Review written of Forth St Branch February 2009
Food that doesn’t cost the earth

THERE IS NO BETTER INTRODUCTION TO URBAN ANGEL THAN TO QUOTE THE MISSION STATEMENT ON THE WEBSITE. "…CREATED IN 2004 TO PROVIDE HUNGRY CITY DWELLERS WITH THE FRESHEST, TASTIEST FOOD POSSIBLE. WE LOVE FOOD AND BELIEVE THIS MEANS SOURCING THE BEST NATURAL INGREDIENTS AND PAYING A FAIR PRICE TO ALL OF OUR SUPPLIERS. OUR CUSTOMERS CAN HAVE CONFIDENCE THAT WE ONLY USE THE BEST LOCAL, ORGANIC, FREE-RANGE AND FAIRLY TRADED PRODUCE AVAILABLE."

Following Christmas, fresh, healthy food was needed and I wanted to investigate the second branch of Urban Angel which opened in Forth Street in 2008. To start, we ordered tapas of lime and coriander hummus with flatbread (£3.50) and white anchovies with roast almond and lemon piccada (£3.50).

The hummus was home-made, fresh, garlicky and chunky in texture and delicious spread thickly on soft, springy flatbread. A saucer of anchovies contained an imaginative explosion of flavour and texture; piquant, mouth-puckering fish, crunchy roasted almonds, green-tinged virgin olive oil and fragrant lemon peel. ~

For mains I was delighted with my choice of organic lamb tagine with chilli, dates, almonds and coriander (£7.90/£10.90) whilst my partner was equally chuffed with his Ballencrieff free-range sausages on mash with a red wine jus (£6.90/£10.90). You can order large or small main courses (genius). The waitress sensibly suggested the smaller tagine with a side of braised puy lentils with coriander and yoghurt labna (£2.50). The lamb had the full, rich, flavoursome flesh that is unique to organic lamb. It was tender enough to eat with a fork alone and the sweet dates and hot spices, made it exotically tasty. My partner was being far too quiet about his sausages. We eat a lot of sausages but agreed these were the best and later learned they had won a Gold Great Taste Award in 2008. Scraped plates were testament to how much we enjoyed our food.

Desserts at Urban Angel are temptingly displayed at the counter and I chose fig cheesecake (£3.50); a light, biscuit base, a two inch wedge of creamy, cheesy (as opposed to sugary) gooey filling and slim slices of refreshing fig on top.

Urban Angel confidently takes its place in the line up of top Edinburgh eateries and if 2009 sees a world concerned more with sustainability than greed it has the ethical credentials to boot.