Metro Restaurant, Apex Hotel Edinburgh, Grassmarket, Building, Phone, Architect
Metro Restaurant – Apex Hotel Edinburgh
Metro Edinburgh : Dining Review, Apex Hotel, Scotland
Metro Apex Hotel
Make a reservation at Apex Edinburgh: [email protected]
See Metro restaurant website for opening times www.metrorestaurant.co.uk
Metro Restaurant: +44 (0)131 474 3466
Heights Restaurant
Apex Hotel, 31 Grassmarket, Edinburgh, EH1 2HS
Heights Restaurant Edinburgh: image from Leonardo
Scottish, Licensed – located at the top of the Apex Hotel
Contact Heights Restaurant: +44 (0)131 473 7156
Apex City Hotel, Edinburgh incl. agua restaurant
Review of Metro Edinburgh
Intro
The introduction to Metro was warm and informative. I was guided up to the mezzanine bar.
Heights Restaurant + Metro Restaurant Edinburgh: image from Leonardo
Design
Metro Edinburgh is made by the huge volume of space, rising and descending from the street. The large impression is augmented by the dynamism of levels – angled views from mezzanine bar to ground and basement dining and across to entry and reception. Metro’s spaces have a modern metropolitan feel unusual and refreshing for Edinburgh.
The restaurant entry is shared with the Apex Hotel entry and the bar especially feels part of the hotel as opposed to a specific destination. The Metro restaurant concept is backed up with clean detailing, uncluttered design and subtle mixes of colours and materials.
No larger image:
Apex Hotel Edinburgh © Adrian Welch
Entry to Metro Edinburgh is via a sharp right beyond the street frontage glass doors. Here one is met with a vista that immediately informs you of the whole space – basement, ground and mezzanine; here one is greeted and checked off in the bookings list at the street end of the drinks dispense.
The latter area acts as a focus for the room and also hints at relaxation with its mini-bar looking out over the triple-height restaurant. At the other end of the room the stair joining the floors is boldly sculptural and pleasing to the eye, especially in the evening with good light modelling.
The Metro Restaurant mezzanine bar can also be accessed from the hotel reception which is reached by going straight on and up from the entry doors: it acts as a transition space between hotel and restaurant customers. The bar is simple, rather low with ordinary products taking too much visual importance. Metro Edinburgh’s design is augmented however with a good selection of furniture, especially in the restaurant below.
Materials
The palette is wonderfully dark and rich: black benches and radiators, dark timber floor and soffit, with white and red accents. Thankfully the restaurant has its own character and is distinct from the Apex Hotel itself. The dark palette is occasionally contrasted with lighter shades such as pale mosaic used for both toilets and dispense bar; the red tables don’t exactly match the crimson of the carpet but the overall effect is strong.
Apex Hotel Edinburgh: image from Apex Hotels
Metro’s mezzanine bar glows from below and beckons you up; the leather furniture shares the same dark brown colour as the wooden restaurant chairs and indeed the metro logo, menus and website.
Food
Hors d’Oeuvre
Black & green marinated olives, bread, butter: presented in a simple wide white bowl
Starters
well-presented, delicious, fresh salmon drizzled with cracked peppercorns and well-balanced dressing to a good salad base.
Goats cheese with chargrilled vegetables that were crunchy: tasty combination and good-szed portion like the salmon.
Apex Hotel Edinburgh © Adrian Welch
Main
Fillet of beef with chips and beef tomato dressed with rosemary sprig column
Fillet cooked the requested amount which is more rare than common but could have done with a sauce or gravy. I ordered a green salad after it arrived to provide a contrast: this came promptly.
Lamb steak on the bone and mustard mash – lovely, succulent and works well with rosemary gravy.
Pudding
Mousse: Chewy, well-presented but too subtle contrast in textures and taste.
Lemon and lime cheesecake was also rather mild.
Service & Impressions
BAR: Service at Metro Edinburgh’s Bar was a little slow but apologetic. The bar felt more part of the Apex hotel than the restaurant dining experience: glasses were sadly conventional but my wife’s G&T came with lemon, ice and swizzle stick: this should be a standard offer by any barworker. Materials and ashtray good.
Apex Hotel Edinburgh: image from Apex Hotels
TOILETS: clean and stylish, light grey mosaic as in restaurant recesses, with discreet concealed lighting using a brushed steel reflector that forms a sill above the sinks. Simple and spacious, a successful area for Metro.
RESTAURANT: Service was generally prompt, and the street level view is excellent. The window seats can be a little dark where behind façade piers. Lack of Cloakroom tells you this is not a fine dining restaurant, which it doesn’t pretend to be. Music tends to be invasive and needs to be turned down a fraction, though selection seemed appropriate.
Apex Hotel Edinburgh: image from Apex Hotels
The Metro menu was fine, and much easier to read in it’s new chocolate bourbon-shaped book format compared to the old plastic ones. Descriptions of the food are simple and perfunctory, tying in with the clean lines of the architecture.
Plates are simply elegant, salt & pepper and candle cool, cutlery and glasses well-designed.
Metro Restaurant, Edinburgh: Summary
I really enjoyed my meal at the Metro restaurant due to the mix of good design and good food. The restaurant is contemporary and bold with lots of potential for people watching.
Metro restaurant, Apex Hotel, is located on the south side of Grassmarket, towards the west end.
Apex Hotel Edinburgh: room image from Leonardo
Metro Restaurant, Apex Hotel, 31-35 Grassmarket, Edinburgh, Scotland
+44 (0)131 474 3466
Metro Edinburgh is a triple-height modern white-painted timber-floored basement restaurant with street-level bar by Ian Springford Architects: opened 2000. The sense of space at Metro – great views and sensitive use of materials – is impressive, and a big jump up from the mundane restaurant at the top of the building.
Apex Hotel – Grassmarket context
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