Like most Brits, one of my favourite ever meals has got to be the roast dinner. I mean a proper roast dinner as well, not like some pretend version with steamed vegetables or only two side dishes going. I was totally spoiled as a kid because my dad's roast dinners are pretty much the best going and we had them almost every weekend, so I think I became a little spoilt.
Not much can beat a fantastic home cooked roast, but now Sean and I live on our own we don't tend to go to the effort of cooking one for ourselves that often as it's such a lot of work for two people and we don't want to half-arse it! So instead we resign ourselves to waiting eagerly for invites from Sean's parents to head round on a Sunday, or the rare occasions we treat ourselves to lunch out.
HOWEVER, not all restaurant roast dinners are created equally. I'm sure you know the drill - maybe the gravy is too watery, the meat has too much gristle or maybe they've decided to just serve fondant potatoes instead of roast potatoes because they're trying to be 'hip'...NO. I want a roast the way it was intended to be, thanks very much.
Luckily, I was invited to try out the roast dinner at Kyloe recently and now I will never need to look elsewhere again. It was phenomenal you guys - really, I'm sad looking through these photos now knowing that I don't have a roast dinner like that waiting for me at this very moment.
The Restaurant
Kyloe itself is known for being a pretty darn swanky steak restaurant - it gets great reviews for exactly that, and the service and environment match the great Trip Advisor score. As I was escorted to my table I was already giddy with excitement over the fact that each table had its own individual wall coat hooks (is this a common thing? it should be!) and sitting by the window with the view down Princes Street was a dream.
The decor is quite similar to Gaucho if you've ever been - lots of wood and trendy cowhide, maybe predictable for a steak place but it's a good kind of predictable - it feels like a cool place to spend a few hours.
The Sunday Roast Experience*
Kyloe calls the Sunday roast it offers an experience and cor blimey, they are not wrong. Officially the best roast dinner in Scotland of 2016, you can opt to serve 2, 4 or 6 people family style - £25 per person for the group options or £65 for two of you (you're getting a roast fillet of beef to share after all).
The aim is to provide a 'home' roast dinner experience in a restaurant environment and that's exactly what you get - and exactly what you want.
The Food
No slices of beef sitting out on a warm plate for ten minutes in this place, no way! Instead your delicious hunk o' meat is brought out to your table and carved and served right in front of you (and it's the dreamiest amount of rare - perfectly cooked!)
Family style sides are dished out onto the table so you help yourself to duck fat roasted potatoes, pan gravy, roasted organic root vegetables, creamed cabbage and horseradish cream. When I say help yourself I mean help yourself - I took Sean along as well as his dad and step-mum and Sean can put it away, but we still had huge spoonfuls of everything left once everyone had served up their ideal portions!
The biggest compliment when out for food is that there is blissful silence at the table and, trust me, we did not talk for about twenty minutes other than to say things along the lines of "Oh my gawwwwd this is so delicious!" and "best roast dinner I've had in ages!" You can really tell that Kyloe is a steak restaurant - they know their beef and it is good beef. Like, really good.
The Sunday roast 'experience' doesn't miss a trick, which means that those of you who would always clear your plate and still have room for a nice stodgy pudding made by your mum, grandma (or possibly just the supermarket in town) won't be disappointed! Each roast dinner is followed up with a traditionally British pud to share and we were delighted when a steaming fruit crumble and scoops of ice-cream were brought out to us at the end of our meal.
I'm not always a crumble fan as sometimes it reminds me a little too much of horrendous primary school dinners back in the day, but this one was a revelation - the fruit filling was tart and sweet and hot (like me, wink wink) and the crumble on top was buttery and crunchy and delicious. Plus proper vanilla ice-cream - what more could a gal want on a Sunday afternoon?
Would I go again?
You bet! I've always had Kyloe down as a pretty pricy dinner option for special occasions only, but the Sunday roast is £25 each for a HUGE portion of DELICIOUS food and that is more than reasonable as far as I'm concerned!
If you want an avant-garde Heston style take on a roast dinner this isn't one for you, but if you're like me and you just really want a delicious, fantastic quality, home style roast dinner with your nearest and dearest, you need to hit Kyloe up. ASAP.
*We were invited to enjoy a complimentary dinner at Kyloe to review the Sunday Roast experience, but all opinions, photos and mouthwatering is my own!
