Head for The Shore and you won't be disappointed

What’s on the plate may be the most important thing when eating out but the surroundings add to the overall experience.

So when the view for Sunday lunch is Scotland’s latest engineering feat in the shape of the Queensferry Crossing – and the sun is shining – then the food has a lot to live up to.

But we weren’t disappointed when we visited The Shore Grill & Fish House recently.

In fact, the only down side was that the portions were so big after a starter and main, there was no room for dessert!

But I get ahead of myself, lets wind back to our arrival.

This restaurant is situated in the Doubletree by Hilton but for all those of you who have reservations about hotel food this is certainly on another level.

The hotel itself has recently had a £15 million makeover and the restaurant is run by the creators of Edinburgh’s Twenty Princes Street and Juniper – so you know it has a good pedigree.

The massive picture windows give fabulous views of the new bridge and the River Forth, while the stunning carved wooden ceiling is a nod to The Shore’s maritime location.

However, on to the most important task, what to eat.

We were selecting from the Sunday lunch menu, which given the clientele tucking in when we were there, is enjoyed by all ages.

Lentil soup served with soda bread was delicious and the sprinkling of salt made a nice touch on the little butter dish.

Goats curd with heritage beetroot, smoked squash and candied hazelnuts seemed a fitting choice for the start of autumn and definitely tasted as good as it looked. Served with sourdough toast it was a delicious mix of flavours.

We had almost been considering the smoked salmon or the mussels, but were more than happy with our choices.

Mains were a bit easier to decide, after all it was Sunday so what other than a roast.

But then the difficulty was deciding on which to have – beef, pork and chicken were all on offer as was the sharing board of shoulder of lamb. But we decided that as it was for three or four it might be too much and given the portions we were eventually served I would say that it was a good decision.

The plates were full of the tenderest meat and well-cooked veg with tasty sides of sauce to complement our choices.

The beef and pork both had duck fat roast potatoes and roast carrots and parsnips and were served with buttery cabbage and a Yorkshire pudding – and lashings of gravy.

With the beef there was homemade horseradish sauce and grain mustard, while the pork had apple sauce and crackling.

It was perfect but our attempts to clear the plates left us unable to enjoy the sweet delights.

But that’s an excuse to head back to The Shore.