Voodoo Rooms Edinburgh, Restaurant, Location, Phone, Address, Photo
The Voodoo Rooms Restaurant Edinburgh
New Town Dining at West Register Street, Scotland
The Voodoo Rooms – Edinburgh Restaurant
Address: 19a West Register St, Edinburgh, EH2 2AA
Contact: +44 (0)131 556 7060 / [email protected]
Location: near st Andrew Square at east end of Princes Street
Dining area:
Dining Reviews welcome
The Voodoo Rooms Review : The Voodoo Rooms Rock
The Voodoo Rooms is a gem off the beaten track – yet still in the centre of Edinburgh. Buzzing with satisfied-looking customers though still giving you the feeling of visiting an exclusive club.
When I found myself negotiating a date and time with the Voodoo Rooms I had little idea of where and what kind of place it was. I found it on a street map of Edinburgh and worked out where to park (St Andrew Square, near by) and wondered how one should dress for this place. I decided on black + smart, could have got away with jeans and flats, that was what the waitresses wore, but was fine with my choice.
On arrival we walked through a narrow cobbled side street (past the old RBS building now owned by Romanov). We immediately spotted the Voodoo Rooms above the wonderful Cafe Royale – where we have enjoyed quite a few pre-dinner drinks over the years – and although it is currently clad in scaffolding it was obvious that this is a well-established urban venue.
The lively but not loud pub on the ground floor has wonderful stained glass windows and an open door on the corner that beckons you to enter. However we had our date elsewhere and took the stairs up to the Voodoo Rooms at the next doorway.
Larger Bar area:
It looked a little like it could be a nightclub, with fliers, posters, black-leather-padded walls and nowehere else to go but up to the first floor. I wondered what would meet us at the top. We emerged into a cosy carpeted lobby and were greeted by a friendly waitress. She showed us to our table in a room just off the main bar.
This dining room is high-ceilinged, painted black and ornately decorated with goldern baroque wall fixtures. Along the walls were five black leatherette banquets and gold-rimmed black glass tables. Candles were thankfully lit (we hate going places were they aren’t, in one joint we were told candles aren’t lit until evening).
We had no obvious place to hang our coats, so put them on our seats. The waitress attended us as soon as we were seated, offering to take our drinks orders. Our waitress was very well trained in her knowledge of what wines were on offer. I ordered a house white and my husband Adrian had a glass of chardonnay, both good, and water. The drinks arrived with a carafe of iced water with cucumber slices. You could taste the cucumber throughout the water, lovely and refreshing, though maybe not to everyone’s taste.
The menu is big on starters, soups and sandwiches, not so big on mains, and only gave us two options for dessert and cheesboard.
Adrian chose Open Cajun Grilled Corn Fed Chicken, Avocado & Brie Sandwich (on a ciabatta) for starters. It was a surprise when it arrived, large enough to be a generous main course. I felt it could have been half the size and the same price (£6.90). Still it tasted fine! I ordered Coconut Chill Prawns (£4.90) – small portion. I loved it and could quite happily have ordered it as my main course had I not already spotted something that really took my fancy. The chilli dip was both sweet and hot and creamy with texture all at the same time. It worked well with Adrian’s chips too!
For main course Adrian had Grilled Aberdeen Angus Sirloin Steak (£17.50). There was fish on the Specials Board and the menu, but as we both had had fish for lunch we opted for red meats. Adrian’s steak was cooked to perfection, rare, but what got the most attention on his plate were the cajun cut potatoes. The potatoes were kind of roasted, though not greasy and steamed though not dull – spicy, but not over-poweringly so. Great fresh salad too.
I had the Cajun Spiced Lamb (£13.90) which was out of this world. The lamb came in flakes arranged in medallions. I love lamb, and have this as my default setting when it comes to choosing meat, this dish was right up in my top rankings. My main course was served with potatoes and seasonal crunchy veg.
We both struggled to finish, and knew we would have to extend ourselves even more than usual in order to fit in dessert.
After a chat with waitress number two, who told us a little about the functions at the place – such as Radio 4’s poetry evening – we decided to share a portion of Apple & Rhubarb crumble (£4.50). It tasted fine but the bowl was deep and once you’d past the crumble the dish lost its bite and variety. The ratio needs changing. Thankfully it came with a delicious knob of ice cream (the menu said creme fraiche but someone in the kitchen must have a sixth sense) on top which softened the poignant rhubarb taste.
One thing we didn’t try was one of the wide range of interesting sounding cocktails on offer, but we’ll be back! The Voodoo Rooms is warmly recommended for an informal evening out rather than sporting diamonds and tiara.
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