Lunch club at The Magnum Bar & Restaurant
The Magnum bar and restaurant on Edinburgh’s Albany St is a venue where I’ve enjoyed drinks on countless occasions. After hearing kind words regarding their food it seemed a logical decision to make The Magnum our second lunch club destination. The traditional bar area of the Magnum is to the left of the entrance and the restaurant area is to the right. I’ve known some people to be put off visiting The Magnum by the name and exterior, but if you think The Magnum is slightly pompous or imposing, nothing could be further from the truth. I find The Magnum to be one of the friendliest and most welcoming bars in the city of Edinburgh.
The lunch menu is available Monday - Saturday, 12pm - 2.30pm and offers two courses for £9.95 or three for £11.95. The bar menu is available for either lunch or dinner and apart from the steak, all dishes are comfortably under £10. The dinner menu leaps in price and, like the rest of The Magnum’s offerings, takes a very traditional Scottish theme including venison, rack of lamb and sea bass.
I was the only member of the lunch club to take the two course lunch. A shortage of beef chilli and coriander sausages prompted honey and mustard replacements. Everything was delivered in good order; although is halving the sausages to cook them cheating somewhat? A chicken caesar salad (£7.95) from the bar snacks menu elicited an overwhelmingly positive response from its recipient, and despite anchovies not being my favoured taste I was impressed with the forkful offered to me. The final main course our group ordered was tempura battered haddock and chips. The fish was delightfully fresh and flaky, but I thought the batter could have been crispier - it was overly bound to the fish.
Apart from the humongous fish and chips, the mains were somewhat lighter than we were expecting - especially the caesar salad, which really needs a starter and dessert for it to be a viable main. I thought my cranachan cheesecake dessert was suffering an identity crisis - stuck somewhere between a traditional cranachan, gateau and the advertised cheesecake.
The food didn’t always excel, but the super service and easy-going nature of The Magnum makes it a fair choice for drinks, lunch or dinner.
I’ll end the blog post with quotes from the lunch club:
Charming bar with food which isn’t exceptional, but is hugely enjoyable
Excellent fresh tasty ingredients at reasonable prices
Understated style with lovely food
The Magnum Bar and Restaurant is located at 1 Albany Street, Edinburgh, EH1 3PY
Telephone: 2021 557 4366
