A cosy New Town gastropub found identity when a near neighbour discovered the way to elicit change in her life. “I live right next door and I’d always wanted this place to work” Emma Currie explains.
“It was all fancy tiles and a bit George Street. I knew that this little corner of Edinburgh was not fashionable in that way. With every handover to a new proprietor I was hoping that it would become the great local I knew it could be.”
Circumstances conspired to allow the actress to dive into hospitality, taking over the quirky basement spot on Dublin Street. It was a steep learning curve, she admits.
“I concentrated at first on decorating in this sort of Scandi, shabby chic style. I wanted it to feel like a sitting room so we painted the walls white and I brought loads of stuff from my flat.”
“That’s my grandfather clock” she points out. “The rugs, my pictures and cushions, bits of furniture. It fits well with the common room feel, a bit like an old Edinburgh wine bar used to be. Or the kind of flat that everybody would hang out in."
Sometimes it is just drinkers or folk sitting in the sun at the front. There’s an emphasis on food, “a lot of people come for dinner and we always want to offer something new.
"We can go quite smart, then change to pub food, steak sandwiches, tapas. We’re at that threshold again now, thinking about how we can still have a quality offering with the incredible weight of price rises.”
"We have a new menu, my favourite is the pan fried fillet of trout with fennel puree, pak choi, chilli and capers".
Other fresh choices for main course include sweetcorn risotto with char-grilled shallots or a braised lamb shepherds pie.
To start, buttermillk fried chicken with jalapeno cream cheese, Shetland mussels or cured mackerel in a tortilla with beetroot, horseradish, pickled onions and loavage.
Reflecting on what she has found in the venue, Emma says “Things were chaotic in the early days but we’ve somehow assembled a place for food and drink that appeals to a cast of characters.
"As an actress I always loved being part of a season in repertory theatre and it almost feels like that’s what I have found here, a stage that’s set for our regular customers.”
Little White Pig
26B Dublin St, Edinburgh EH3 6NN
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