Foodie Explorers Review – Froth and Flame, Edinburgh

Froth & Flame now fills the void where The Foxy Fiddler was on Edinburgh’s Morrison Street, not far from Haymarket station. We visited on a dreich Sunday lunchtime for pizza but not any ordinary pizza oh no, we were here for breakfast pizza! Not quite sure if it was open or not (it did look pretty dark from across the road) we opened the door and entered into a surprisingly bright and spacious room. The colour scheme is a light grey, modern tartan and wood, wood and lots of wood, including the neat pile reserved for the wood-fired pizza oven on the lower-level. There’s loads of seating, mostly banquette- style, across the two floors and mezzanine at the back.

The bar-restaurant is well-stocked with craft beer, specifically from Speyside, so it may not come as a shock to learn that it’s the result of a collaboration between the Keith, Alechemy and Spey Valley breweries. There are 15 taps in total with 9 on rotation. There’s also a full-size craft beer fridge with bottles available to take away. If you’re happy with just a lager, a house pint will set you back a mere £3 while a bottle of Stillman’s IPA can be had for the same price. If beer is not your thing a G&T and glasses of house wine are also all £3. Cocktails start at £5 and bottles of wine are from £14.50.

So if the beer covers the ‘Froth’ but what about the Flame? Well, they have a real pizza oven! A choice of toppings is available all day but as we were there at Sunday brunch time (10am – 3pm) we had the breakfast pizza which has a special eggy base! Pick up to 3 toppings (an extra £1 each) from a choice of bacon, haggis, black pudding, mushroom, tomato, grilled pepper and courgette. We plumped for bacon, black pudding and tomato. The pizza base was the kind we prefer, soft and chewy rather than thick or crispy. The black pudding was excellent, and if not from Stornoway it was to a similar standard. The bacon could have been crispier though.

The ‘Naples Sandwich’ can also be found on the lunch menu. This is made with pizza dough and fired into the pizza so comes out a bit like a toasted pitta pocket or piadina with fillings such as prosciutto and funghi, tricolore, red onion and sunblush tomato or fennel and nduja sausage.

The rest of the menu is made up with other Italian dishes like bruschetta, pasta, risotto and sharing platters with Parma ham, salami, gorgonzola, mozzarella etc. There are salads too but being Weegies, we prefer a Glasgow salad. The skin cut chips come naked or topped with spring onions, parmesan and roquito chilli. We opted for the heaped variety and were glad we did as they were highly addictive!

Pizza dough and chips may not be to everyone’s tastes, especially around lunchtime, and luckily there is a healthier alternative. Their granola is a hefty bowl of oats, seeds and mixed berries served with yogurt. It’s really filling but needs just a bit more yogurt to make it perfect. Brunch is served 10am – 3pm at weekends with a pub quiz beginning immediately afterwards on Sundays. We stayed for the fairly informal quiz covering rounds on music, sport and general knowledge and we were glad we did as we came in second! 1st prize was free food and beers, while we got a voucher for free pizza next time we’re in!

Every weekday the lunch set menu starts at £5 per person (Monday to Friday 12 noon – 4pm) and on Mondays a margarita pizza and house cocktail come to a grand total of £5. On the last Friday of every month the bar hosts meet the brewer nights.

IN BRIEF