Restaurant review: The Brig, Queensferry Rd, Edinburgh

The Brig

Cramond Bridge

Queensferry Road

0131-339 4350, www.cramondbrig.com

Rating: 7/10

For Edinburghers, Cramond has long been a consistent disappointment when it comes to food and drink, particularly with regard to the area’s two pubs. If the Cramond Brig has had its travails, they have been negligible when compared to the Cramond Inn, which has one of the most beautiful sites in Scotland but is probably the worst pub-with-food I have ever visited.

With its range of horrible microwaved meals and beers most people have never heard of, it’s a genuine shocker – it’s little wonder many locals boycott it, and it’s a pity that a succession of local bids to buy this underperforming gem from its Yorkshire-based owners have apparently been rebuffed.

Anyway, I digress. The Cramond Brig has long been better than the Cramond Inn, but in the Brig’s regular downtimes it has been like a beauty contest between two formidably ugly sisters, with the prize being a dance with the least hideous of the siblings.

Several locals have been quick to praise the new Brig, although some have also suggested it’s best to avoid lunchtimes at the weekend, when it seems every young family in north-west Edinburgh has decamped to the pub to take advantage of its playroom and generally family-focused approach.

Having been there and done that, I decided to visit during the week, when I was confronted by a very large, airy pub that’s clearly set up for food rather than booze. The fellow customers were an interesting lot too: a mix of business folk looking for a quick lunch and a group of mothers (without children) who had wandered along the footpath beside the Water of Leith and come up to the Brig for a natter and a lunchtime glass of wine.

The whole place was a little bland, but had an air of informality and purpose-built comfort – a little like a souped-up Beefeater pub. For many locals, it may have lost some of its old cosiness, but to judge from our visit the upside is a greater focus on the food. This was evident from the speed and friendliness of the service we experienced.

The menu has also been whittled down from the old version, which was a little too expansive for its own good, and although there is the predictable presence of the usual pub grub staples – nachos, steak and ale pie, Thai curry – there was a smattering of more interesting options too. We decided to go with these, so I started with the confit duck leg while Heddy went for the courgette and herb fritters.

Apart from the absence of the promised dauphinoise potatoes (instead I got some very tasty dauphinoise sweet potatoes), my perfectly cooked duck was almost faultless, right down to the fact that the chef hadn’t overdone the maple syrup glaze. The huge pair of courgette and herb fritters across the table also disappeared with a rapidity that spoke volumes, with Heddy later saying she would have been happy just to have this starter for her lunch.

As this wasn’t an option, given our mission to rove across the menu, her next dish was the biggest bowl of roasted butternut squash risotto I’ve ever seen, and one even a bloater like myself would struggle to finish.

Risotto is about the most failsafe guide to a chef’s ability and consistency you can find, and this time the Brig kitchen was found wanting, with the flavouring of the squash, sun-dried tomatoes, asparagus and pesto just right, but the risotto itself slightly overcooked, producing a heavy texture that was exacerbated by the addition of too much olive oil. It wasn’t even close to an inedible disaster, but it was a definite step down from our starters.

Luckily my pan-friend fillet of sea bass, green beans, new potatoes, cherry tomatoes and (insufficient) pesto went some way to righting the boat. Well cooked, with nicely al dente beans, this was a simple, tasty dish that was served in a sensible quantity.

It was, to be honest, all I could do to even contemplate eating pudding – though this was well beyond my lunching partner, who was wondering whether a month-long diet might repair the damage to her waistline that had been wrought by one lunch at the Brig. As Heddy wasn’t ordering, I went for the white chocolate and lime cheesecake with mixed berry compote, which came close but didn’t quite pass Go. A solid wedge of decent-quality mascarpone was a very good start, but some more lime and a little more butter in the base would have elevated what was otherwise a competently produced pub staple.

Yet that cheesecake had one thing in common with the rest of our meal, which is that it was remarkably good value. Indeed, with most of the starters and all of the puddings costing under a fiver and the majority of the main courses under a tenner, this is exactly the sort of place where the long-suffering residents of Cramond are clearly feeling ready to place their faith.

The Brig isn’t flashy and it isn’t couthie or quaint, but if you’re just looking for decent pub grub at an affordable price and service with a smile, at long last Cramond has somewhere that fits the bill.

• The Brig, Cramond Bridge, Queensferry Road, Edinburgh (0131-339 4350, www.cramondbrig.com)

• Bill please: Starters £3.85-£5.25 Main courses £8.55-£18.95 Puddings £4.25-£4.95 Cheese £6.95