House of Tides has been on our list of places to eat for a long time, its only an hour and half by train from Edinburgh, so we decided to treat ourselves to an early Christmas dinner. Of course we had to pick the weekend of massive flooding and train disruptions to visit, so not without a little stress.

The restaurant itself is in the heart of the Quayside in a 16th Century Merchants Townhouse. It’s location meaning there is always a good number of options for a pre or post meal drink. It is also only about a 10 min walk from the train station, and with frequent trains north, makes it totally doable for a lazy weekend lunch.

We had an early sitting, but were greeted by the friendly front of house and were shown to a table in their bar area so we could enjoy a little apperativ and look over the menu. We opted for their six course tasting menu with matching wines (in for a penny in for a pound and all that). The amuse bouche was served at this point, a delicious Gougère, something I am a massive fan of, and I could have eaten a basket of these. Of course washed down with a glass of Kir Royale.

Once we had enjoyed our drinks we were shown upstairs to their dining room, a light, airy, spacious room, where we were served some delicious Sourdough Bread with Cultured Butter, followed by our first course, a Celeriac Veloute with Pork, Apple and Smoked Eel. The crispy coated pork was delight, and the smoked eel gave a light smokey flavour to the dish. The Celeriac Veloute was light, velvety and delicious. A good start to the meal for sure!

Our next course was a Venison Tartare with Smoked Beetroot, Lovage and Caviar. Tartare is only something I have started to recently eat, I’m not a fan of raw meat or fish, but this is changing over time. The vension, a less fatty meat made a suitable star to this dish, with the little bursts of caviar on top made this a wonderful meat course. Next up was Seabass with Artichoke, Baby Gem and Lemon. Seabass is one of my favourite fish, so was glad to see this on the menu. Beautifully cooked, with the freshness of the lemon and the beautfully roasted Artichoke and Baby gem making a perfect dish before going into the final savoury course

The final main dish was a Yourshire Duck with Butternut Squash, Hen of the Woods and Black Garlic. A perfectly cooked piece of duck with butternut squash topped with a nut granola, the tender hen of the woods mushroom, all brought together by delicious jus and a dollop of black garlic puree.

Now our next two courses were dessert courses, something I am totally on board with. There is an optional cheese course as well, but by this stage we were simply too full to consider it. The first dessert was a Dark Chocoate Orange with Coffee and Thai Basil; a little square of deliciousness that tasted like a luxurious chocolate orange. To round the tasting menu off, the final course was a Fig Tart with Croissant, Pecan and Marigold. I love figs and tarts and so was very happy with rounding the proceedings off with this!

We then moved through to a small lounge area to enjoy our Tea and Petit Fours in comfort, while deciding what to do next. Another drink? Or to try and be a little festive and take in the Christmas Markets? I’ll let you decide what happened next 😉

House of Tides has definitely earned it’s Michelin Star, each dish was well thought out and beautifully presented. Service was great and whilst I can’t remember which matching wines we had, they were all great! I look forward to another train day out for lunch again!