I had lunch at a stylish new Edinburgh restaurant in surprising and secluded spot

In my head, I graduated relatively recently, rather than way back at the turn of the millennium.

You can’t stay oblivious, though, as soon as you pass through the gates of The University of Edinburgh’s walled Pollock Estate, where, in the shadow of Holyrood Park, there’s a student campus, as well as various conference centres and two hotels.

Suddenly, you’re no longer cosily ensconced among your preferred demographic of an ageing population, but are thrust amongst the youth.

Then you realise that you are a relic who was born in the - gulp - last century. It’s a reality check. My picture of Dorian Gray is definitely broken.

Still, all ages - even Werther’s-Original-toting brontosauruses like moi - are welcome at The Scholar four-star hotel, where they’ve just refurbished and relaunched their restaurant, Abacus.

This modern building, with its trail of headily-scented orange blossoms outside, is new to me, so I didn’t get to see this space before its recent glow-up.

However, once you’ve passed through the slightly office-building-esque reception, it’s looking rather stylish, with velvety fabrics, well stuffed cushions, lamps on tables and cake icing colours that very much remind me of what they’ve done at Gleneagles Townhouse.

They say the menu is Scottish produce meets Mediterranean influences, with an all-day menu.

For starters, I could have gone for the hot smoked salmon or a chorizo and chilli tiger prawns, but instead I tried the asparagus and ham hock terrine (£9). This was a prematurely spring-like gussied-up dish, served on a shell pink plate, with a Milky-Way-sized slab of the pork mixture, and a few asparagus tips, plus something that they called a pea gel but was more of a puree, piccalilli dollops, purple flower petals and four lacy slices of crispy Melba toast.

He tried the kedgeree arancini (£9), with three coppery haddock and rice balls, and a perfect poached egg that makes me think the breakfast they do here must be pretty decent, plus a piquant and buff-coloured curried onion puree that he really rated.

For those who worry about volume, they were both very hearty portions.

Although there are lots of casual options on the menu, like The Abacus Burger, steak or fish and chips, I was in a fancier mood, so went for the venison (£25).

It consisted of two really good palm-sized and bouncy slices of soft pink loin, as well as a moat of intense sweetness, courtesy of a celeriac puree, tiny nibs of potato, little enoki mushrooms, Savoy cabbage and whole blackberries and their jus.

My dining partner had gone for the oven roasted cod (£17), which was bronzed and served on top of a tomato-based mixture that had ratatouille vibes, though with cannellini beans and potato cubes in the mix, a singed lemon and red vein sorrel on top and more blobs of that pea puree. This dish had wholesome and healthy vibes. That doesn’t usually happen when we go out to eat. Still, he felt quite smug that he’d dodged the usual ingestion of a pat of butter and a kilogram bag of salt.

Although the starters and mains are relatively imaginative, they’ve gone prosaic with the puds. Well, people cleave towards their favourites, I suppose.

They were out of the most interesting sounding lemon and passionfruit tart (£9), so I went for the warm chocolate fondant (£9), which was sadly fridge cold, though still gooey in the middle - what black magic is this? - and came with a tart fruit compote and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

The apple crumble tart (£9), was also surprisingly tepid, as was the custard in the accompanying tall jug. However, at least the buttery pastry was crisp and the concept was there, even if the execution wasn’t on point. Still, cold custard, tsk, that’s a hard pill for an oldie like me to swallow.

Anyway, the food was very pleasant up until that point, so they can be forgiven. We’d also had a very good Tommy’s margarita (£11), and a slightly too-heavy-on-the-froth but fruity French martini that was dusted with dehydrated raspberries (£11).

So, I’d say that this place is definitely worth hunting down. Unless you head towards the Pleasance or South Clerk Street, they don’t have a lot of competition up in this neck of the woods.

If you were born last century, just prepare yourself to be temporarily down with the kids.

Abacus at The Scholar, 18 Holyrood Park Road, Edinburgh, www.abscusedi.com

Read more: “I had a hearty and brilliant Sunday lunch at my new favourite Edinburgh pub”

Read more: “I tried lunch at this lively new Edinburgh family restaurant in a super cool location”

Read more: “I had my best dinner of 2025 at this divine new Edinburgh restaurant”

Read more: “I took my family to their favourite Edinburgh restaurant, where the queue is still down the street”

Read more: “I tried Edinburgh's coolest new restaurant and it was like being at the best party”