One Square is located inside the Sheraton hotel. Before taking our seats overlooking Festival Square and Edinburgh Castle beyond, we enjoyed a gin in the bar. The time of year meant we decided to sit inside, but you can also enjoy the Pickering’s Gin Terrace, weather permitting (there are heaters!).

The bar offers a vast range of gins but I was keen to try their own One Square Gin. It’s made in partnership with Pickering’s Gin and features 15 different botanicals including lemon, coriander, aniseed and cinnamon. We also tried a non alcoholic gin by Seedlip which we really enjoyed too – ideal for those driving or abstaining for other reasons.

The menu at One Square focuses on Scottish ingredients presented in a contemporary way. The map on the menu shows where much of the fish, meat, and cheese is sourced.

I couldn’t resist the Twice Baked Mull Cheddar Souffle, and I’m so glad I didn’t. It was utterly devine, every mouthful elicited oohs and aahs (yes, it did get a little awkward!). It was simply the perfect dish, finished off with candied walnuts and compressed pears. I urge you to try it!

Alex had the Steak Tartare which was beautifully presented, complete with egg yolk and three large crispy sourdough crostini. The pickled shallots were the perfect balance of sharp against the rich irony meat and creamy yolk.

The map reliably informed me that Alex’ dish of Ayrshire Pork was from Ardrossan. It was served with two other Scottish ingredients – roast turnip, and Stornoway black pudding – widely accepted as the best black pudding you’ll find in Scotland. The dish was brought together with an exceptionally good jus. It was a very well executed dish that I’d happily order myself, if actually I didn’t really want to eat my own dish of venison again!

Highland Venison is another fantastic Scottish ingredient and the chef certainly did justice to it here. The whole dish felt like it had been made with real care, the venison was teamed with a sweet celeriac puree and bramble jus. If it’s quality Scottish food you’re looking for, you can do much worse than this. This was excellent food that far exceeded any expectations I had. I ordered a side of black truffle mash and was pleased to discover that the creamy mash was topped with actual shavings and not just infused with truffle oil as is so often the case (not a negative, but the real thing is always a positive in my book).

The starters and mains had set a very high benchmark which my dessert met – a tropical flavoured Coconut Panna Cotta & Hot Roasted Pineapple, was a light and fruity flavoured dessert that was a nice change from the two preceding rich courses. The granola with nuts and seeds brought the necessary crunch, and the party was complete. It rounded off a perfect three courses for me.

Alex ordered the Lemon Meringue Pie, despite it being very tasty, we had one minor negative and that was that the meringue was ever so slightly grainy – nothing another a minute in the mixer wouldn’t solve.

I highly recommend One Square, it was easily among the best food I’ve had in Edinburgh and deserves to be thought of alongside the higher end restaurants in Edinburgh.

One Square
Location:  1 Festival Square
Price: Starters £7.50-£10.50, Mains £15.50-£22.50
Good for: Contemporary Scottish ingredients
Foodinburgh Offer: Two Courses & One Square Gin £20