Review on Baba
Baba is the showpiece restaurant set within The Principal Edinburgh Charlotte Square, a Grade II listed building overlooking one of Edinburgh's prettiest private garden squares. The award-winning hotel consists of seven inter-connecting Georgian townhouses in the heart of the New Town, a UNESCO world heritage site. Having scored a big hit with their Ox and Finch tapas restaurant in the city of Glasgow, Jonathan MacDonald and Daniel Spurr have this time turned their attention to Lebanese cuisine for their second outing.
The stunning interiors have been created by London-based, luxury interior design studio Goddard Littlefair, together with Katherine Arnold and Robbie Bargh from the consultancy Gorgeous Group. It's built around a fictitious character Mr Baba found on a vintage photograph in Turkey and his picture can be seen on the large mural behind the bar, as well as the menus. The main dining room has a distressed décor featuring a kaleidoscope of brilliant jewelled colours, with brightly coloured booths and exotic Middle Eastern rugs decorating the walls.
The kitchen weaves a rich tapestry of flavours with dishes such as orange and cardamom-cured mackerel or venison and peppercorn carpaccio, feta and roasted hazelnuts. From their signature charcoal grill there's lamb shoulder, ptitim, preserved lemon and tahini yoghurt or hake, yellow split peas and burnt urfa butter. Desserts bring on luscious delights such as date sorbet, hibiscus granita and cardamon biscuit or chocolate and cinnamon mille-feuille, orange and tarragon.
The wine list has been thoughtfully curated to complement the dishes and the cocktail menu also offer Levantine creations like Bloody Marian, vodka, harrissa, lemon, ras-el-hanout, sumac, tomato juice, za'atar pickled vegetables and olives.
Cuisine
Lebanese
Restaurant Opening Times
Lunch: 12.00 - 3.00pm
Dinner: 5.00 - 10.00pm
Accepted credit cards
Visa, Master Card, American Express