The Edinburgh Blog

The Dogs occupies the former central Edinburgh premises of Tijuana Yacht Club. I remember one Christmas dinner where we broke with the traditional poor turkey and creme brulees in favour of a filling, well cooked Mexican meal. So in some ways I was sad to see Tijuana Yacht Club depart. In its place has opened the Dogs, a restaurant owned and where tables are served (at least when we visited) by David Ramsden. As you walk upstairs two dog statues and numerous dog silhouettes are encountered. The canine theme continues with a huge dog painting behind the bar.

We were seated in the second room of the Dogs, adjacent to the main dining area. Cutlery and napkins inside a glass and a jug of water were delivered to our table without the need to request. For starter we shared a small portion of roast pumpkin and sage barley risotto (£4.95) . My dining partner was happy enough by the dish’s simplicity and lack of seasoning. I found it rather bland and left my share at a few forkfuls. More enjoyable were the liquid refreshments: bottles of Peroni (£2.95 each) and glasses of Prosecco (£4.40).

Many of the Dogs’ main courses are for two people. A cottage pie with a huge pile of red cabbage (£14.85) was shipped to our table on a silver tray. An accompanying side order of green beans (£2.15) was welcome. Again my dining partner was delighted by the simple tastes of this dish. Again I’d have preferred some of form seasoning and perhaps the mince could have been cooked a little longer. However I wholeheartedly got stuck into this dish and devoured the plentiful meat, delicious mashed potato and refreshing red cabbage.

Although comfortably full I couldn’t resist a chocolate trifle (£3.80). This was chocolate and cream overload. Judging by Ramsden’s enthusiastic introduction to this dish it’s clearly his favourite. I loved it. The indulgent simplicity made my spoon scoop up every last piece. My destruction of the chocolate trifle seemed only fair given my surrender of the starter.

The Dogs offers hearty, homemade and vanilla cooking. I’d describe their dishes as creations which any person with a degree of competency in a kitchen could produce. Judging by how busy the Dogs were on the Wednesday we visited, this plain and honest appeal has certainly found favour with the folk of Edinburgh.

The menu may at times be limited; too limited for one couple behind us who left after scanning the A4 sheet. But based on our evidence the dishes won’t offend anyone and neither will the prices. The Dogs’ day menu, on paper at least, seems something of a steal with fish and chips under a fiver and, chicken pie and mash just over. Perhaps give the day menu a try and decide on dinner after that.

Overall the Dogs is a solid enough and slightly different choice for Edinburgh city centre. So this is one going to the Dogs, which needs no complaint.

The Dogs is located at 110 Hanover Street, Edinburgh, EH2 1DR.
Telephone: 2021 220 2021