David Bann (Edinburgh, Scotland)

David Bann's an upmarket vegetarian restaurant in Edinburgh city centre, a 10 minute walk down the hill from the castle.

Its menu's squarely vegetarian with only a single vegan dessert option. I was looking forward to trying their "Chilli Pancakes with Sweet Potato, Courgette & Chocolate Sauce" main but it was sold out. Instead I opted for:

Salad of walnut gnocchi, beetroot and smoked cheese - 7.65
Gnocchi with roasted walnut, beetroot, sorrel, watercress, salad leaf and Ardrahan smoked cheese. With maple, lemon and mustard dressing. [V]

Aubergine, chickpea and cashew koftas - 11.90
Spicy koftas of roasted aubergine, chick pea and toasted cashews in a spicy aromatic coconut, courgette and tomato sauce. Served with coriander rice, pineapple chutney and mint yoghurt raita. [V]

Orange jelly on lemon cake with coconut rum sorbet - 5.60
Orange segment jelly sitting on lemon cake and topped with homemade coconut sorbet. Served with lemon dressing and Amaretto soaked figs. V

([V] is vegan option)

A particular bug bear of mine is vegan options which in no way represent the description of the dish I ordered. Like for like replacements are perfectly acceptable (though it's preferable for them to be marked on the menu), substitutions disappointing (especially considering that the price is never lowered or portion size increased), but totally different is just misleading:

So I'm not entirely sure what I had for starter. Some kind of fritters I think - definitely not gnocchi (which ironically is easy to make vegan).

Faced with a choice of stir fry, risotto or curry for main I went with the latter. It was alright (on a par with a local curry house), but not what I'd expected to eat at a restaurant in Edinburgh:

Figs creep me out, so I left them. The rest was alright - jelly and icecream made to look fancy:

My meal at David Bann was perfectly pleasant and I would go back. The staff were friendly and prices not unreasonable (assuming they're inline with omni places in Edinburgh).

The food was fairly uninspiring - not terrible like some reviewers claim but not sensational either. In Brighton speak it was more "Food for Friends" than "Terre a Terre". More (adventurous) vegan menu items would be appreciated when I return.