Spry Wines — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

A short Walk from John Lewis and St James shopping mall down Leith walk. Spry offers a minimalist setting with white walls, black-and-white artwork, and shelves of bottles on display. Seating options include modern Windsor-style wooden chairs and a mix of low ankle-height tables, small round tables, and higher bar seating. The lighting is subdued, with spotlights highlighting walls rather than tables, complemented by four globe pendant lights. The open-plan bar doubles as a kitchen, allowing diners to watch the two chefs at work.

Food: The starters stood out with exceptional flavors and presentation: • Chicory Salad: Delicious, with an intense walnut flavor, though the raspberry was less prominent. • Beetroot Tartare with Smoked Eel: A well-balanced dish. • Cured Sea Trout: Outstanding, with a beautifully light aerated tartare sauce atop pickled gherkins. • Cured Halibut: While the dish was small, the Arbroath smokie cream paired with crispy potato strands was excellent.

The mains were a mixed bag: • North Sea Crab with Jerusalem Artichoke and Leeks: Beautifully balanced and flavorful. • Braised Beef with Bread Pudding: The meat was decent, but the pudding was dry, and the overall dish lacked vibrancy. • Celeriac Lasagna with Cumin: The cumin was overpowering, detracting from the dish.

Drinks: The cocktails were well-crafted but very small for the price: • Olive Oil Martini: Tasty but minuscule. • Negroni Bianca and Americano: Both enjoyable but portion sizes left something to be desired.

Service: Long waits between courses were frustrating, especially for mains. The restaurant’s approach of serving all starters at once could be reconsidered for a more relaxed and staggered experience.

Value for Money: While the food was undeniably delicious, portion sizes (for both food and cocktails) were underwhelming for the high price point. Seating was also uncomfortable, detracting from the overall experience.

Final Thoughts: Spry delivers some exquisite dishes and creative cocktails, but the small portions, slow service, and uncomfortable seating make it poor value for money. Improvements in portion sizes, pacing of service, and comfort would elevate...

This is a beautiful, intimate wine bar with a minimalist vibe, a great atmosphere and a fantastically large range of wines, served either by the glass or bottle. They also serve some tasty small plates, which are well worth trying. Staff are friendly and uniformly trendy in a very consistent way. It’s like they have a casting department rather than a HR officer, ha!

The only issue with Spry (in my opinion) is this - if you book (as is sensible because it’s popular) you are required to leave credit card details with a £40 fine if you don’t turn up. £40 is a little steep, when it’s not a restaurant, in my opinion but that’s not the issue I have. My issue is that after booking, and leaving card details, you are taken to two bar stools upon which you are left for the remainder of the evening. They do not allow you to graduate to a table, it appears, unless you are lucky enough to be placed on one of the few tables on arrival.

It just seems to me that having the strict booking rules with a £40 fee for non-attendance is a bit much when all you get is two wooden, quite uncomfortable, bar stools. I think people expect a little more than that, maybe even a chair or stool with a back (!), when the reservation system is like that.

Anyway, great...

My wife and I went at (late) lunch time on their opening weekend and they were offering their retail wines corkage-free - who doesn't like an offer... ? We chose one of their mid-range whites at £17. It was excellent value. But bear in mind that it's now £27 with the £10 a bottle corkage. Still reasonable value but I don't think I'd have left the Bar with quite such a wide smile at this price. As to the food, there's a small selection of light bites. Everything we tried was at worst very good. The clams in particular were excellent but this was a "special". They are also doing a single draught beer which will change from week-to-week. I didn't try the one they had on (a Manchester-brewed, Koln-style, I was told) but will do so o/r. So, I'm giving 5 stars tentatively because everything was very enjoyable and the owners (staff?) were very welcoming and knowledgeable. A definite must-try and very welcome addition to the local eating/drinking scene. But I do wonder if that £10 corkage will put people off... NB their "house" wine (red, white and rose, I think) were all £10, so £20 with...