Edinburgh: Clerk’s Bar

So Clerk’s Bar has only been open for a month or two and I’ve already been in for dinner three times, so I think it’s safe to say it’s one of my new favourites. Last week I was invited along to the Clerk’s Bash official launch party, and the promise of food and drinks and hanging out with my blogger pals was more than enough to make me RSVP a big fat “yes”. Clerk’s are known for their slow smoked menu, craft beers and sport (okay, I’ll admit – I have no interest in the last one, but luckily Clerk’s doesn’t feel like a tacky “sports bar”).

After we made our way downstairs and settled ourselves at a table, we began tucking into some prosecco and nachos (an excellent combination, I must say). I really loved these nachos as they were made from real tortillas which had been home-cooked, rather than just a bag of Doritos. We also shared some chicken wings as a starter, and both nachos and chicken wings would be great snacky things to share if you were out for a few drinks with your pals. After another round of drinks and a wee rest, we moved onto the main event: the meaty sharing platter. And oh what an event it was – the photo really doesn’t do it justice! The platter included half a smoked chicken, half a rack of babyback ribs, a mini mountain of pulled pork, a couple pieces of corn on the cob and, of course, some chips. Amazing! Iona and I did our best to work our way through it all but sadly we were defeated. At £15, this platter is great value for money as there was so much food – enough to feed three or four people! If you don’t fancy opting for a platter, each of the components are available on their own too.

After that, we thought we were done with food and moved onto the drinks. Clerk’s have an extensive craft beer menu so we did some beer tasting. I must admit I can’t remember exactly which beers I tasted (by this point quite a lot of wine had already been consumed) but I definitely remember some Fraoch (heather ale, nice!) and some Ka Pai (tropical-y flavours, also nice!). I’m not usually a huge beer drinker, but I have got a bit more into craft beers lately and it’s especially helpful when you have friendly and knowledgeable staff to point you in the direction of ones you might like.

Aaaand then it was time for food round two (or three? maybe four?) and something AMAZING happened. Two words for you: macaroni slider. Oh my lord. Basically, breaded macaroni and cheese inside a burger bun. It was one of the best things I’ve eaten all year, and I don’t think that was just all the booze talking. Yum yum yum! We also had some regular beef burger sliders and hot dogs which were equally tasty. On previous visits to Clerk’s I’ve had the Pulled Pork & Chilli Con Queso Hot Dog and the Monterey Jack Cheese Burger, and both times I was really impressed. The food is all reasonably priced, tasty and hits the spot when you fancy some smokey-barbecue-American-style-stuff.

I’d definitely recommend a wee trip to Clerk’s if you’re after a relaxed pub for drinks, some tasty food to share with pals and great service from the staff (thanks for putting up with us after we’d spent FAR more drinks tokens than we should have been allowed, let’s pretend no sambuca was consumed that night!).

Gillian x