Restaurant

Gaby Soutar visits Miss Woo’s in Edinburgh

Where?

7 Bernard Street, Edinburgh (0131-554 4053)

You know when there’s an urgent job that needs doing and, instead, you find yourself clearing out the kitchen drawer, plucking your unibrow, or responding to that email about a gas smart meter?

That might explain my visit to Miss Woo’s.

There are so many notable restaurants opening in the centre of Edinburgh right now. They are all mouldering on my list, but instead I got distracted and visited a five month old bar.

Rebel, though sometimes one is not in the mood for a tasting menu, vegetarian feast or expensive steak.

That’s partially because, though I may look haggard on the outside, my inner kernel of youth has not been completely extinguished, and all I wanted was a spit ‘n’ sawdust decent cocktail and some casual pan-asian grub – this place’s speciality.

Woo! (I presume that’s where their name comes from).

It’s got a dive bar feel – about the size of a walk-in-wardrobe, dimly lit, with decoupage on the walls and their graffitied name in a Suicide Squad style script, with an x above the i.

Cocktails are £7.50 each, and, though I like a good pun, Tequila Kunis was slightly tenuous.

Instead, I tried the fruit cocktail that was a Jerry Slinger (Bombay Sapphire gin, Cointreau, Chambord, Benedictine, pineapple, simple syrup and lime) and my sister had the zingy wrecking ball of a Miley Sourus (Midori, Hendrick’s Gin, lemon, simple syrup, egg white and cucumber). Both very good. Woo woo!

We ordered a bunch of foodie things too, the best of which was probably the most low rent.

The burnt end dirty fries (£5), served in a cardboard takeaway box, looked like a car crash, but tasted properly naughty and indulgent, with skinny chips topped by a load of sloppy shredded beef, crispy shallot coils, red chilli, chopped spring onion and coriander, all in a sweet “peach and porter” sauce.

We also enjoyed our set of four spicy Korean chicken wings (£6), which were fire-y, crispy and nibbly on the edges, with a sticky red sauce plastered underneath every wing pit.

We were slightly less impressed with our bao (£6). This doughy pair were as big and pale as cat skulls, but their filling of “confit chicken and peanut satay”, which consisted of shredded meat, crispy white and red cabbage, plus sesame seeds stuck to a glutinous sugary sauce, was more bao down than bao wow.

Our side dish of crispy chilli-infused honey tofu (£3.50) was also rather neglected, but mainly because the sugary volcanic balm of a sauce was at the bottom of the pot, and we didn’t discover it until we’d excavated most of the bland tofu cubes and picked off the scattering of peanuts.

Although it was a good sized portion, with six pork gyoza (£6) in a bamboo steamer, these had rather plain interiors, with minced piggy in attendance but not much else.

I think the mildly spiced duck ramen (£9) also needed a bit more work, since the vaguely gingery broth was lacking in stocky flavour and the meat was a little tough. Still, there were plenty of noodles, as well as coriander, bean sprouts, spring onions and pak choi, while everything, including this, is improved with the addition of a boiled egg.

Once we’d scoffed this lot, the party was just getting started, with millennials and generation Zs lining up at the bar for their Tequila Kunis.

I felt the light of my internal youth flicker, falter and go out, signalling that it was time to go home for my herbal tea and a date with my electric blanket (yes, I know it’s July).

Still, this fogey had a lot of fun here. Even though the food might be a bit ordinary, at least the cocktails will make you go woo.

The burnt end dirty fries tasted properly naughty and indulgent