Affordable inn stay just south of Edinburgh
Handy for the bus from Edinburgh as the Lothian Buses number 31 (both regular and express) literally stops at the entrance (in both directions). The stop is actually named “The Laird and Dog”. The number 40 also stops here which travels between Portobello and Penicuik.
The bar is open until 1am on Saturday nights, there’s a pool table and 3 real ales on tap – currently Deuchars, Independence Lia Fail and Caledonian Over the Bar.
Twin Room (room 8) with en-suite bath and toiletries included. The room was very warm when we arrived but the radiator was in working order and controllable so we brought the temperature down. The windows opened and closed fine and looked out onto the main road. The small kettle held enough water for 2 cups of tea/coffee, both of which were unbranded, Bei & Nannini sugar and both milk and cream were included. Also, a small flat-screen TV picking up plenty of channels on the wall and 2 bedside lamps. The bath was a bit slippy – could do with a bath mat perhaps, also grout in tiles and shower curtain dirty, it took a few moments to get to grip with the shower as you had to turn…and turn…and turn the dial before the water came out but once it did it was hot and easy to control.
Breakfast
A choice of 3 cereals and selection of fruit yogurts. Orange Juice available as well as choice of tea/coffee.
Full Scottish – fried mushrooms, whole grilled tomato (halved) with 2 sausages, rasher of bacon, potato scone, beans and egg (either fried, poached or scrambled). Good portion so very filling but the scrambled egg was watery and the water made the bottom of the potato scone soggy.
Poached eggs and toast – perfect, both fully cooked and runny bits for the toast.
Lunch
Sauteed Tiger Prawns 5.99 Buttery, garlicky and covered in hot chilli, packed a good kick and certainly hotter than I expected. The ciabatta was fresh, soft and not crunchy or crispy.
Crayfish cocktail 5.99 not watery and vinegary like they can be in other places. Fresh unbuttered bread but came with soft butter for spreading.
Beef Stroganoff 10.95 A filling portion with a good amount of rice and meat with thinly sliced mushrooms in a very creamy sauce and a leafy salad with a standard salad dressing, but it was very nice.
Rack of ribs 14.99
Sticky sauce, very more-ish, melt away from the bone meat. Messy! Came with wipes.
Wedges good, coleslaw tasted bought in, a nice homemade coleslaw could be an improvement.
Dessert specials
We fancied the choc truffle cake but someone else had taken the last one! So we went for…
Choka rocka cake 4.25 Soft mallow, soft base, very chocolately, drizzled with a chocolate sauce and had white and milk choc shavings on top. All very soft so would’ve liked some crunch. We had this with very yellow vanilla ice-cream.
Also went for raspberry choc tart 4.25 Tart raspberries, soft, chocolately We were offered a choice of ice-cream or pouring cream with each dessert.
Overall, friendly staff, decent real ale selection and tasty no-nonsense food which was popular with families. A handy location if staying in Edinburgh (around 20-30 mins from City Centre on the regular bus service) and there’s car parking at the back. It’s also good for visiting Rosslyn Chapel as the number 40 Lothian bus also leaves from outside, it only takes 15 minutes to Roslin Hotel and from there it’s a short walk to the Chapel. Room basic but comfortable though a lot of noise from the road outside if the window is open, we couldn’t hear any noise from the bar though. The only gripe is that the bathroom could do with a refurb as the grout was dirty and the shower curtain dirty. We would stay here again.
Can be found with gin or a pint in hand.
