St James Quarter

Pho

06/01/24

St James Quarter, Edinburgh

We’re not usually big on chain restaurants but, after dashing around the city on an ‘escape hunt’, we end up in the vicinity of the St James Quarter. The friend who gifted us the challenge has generously covered our lunch too – and we’re more than ready for it. Post-Christmas, I’m looking to shed a few pounds, so we need to find somewhere offering a healthy range. Pho seems to fit the bill.

I know it’s a contentious issue, but the 2022 law requiring businesses with more than 250 employees to display calorie information on their menus is useful to me today. I’m tracking my consumption, and it’s great to know that I can enjoy two courses without derailing myself.

For my starter, I have cuốn diếp chay (spicy salad rolls), which come in at an almost unbelievable 44 calories. They’re fresh and vibrant: strips of raw vegetables, enoki mushrooms and herbs wrapped in a lettuce leaf and served with a very more-ish peanut sauce. Philip has a Nem hải sản (a seafood spring roll), which is large, crispy and filled with king prawn, crab and pork. He says it’s crunchy, not at all greasy and packs a real punch.

For my main, I want a cauliflower rice bowl with char-grilled chicken, but I’m told there’s no cauliflower rice today. ‘Real’ rice takes me over my allowance, so I opt for the Phở gà instead. This Vietnamese rice-noodle soup (347 calories) is no mean substitute: the broth is fragrant, the chicken nicely cooked and the noodles as slippery and delicious as you’d expect. I especially like the side plate of fresh herbs, allowing me to tailor the dish to my own taste. Philip opts for the phở xào (wok-fried noodles) with chicken and prawn. This is a delightful dish, full of earthy goodness, replete with lemongrass, chilli and Asian greens.

We’re not drinking at the moment, so we’re pleased to see a good range of soft and alcohol-free beverages. Philip samples the Freestar 0.5% lager, while I try a Negroni spritz. Both hit the requisite spots. We enjoy the eclectic juke box too, and the lively, buzzing atmosphere.

All in all, we’re impressed. If you’re looking for a quick healthy lunch in the city, you could do a lot worse than Pho.

4.3 stars

Susan Singfield

Ka Pao

01/10/23

St James Quarter, Edinburgh

We’ve been looking forward to this evening. Not only are we catching up with friends we haven’t seen in waaaay too long, we’re also – on their recommendation – visiting Ka Pao, a new Scottish/Southeast Asian fusion restaurant in the swish St James Quarter. The menu looks exciting!

It doesn’t disappoint.

The venue earns its first plus-point by presenting us with two bottles of chilled tap water as standard – one still, one sparkling. I like this new trend and drink a lot (maybe too much) of the fizzy one.

There’s a set menu for four or more people, but not everyone in our party fancies it, so we go à la carte. All dishes are for sharing we’re told, and are encouraged to order three or four each: a snack, a starter, a main and a side. Thank goodness we stick to three – it’s still too much. But that’s my only gripe.

This is lovely food: fresh, distinctive and perfectly cooked. For snacks, we sample the tomato and aubergine dip with pork skins, the pork and bone marrow sausage and the arbroath smokie miang. The pork skins are amazing – puffed up like poppadoms (or like yak chews, according to our dog-owning friends). The sausage is also delicious, just bursting with flavour, but the arbroath smokie is the most interesting. It comes mashed with peanuts and galangel, and we’re instructed to wrap a spoonful in a spinach leaf. It’s sweet at first, then spicy, then finally fishy and smoky. We decide we like it.

Our starters are corn ribs with salted coconut, shrimp and lime, and crispy pork belly. Three of us have ordered the corn but two portions would suffice. Not that we’re complaining: these are easily the standout of the evening, deceptively simple, crisp and utterly delectable. We spend some time looking for recipes when we get home.

For mains, we have the green curry of lamb shoulder (which comes with broad beans, peas and banana chilli), the chicken leg massaman curry (with ratte potato, smoked grape and peanut) and the chuu chee curry of courgette (with peas and ramiro pepper), with a side of stir-fried savoy cabbage and a couple of portions of jasmine rice. The chicken curry is very good, although one of our friends finds it too sweet for her palate. The lamb is particularly tasty, a fiery delight, the chunks of meat slow cooked until they’re melt-in-the-mouth tender.

We all profess to be full, but we still say yes to pudding, sharing a couple of portions of almond and cardamom sponge with pineapple and coriander curd (wow!) and a serving of mango and calmansi soft-serve, a kulfi-like confection that offers a citrus-fresh contrast to the sweetness of the pudding.

Like the comic-book sound effect its name evokes, Ka Pao is bold, punchy and memorable – and we’ll certainly be back for more.

4.7 stars

Susan Singfield