Food review: Restoration Yard cafe, Dalkeith

Restoration Cafe in Dalkeith Country Park

Just a few miles beyond the border of Edinburgh but a million miles away from city stress is Restoration Yard within the beautiful Dalkeith Country Park. It’s walking distance from the centre of Dalkeith, or if you bring the car there is plenty of parking.

Restoration Yard is the restored stables and courtyard of Dalkeith Palace (above).  Here you’ll find a lifestyle shop, deli and café, a restaurant and a wellbeing space. For active kids there is Fort Douglas, a wonderland for adventurous kids with climbing walls, slides and bridges. If you have kids you could spend the day here and if Mr Foodie was just a few years younger he would’ve spent all day at Fort Douglas! (there’s also lots of woodland walks for adults and dogs too)

A wander around the shop is a must.  It’s full of gift items, clothing and nice things for the home, such as crockery scented candles and artisan food & drink.

There is a small cafe beside the food shop for light snacks, however we needed something a little more substantial and so a visit to the larger glass walled Restoration Cafe next door was in order.

Quite a large space, clean and comfortable, the cafe was all decked out for Christmas.

We were seated quickly and offered a jug of water, which came flavoured with cucumber.

Menu

They have a reasonable selection of wines by the glass – including Prosecco, there’s also local beer and cider (Born in the Borders, Tempest, Thistly Cross), local gins (NB gin, Edinburgh gin) and nearby whisky (Glenkinchie) with other libations from further afield.

It was a chilly day and we needed some warming up.  So a Flat white and Earl Grey, which came as loose leaf in a massive teapot with a really strong bergamot aroma!  The teas and coffees are by Edinburgh Tea & Coffee Co.

In no time at all our order was delivered – we had originally planned to visit for breakfast but if you visit for lunch, like us, there are still a few breakfasty dishes on the menu like the eggs Benedict with smoked bacon, which came on potato scones rather than muffins or crumpets.

Two nicely cooked tattie scones with fairly crisp bacon, a delicious hollandaise and two poached eggs. It was a good brunch dish but the two eggs were both overcooked and hard-boiled.

I thought it would be rude to visit the land of the Buccleuch Estate without trying a Buccleuch Beef Sandwich. Served on a warm baguette with caramelised onions and a side salad. Tender with just the right amount of fat for flavour. A spoonful of horseradish sauce made this perfect. 😍

Just look at the side of those chips, or should that be wedges? Fluffy interior and crisp outside.  A must-have side for the Buccleuch Beef baguette. Yum yum all round.

Puddings

Raspberry Creme brûlée with shortbread. Creamy custard then a layer raspberry jam underneath a crunchy caramelised layer of sugar. Can’t not mention the buttery shortbread mmm. ❤️

For Mr Foodie, Heather Honey Cheesecake with Blackcurrant sorbet. A fairly dainty creamy cheesecake, quite sweet and with a fruity blackcurrant sorbet.

Overall

A very pleasant afternoon meal. We were seated quickly, offered water on arrival and our food appeared not long after. Service was friendly and attentive – we were asked if we wanted extra drinks and if we’d enjoyed our dishes. The food was very good and worth travelling for. There have separate breakfast, lunch and Christmas menus, they also do afternoon tea for £18pp, and they are licensed, so you can also have a Prosecco afternoon tea for £24pp.

If you’re looking for somewhere to stretch your legs not too far from Edinburgh with filling food before and, or, after then we heartily recommend Restoration Yard.

Toilets are upstairs, modern and well looked after.

Music: easy-listening covers of Nirvana and Lana Del Ray etc.!

TL; DR

+ Large, attractive open cafe/restaurant
+ Provided with cucumber water on arrival
+ Loose leaf tea
+ Excellent beef sandwich
+ Massive chunky chips
+ Good service

– Eggs were overdone

Where

Dalkeith Country Park
Via King’s Gate
Dalkeith
Edinburgh
Scotland
EH22 1ST

Getting there by public transport

The 3, 33 and 49 Lothian buses all go from central Edinburgh to Dalkeith town centre (45 – 55 mins plus a 15 min walk)

Eskbank station (25 minutes from Waverley) is a 33 minute walk away.

Opening Times

Contact / Social Media

The phone number for Restoration Café is 0131 322 2572

Instagram: @restorationyard
Twitter: @RestorationDCP
Facebook: @RestorationYard
Website: www.restorationyard.com