Kyloe website
Previously we visited The Albannach, Lochinver
Next stop: Castle Terrace
Location map for Kyloe
Visit Kyloe website
Previously we visited The Albannach, Lochinver
Next stop: Castle Terrace
Location map for Kyloe
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