In case you hadn’t noticed from my Instagram, I have a new favourite hangout in Edinburgh. The Garden is part of the newly refurbished Principal Charlotte Square (formerly The Roxburgh). This stunning indoor courtyard is my favourite Edinburgh location for coffee & croissants to cocktails. I have visited The Garden for morning coffees, for a hangover brunch (after my 30th birthday celebrations) and for after-dinner cocktails. The Garden is a beautiful environment for all occasions, and they have just launched Twilight Tea – a twist on the classic afternoon tea.
The new Twilight Tea is served from 12 noon to 10pm every day (Vegetarian & Vegan options available, see bottom of page).
The Garden offers Twilight Tea as fresh alternative to the plethora of Afternoon Teas available in the city. There is not one triangle sandwich or mini-cake in sight. Instead, The Garden’s Twilight Tea offers four courses of tapas style dishes featuring hot and cold food. For those in the mood for an extra kick, the Twilight Tea menu includes a choice of hot toddies, Scottish slings, and Champagne.
We booked in for 6:30pm as an alternative for going out for a big dinner, and started the night with a couple of cocktails. I have taken on the hard role of taste-testing quite a few cocktails here, and I haven’t been disappointed by one of them. In fact, the Bloody Marys here were the reason we paid a visit on the morning after my 30th birthday. On this evening we enjoyed cocktails to go with the first course of the Twilight Tea – Tomato Water with Choux Buns. I had a Lowland Sling (deee-licious) and Zack had a Bloody Mary.
Next up was the Hummus & Cruditês, Mozarella & Pear and Smoked-Salmon, Cream Cheese & Caviar Sourdough, accompanied by one very happy boy.
This was followed by the hot course, a great addition to the Twilight Tea, it definitely gave it more of a dinner feel.
Smoked Haddock & Leek Fish Cake and Merguez, Chilli & Dukkah Sausage Roll.
Finally you can choose two cakes (each) from the cake table, we followed that to an after-dinner cocktail of a Bobby Burns and a Negroni.
Twilight Tea is available 12pm-10pm, advance booking is required (book here)
Priced at £22.50 per head (not including drinks).
For the amount of food we received, I thought this was great value and will definitely be making a return visit
