Tower Restaurant

The Tower may have been around since 1998 but there is still a sense of novelty in walking through the doors at the rather splendid National Museum of Scotland, riding the lift to the top floor then stepping out into its dining room with a view. Inside, the decor is contemporary while the Tower’s balcony provides expansive, alfresco opportunities overlooking Edinburgh’s Old Town. The menu falls somewhere between British & modern European, offering up Isle of Mull dressed crab with spicy prawn toast & sesame dressing, veal loin with breaded osso bucco, heirloom potatoes & Mediterranean vegetables, & gooseberry pie with elderflower ice cream for dessert. Like its sibling the Witchery at the Castle, it’s possible to blow serious money here, but thankfully the Tower also offers some more economical alternatives: a two-course lunch/pre-theatre menu (£15.95), a very civilised afternoon tea (£15.95) & a three-course table d’hôte (£30).