The Garden Room in The Kimpton Hotel, 38 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, EH2 4HQ
Harden's survey result
Summary
Stuart Ralston is celebrating the tenth year of his Aizle project, although it’s only inhabited the glass-roofed ‘Garden Room’ of the Kimpton Charlotte Square Hotel since 2020. Under chef Ashley Salmon, it wins solid ratings as a “good all-rounder”. It’s a tasting menu only format: the five-course version is £75 per person, and there’s also a seven-course menu for £105 per person.
Summary
Stuart Ralston relocated this ambitious venue from a previous location in 2020, and it continues to go from strength to strength in this modern, glass-roofed ‘Garden Room’ of a hotel. The “excellent tasting menu is very creative and not too expensive by the yardstick of comparable ventures”, with “skillful” preparation of an “impressively eclectic array of ingredients”.
Summary
“A lovely setting in the atrium that’s not too formal and with a pleasant buzz” sets the scene at Stuart Ralston’s bright, glass-roofed hotel dining room (he and his team moved on from a previous venture of the same name in Newington a couple of years ago). All reports acclaim “outstandingly good and inventive cooking” from the six-course menu (going up to £105 per person in 2023 from £85) and “friendly service”.
Summary
This former Newington fixture decamped to the Garden Room at the Kimpton Hotel in July 2020, with early reports suggesting that “the new premises are smarter and suit the food well”. “You might have seen their head chef, Stuart Ralston, on 'Great British Chef' this year, but it's the most welcoming and comfortable place – feel free to wear shorts – whilst the food is superb”. Showcased in a six-course tasting menu entirely baked, fermented etc. in-house, dishes are “quite involved” (one reporter’s meal ran as follows: “Daikon and trout in a wonderful clear tomato consomme; wild halibut with peas, sea vegetables and a cream jus; scallops with pickled lettuce and a poached onion or lamb three ways; a strawberry and sheep’s milk pre-pudding; sorrel, chocolate and fudge and then petits fours”).
For 33 years we've been curating reviews of the UK's most notable restaurant. In a typical year, diners submit over 50,000 reviews to create the most authoritative restaurant guide in the UK. Each year, the guide is re-written from scratch based on this survey (although for the 2021 edition, reviews are little changed from 2020 as no survey could run for that year).
Have you eaten at Aizle?
Owner's description
Aizle opened in Edinburgh in April 2014, offering Edinburgh its first neo-bistro. Co-owned by husband and wife Stuart Ralston and Krystal Goff, the 36-seater restaurant serves a set-menu dinner based on a monthly list of seasonal ingredients selected by chef Stuart. The dining experience begins with a few snacks. Dishes like ajo blanco or puffed beef tendon with smoked bone marrow and oyster leaf. Visually beautiful dishes with sophisticated flavour combinations, like heritage carrot with ox tongue and whipped buttermilk, or locally-reared chicken with Cevennes onions and XO sauce, and matcha tea craquelin with apple and celery salad. Aizle's customer, the open-minded diner, is rewarded with dishes they could not have dreamt of, and certainly won't have ordered before. In essence, the concept is about offering diners an enjoyable evening of interesting food in a relaxed environment.
Prices
 Drinks |
|
|---|---|
| Wine per bottle | £32.00 |
| Filter Coffee | £5.00 |
 Extras |
|
|---|---|
| Bread | £0.00 |
| Service | 10.00% |
Restaurant details
The Garden Room in The Kimpton Hotel, 38 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, EH2 4HQ
Opening hours
| Monday | CLOSED |
| Tuesday | CLOSED |
| Wednesday | 5 pm‑8:30 pm |
| Thursday | 5 pm‑8:30 pm |
| Friday | 5 pm‑8:30 pm |
| Saturday | 5 pm‑8:30 pm |
| Sunday | 5 pm‑8:30 pm |
