The Edinburgh Blog

First Coast, on Dalry Road in Edinburgh, has an excellent website on which this eaterie is billed as a ‘ neighbourhood bistro for the west of Edinburgh’. It certainly has fair competition with Dalry Roads decent restaurant selection, including the excellent ‘La Partenope’ (Italian) and ‘Sushiya’ (Japanese).

Last night I headed there for dinner around 7pm. The staff are young and friendly; the restaurant has a nice feel too it with bricked walls, nice tables and good lighting. We hadn’t booked, but luckily they had a spare table for two. I would highly recommend booking into First Coast though as that was the only non-reserved table - by the time we left around 8.30pm, the place was full!

The menu is compact and includes a few starters and many salads that can be served as a main course. Two fish dishes: Pan fried sea breem fillet and ling fillet can be found along with two meat dishes: Aberdeen Angus steak and Chermoula crusted Chicken breast. However, the specials menu was of more interest to me, and it was a difficult choice between the Pork belly or Cod Fillet. I eventually went for the panfried cod fillet (£12.95). While waiting for this our table was served with two very good bread rolls.

The cod fillet was served in good time and had a bed of roasted baby potatoes, with the cod on top - covered with a black olive tapenade. The dish was quite rich, but I found it tasty stuff. The potatoes were cooked and seasoned just right, with the fish of good quality and the moisture was spot on. The tapenade was good too and the whole portion size was fairly decent. For desert I resisted the temptation for the chocolate brownie and creme brulee and instead opted for the Jam Roly Poly (£3.95). This was served with a generous portion of custard and was absolutely delicious; served nice and hot. Although, for the money, I didn’t find the portion size particularly generous.

Overall I like First Coast. I’m not sure if bistro is the best description of it: most things about it, including the prices, suggest a restaurant to me. Their fish dishes seem fairly decent, and most mains looked to be of good quality. Their wine list is fairly limited - with two whites and two reds served by the glass, and a few more choices by the bottle. It would be nice to see their specials list get a little more varied - the last time I was there I think the specials menu was the same. However, it holds it’s own in the Dalry Road restaurant scene and First Coast definately deserves a visit when in this part of town. Check out their website for more information, including menu and pictures. I wish more restaurants in Edinburgh would create such an informative web presence.