Food and Drink :: Weblog :: Katie's Diner For Steak Heaven

Eight of us went to the American style Katie's Diner last night to celebrate the birthday of my good friend Olivia.  Olivia is American and that's why we chose Katie's.  That and the fact that they may well do the best meat feast in Edinburgh.

It's a tiny wee place run by the eponymous* Katie who cooks the meat and her affable husband Geoff who serves it.  There are only four or five tables and you practically have to come through the kitchen to get to them: it really does have a very personal feel.

It's a grill menu: mostly steaks and burgers with a few other meat and fish and veggie things.  We had steaks all round.  They do rump, ribeye, sirloin and fillet.  If I remember rightly the first three will set you back around £12 and the fillet around £17 (give or take a quid or two).  That's for an 8oz job in each case.  They all come with boiled tatties or chips, salad and rather yummy coleslaw which I suspect is home-made.  There are some seasoning and saucing options you can purchase at £1.50 a piece too.

The steaks were great.  I went for a cheeky sirloin, medium rare, with a garlic and herb butter. It was delicious.  Just a really nice bit of meat really nicely cooked.  And the chips dipped in bloody juices was a sinfully good accompaniment.  The birthday girl had an unadorned fillet which I got a wee taste of and it was melt-in-the-mouth tender and delicious as a fillet should be.  Others had other sirloins and ribeyes which all seemed to go down well too.

For pudding some folks enjoyed baked cheesecake or apple crumble.  A few of us opted for the perfectly squidgy chocolate brownies with fudge sauce and ice cream.  Very yummy but, and I've never suggested something like this in my life, you would do well to share this dish with a friend.  After that and the big slab of cow I could barely stand up I was so full up.  Result!

I would certainly recommend this place.  If you want to eat steak in Edinburgh, do it here.  They know how to do it right.

• Katie's is on Barclay Terrace, right on the edge of Bruntsfield Links, a door or two along from the Golf Tavern.
• You'd be well advised to book in advance as it's totey and popular.
  
• www.katiesdiner.com 
  
• 0131 229 1394

*I wonder if you can be eponymous in a restaurant context?