The Boathouse, South Queensferry.

I was on my way into Edinburgh for a business meeting and suddenly I thought that it would be great to take a slight detour down to South Queensferry for lunch. I had read good reports of The Boathouse and suggested to the Buddha's wife that we should pay it a visit and I was pleased that she readily agreed.

The Boathouse overlooks the Firth of Forth and has stunning views of both bridges. We were fortunate enough to get great seats in the downstairs bistro area and they afforded us fantastic views of the old railway bridge.

The Boathouse has been described as a “fish lovers' paradise”. Well, in my view this is greatly overstating the menu. On the lunch menu I could only find three fish dishes (oysters and scallops) and one was the daily special! (sea bass). The all day menu was just as disappointing as I could only identify two mains (haddock and chips or mussels) that could be loosely described as a fish dish.

To be honest I had expected more, but that is not to say that the food was not good, it is just that it was limited fish selection. If a restaurant boosts that is offers the very best in Scotland’s fish and seafood plates then I would have expected more choice and more imagination.

With that said, we did have a good dining experience. We weren’t particularly hungry when we took our seats at the window of spectacular views so we decided to limit ourselves to sharing a tapas, a mixed salad and mussels. We also ordered two glass of house white for the Buddha’s wife and a glass of tap water and a coffee.

To be perfectly honest, I was so disappointed with the lack of fish choice on the menu that it put paid to my appetite. I know that Tam Cowan has reviewed The Boathouse and that he has given it the thumbs up. But, what would expect from someone who is a Motherwell supporter and he’s just glad to be eating anything that’s not wrapped in newspaper. Only kidding Tam and keep up the good work.

The food arrived promptly and was good. The tapas offered a plentiful supply of fresh olives, meats, fish, pates, vegetables and bread. The mixed salad was extremely fresh; the salad leaves dressed balsamic dressing was refreshing. The mussels steamed in a chilli, tomato and coriander were brilliant.

The waitress attempted to charge me £1.80 for the glass of tap water. You would think that there was a shortage of rain drops in this country! I asked her to think again and that certainly put paid to any tip that I was thinking of offering. Maybe, a bit harsh, but this type of thing gets on my wick.

All in all it was very tasty lunch and at £25.00 was well worth it. I would go back just in hope that there are more fish dishes on the menu. So in summary and true Tam Cowan fashion the Buddha Belly Eats rating is:

Food-7/10
Drink-7/10
Service-8/10
Environment-10/10

Contact Details:
The Boathouse
19b High Street
South Queensferry
West Lothian
EH30 9PP
Tel: 0131 331 5429