Emma Treat yourself to a filling Sunday roast with sea views
It was a bright sunny afternoon when we tried out the brand new Sunday lunch concept at the Craigleith Restaurant within the Macdonald Marine Hotel & Spa in North Berwick.
We settled down at our table overlooking the West Links Golf Course and the Firth of Forth, looking towards the island of Craigleith and Bass Rock. What a view!
The new Sunday lunch menu offers a choice of a roast main course (£20), main course and pudding (£22) or all three courses, (£25) and the starter, appetiser course is a massive buffet spread. So you can take it light or feast, the choice is yours. We opted for the full show of course!
Menu
Appetisers
The experience, as this is more than just sitting at a table, starts with the selection of appetisers in the middle of the room. The restaurant has an array of goodies from seafood to cured meats and cheeses, salads, terrines and I must say superb Scotch eggs. There is fresh bread and butter too.
If last night is still making itself known, you can also rustle up a Bloody Mary!
The main courses
Do you have any room left? If you have, for your main, you can choose 21 Day Aged Scottish beef with roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding; 1/2 Roast Chicken with sage & onion stuffing and roast potatoes; market fish of the day with buttered spinach, parsley new potatoes and hollandaise sauce; or a vegetarian choice of potato and ricotta gnocchi with courgettes, peas and broccoli.
Mr Foodie picked the roast chicken, whilst I went traditional with beef.
Mmm tender beef, fluffy potatoes and a large Yorkie! But wait…
As if there hadn’t already been enough food, bowls of broccoli, carrots and parsnips plus cauliflower cheese were also served at the side.
Wow eh? I couldn’t finish the beef! Two thick slices of beef alongside all the trimmings was just too much. The beef had a couple of fatty bits but was cooked how I liked, so I was happily fed and full. 👌 The chicken was moist and tender, so Mr Foodie was happy as well. We were beaten so couldn’t even manage a pudding!
But if you have space the desserts sounded and, by spying on other tables, looked tempting. Save some space for banana sticky toffee pudding (we saw this delivered to a number of diners); vanilla cheesecake with raspberry sorbet; Creme brûlée and shortbread; or an artisan cheese plate.
Overall
I’m so glad we climbed Berwick Law to build up an appetite before this because after all that food we needed a lie-down! The appetisers were delicious, remember to get a scotch egg! Just don’t overdo it, definitely don’t have breakfast beforehand, as the main course portion is big and you wouldn’t want to miss pudding. You probably won’t have room for dinner later either!
Service was friendly and prompt, and the toilets were very nice.
Note though, that a 12.5% service charge is automatically added to your bill.
TL; DR
+ so much food!
+ Roasts very tasty
+ Bloody Mary station
+ Great sea view
+ Staff courteous
+ Toilets in good shape
– 12.5% service charge
Where
Macdonald Marine Hotel & Spa, Cromwell Road, North Berwick EH39 4LZ
Located a 15 minute walk from the centre of town, or a 10 minute walk from North Berwick train station, the hotel is easy to reach without a car.
Find out more about Macdonald Marine Hotel and Spa here
Disclaimer: We received a complimentary Sunday lunch for the purposes of promoting the new menu. Fred has seen the pics and sez that it looks pretty tasty for hoomin food.
