Central Market

Could not be faulted: excellent food, service and value for money in lovely atmosphere and venue AND synchronised clearing of plates; will definitely be back.

I always thought this place looked really nice from the outside but my friend got sick after eating oysters here so i have been avoiding it. However i caved in and visited on a friday night. The place was mobbed.
We sat upstairs and were served straight away. I ordered the steak tartare as i have always wanted to try it. It was lovely and definately didnt scare me away from ordering it again! Although it is quite a small dish so a side is needed too. We got vegtables and chips. Othera ordered the hanger steak, burger, venison and ceasar salad. Everyone enjoyed theirs. The burger was huge. The prices were also very reasonable for what we got. We also ordered the cheeseboard and chocolate salami. this was very good and clever! Chocolate and nuts which actually looked like salami sausage!
Definately think il be back in the future.

Central Market is a very cool little spot, I can only really describe it as a cool laid back über stylish café. When you walk in the front door the first thing that smacks you in the face is the kitchen which is directly in front of you and completely open so it smells wonderful. There is a small mezzanine level up stairs and a few tables dotted around the large kitchen /​bar area on the ground floor. The décor is very simple and clean with quite an industrial feel with grey tiled floor, metal stairs and pillars and the exposed brick and white tiled walls.
The staff were lovely and very friendly, the guy who served us was chatty and was able to answer all the foodie questions that I threw at him about the food.
Food wise I intended to pop in for brunch but unfortunately I was too late because they had already moved on to the sandwich menu. As this was just the first stop of our fabby foodie weekend we decided to keep it nice and light with just a sandwich. I chose the Grilled Chicken which is served with bacon jam, dressed leaves and mayo — I asked for mine without the mayo though. I also for an additional £1.50 I decided to add the portion of fries.
The sandwich was really delicious, the cold filling was really tasty the chicken was lovely and soft and the bacon jam was really moreish — I easily could have just eaten it from a tub. The sour bread had been pre-​toasted on a grill so was perfectly charred and toasty, they don’t make the bread in-​house but buy it from a local artisan baker (it’s also available to but in the deli section of Central Market). The huge portion of chips were skinny frozen fries but they were some of the nicest I have ever tasted. Everything was perfectly seasoned and I woofed down the sandwich and had to ask for my fries to be taken away to stop me eating the entire portion.
I will be definitely going back very soon to try their evening menu which looks very tempting.

Another great meal at Central Market — having been unable to book for my birthday celebrations (my fault, I was just too slow!), I went with my parents before singing in the Merchant Voices Christmas Concert. Fantastic food again, my starter was Arbroath smokie with a lightly curried potato salad (doesn’t do it justice), and a touch of pineapple, followed by hanger steak with chimichurri sauce — delicious. Mum had steak tartare, which I’ve had before and is amazing — not many places I’d trust to do this well.
And I love the service in here — all very polite and attentive, without being too pushy. Also love that you get tap water poured straight away and don’t have to go through the whole ‘No, not bottled, just tap’ palaver
The music could be a bit bassy — but that was probably only an issue because the parents are getting a little deaf!

I had been looking forward to visiting her for a while and finally got an excuse to make reservations. The restaurant space is really beautiful with a mezzanine area, clean white tiles, marble table tops without looking like they’re trying too hard. We were warmly greeted and shown to our table on the mezzanine which is above the kitchen but you wouldn’t know sitting there.
There is a good drinks menu with interesting cocktails around the £7-£8 mark. I went for a white wine flight which is 3×100 ml glasses of white wine for around £10. I really liked the wines in the flight as well — sauv blanc, vermentino and treixadura. I expected the three to be served together (which has happened other times I’ve ordered a wine flight) but here they served them one at a time which actually worked better as they were able to keep them chilled.
For food I went for the chargrilled squid with panzella salad and the steak tartare for main. Starters are around £7 with mains around £15. The squid was an absolutely huge portion with three pieces of squid plus some tentacles. To be honest for a starter this was really too big and I couldn’t eat it all knowing I still had a main to come. The squid wasn’t really chargrilled like I expected, more lightly grilled and it was slightly chewy in parts. Overall the dish was verging on the too-​acidic side with maybe a bit too much vinegar. Apart from that it was beautifully presented and really generous as I mentioned. It could almost constitute a main if it had one more piece of squid!
My main was steak tartare which isn’t something I would normally order, but really fancied something different. Again the portion was generous and came with crisp breads as well as fries on the side. I really loved this and thought it was assembled perfectly, although it did take me quite a while to eat it all! I also really liked the bearnaise sauce that came with Graeme’s main (hanger steak) and wish I’d ordered a portion of my own for my fries. The side of kale we ordered wasn’t great — it comes served blanched and I don’t think this does delicious kale any justice as it just makes it a little slimy.
I was going to have dessert but by this time I was full-​to-​busting and needed a pick me up, so I went for an espresso martini. I haven’t had one in quite a few years but it had the perfect kick and sweetness and I loved it.
The service here was excellent. I couldn’t fault the staff, they were all super friendly, chatty and helpful. The bill ended up being around £70 so it was a little more expensive than we were planning on spending on a night out.

Two of my siblings have birthdays a mere 3 days apart, so a joint celebratory meal was in order and Central Market the location.
As a party of seven we were seated upstairs on the mezzanine. Pros — no-​one else up there, so it felt very much a private dining experience. Cons — So hot! To be fair, this weekend was roasting, but heat rises. Our red wine was room temperature. so it was warm.
But the food was good, and the waitress friendly (if a little scatty). Bread came with an olive tapenade instead of butter, mmm! Portions were huge! I had the duck terrine, which was nice and really reminded me of something that I can’t quite put my finger on, others had the crispy beef brisket (massive for a starter), the asparagus and the blue cheese salad (which I kind of wish I’d ordered now). I couldn’t decide what I wanted for mains (the brown shrimp, caper and samphire accompaniment to the plaice sounded delicious, but I plumped for steak. This was cooked well, an all-​round solid dish. The half-​quail was again, MASSIVE, but smelled amazing, and the burger looked really good.
We didn’t have any deserts, even though I almost always have one in restaurants, because the portions were just so big that we were completely stuffed. Which is a pity, because they had some really nice sounding deserts on the menu.
Oh, and props for the generous serving of dry sherry! Much more like the measurement I pour at home, and less like the miserely dribble most restaurants give.

We visited here just after Christmas as I’d heard it had not long opened & I was intrigued to try it out.
We were seated in the mezzanine area, next to a large party but that wasn’t an issue for us. We ordered the sardines & 6 oysters to share for starters — both were amazing. The sardines came with chorizo & lime oil which really complemented the fish.
Our mains arrived & were delicious! I had the spatchcock poussin which was perfect & accompanied by a sprout salad which was melt in the mouth perfection! My fiancé had the market burger which also got the thumbs up.
Overall a really good meal & the it’s a really chilled out atmosphere. The restaurant serves brunch & sandwiches as well during the day so will definitely be back!

Poped in here for a late Saturday lunch after some shopping and was very impressed. Nice styling with central bar, surrounding tables and a mezzanine level. The upstairs lighting for the mezzanine level hangs too low and is very harsh, so head to the tables by the wall.
A menu of good variety and everything tasted fresh and full of flavour. Attentive and friendly table service in a relaxed manner. There is a nice wine list, although quite limited for drinks by the glass; and to be honest, not great choices.
A find and I am looking forward to returning for a dinner at some time.
(As pointed out to me later, and as I meant to write, there is the option of Wine Flights too.)