New European style Café-Bar & Brasserie and cocktail lounge now open in Edinburgh
Liberté Café-Bar & Brasserie and Bar 1819, has opened at Apex Waterloo Place Hotel at the east end.
The restaurant is designed to be a refined, yet relaxing place to gather, eat or drink with a menu celebrating the best of Scottish produce. The venue is the centrepiece of a £2 million ground floor renovation of Apex Waterloo Place, owned by Norman Springford’s Apex Hotels.
With an eye-catching design delivered by ISA, one of Edinburgh’s leading architectural and design firms, the new day/night venue oozes European style with stunning Georgian interiors inspired by the Palm Courts of the 1800s.
The new venue also benefitted from expert input from one of the UK’s top hospitality specialist Stuart McCluskey, former co-owner of the Bon Vivant, current owner of ‘Paz’ and recently opened ‘Little Capo’ and Ian McLaren – former Bacardi digital director and owner of drink marketing consultancy Neoteric Spirit.
The bar sits next to a brasserie restaurant and private dining area – La Belle with its range of banquettes, booths and cosy corners.
Bar 1819 is an elegant cocktail bar and lounge with a wide range of drinks and signature cocktails curated by Stuart and Ian, each with big flavours to sip and savour.
The new menus showcase the very best from Scotland’s larder, using European influences and modern cooking techniques.
Liberté has a day to night menu packed with locally sourced ingredients hand-picked for quality and provenance. Guests can dine from dawn to dusk, with fresh, locally sourced coffee and pastries available in 1819 for those morning meetings, to all day dining as well as a range of tasty snacks, shares and nibbles in the restaurant. Liberté’s seasonal festive fare includes a Christmas day menu and a bespoke private dining menu at La Belle.
Highlights from the menu include Balvenie smoked salmon, lemon creme fraiche and herring roe to start, Ox cheek in a red wine sauce, served with potato puree, bacon and gremolata for main and finishing off with Matcha Tea creme brûlée.
Bar 1819 and cocktail lounge will serve a wide range of drinks from specially crafted cocktails to hand selected single malts. Highlights include the Dubbel Malted Old Fashioned a mix of brewing, distilling and blending traditions – dark and malty Dubbel Trappist Ale Syrup mixed with Angostura Bitters and Homemade Whisky from Woven, the award-winning Leith whisky blender.
Other dishes to delight include ‘Negroni au Chocolat’ balancing rich chocolate with bitter orange and berry flavours and the velvety ‘Praline Espresso’ a heady mix of almonds, hazelnut, honey and espresso shaken to foaming perfection and served with freshly grated chocolate.
The 1819 menu offers small plates to nibbles and sharing boards. Don’t miss the charcuterie with terrine, remoulade, balsamic onions, cornichons and mustard or the rump fillet tataki with ponzu, cucumber, spring onion and crispy garlic.
Provenance is a mantra of Liberté and 1819, with the restaurant partnering with some of the finest suppliers across Scotland – these range from oak smoked salmon from Campbells & Co, exquisite fresh mussels from the Shetland Islands to delicious, cured meats from East Coast Cured. Drinks partners include Newbarns Brewery, Royal Mile Whiskies, Liberty Wines and Mothership’s Lucky Liqueurs and Affinity brands.
Liberte opens for lunch at 12.00 noon, serving food until 22.00. 1819 opens at 8.00am until 1.00am Monday to Saturday and 8.00am until 11.00pm on Sundays.
Stuart McCluskey said: “It has been exciting to work with the team at Apex. Their enthusiasm for delivering this project has been infectious. Ian, Will and I have relished developing a beverage programme fit for such a beautiful setting, focusing on working with quality products and local suppliers.”
Book on the Liberté website
