Just the ticket for old-fashioned comfort

The New Bell Restaurant
233 Causewayside,
Edinburgh
(0131-668 2868)

The Bill
Dinner for two, £50, excluding drinks

IT is the Edinburgh Festival - that strange time of the year when the capital's citizens do not go to bed at 9pm but stay up late to catch a concert or a Fringe show. This unaccustomed nocturnal activity is accompanied by a desperate hunt for somewhere to eat that does not involve a fast food franchise and that actually is still serving late on. At this point, everyone realises that although Edinburgh is blessed with many restaurants, finding a decent one with a spare table at a time that fits in with your show is not that easy.

My own favourite festival food stop is the café run by the Edinburgh Central Mosque in Potter Row, which serves up copious amounts of decent curry for a modest price, and where you can be in and out between Fringe shows yet still feel you had a proper meal. However, if you want a more traditional restaurant meal to complete your night out, try The New Bell Restaurant deep in the heart of Edinburgh's south side.

Though it has been around since 2000, the New Bell has kept a low profile, possibly because it is so far away from the main restaurant areas in the New Town and Leith. Nevertheless, when I entered at the nine o'clock witching hour on a Wednesday night, hot foot from a festival opening, the place was buzzing - but not with the younger crowd drinking designer beer and surfing bland fusion food. It was pleasantly full of middle-class Edinburgh couples of a certain age, plus that rare species these days - older American tourists doing the Festival.

For the New Bell is a throwback to what mainstream Scottish restaurants were like 15 or 20 years ago - which is not meant as a criticism. It is a proper, grown-up's restaurant serving well-cooked Scottish fare at affordable prices, and in a pleasant setting which is as far from minimalist as you can get. Some might call it too bourgeois and cosy for comfort, but comfort is what New Bell does in spades. Who says dining out has to take place in a chrome and black leather dentist's waiting room and involve architecture on your plate rather than stuff you can eat?

The New Bell is located upstairs from the Old Bell pub, though it is a wholly separate business. The scale is human and intimate, the furniture eclectic, and the walls crammed with framed prints of familiar paintings. Classical music wafts gently in the background. You could be at home, which is probably the idea.

The New Bell is owned and run by a husband-and-wife team, Richard and Michelle Heller. Richard does the honours in the kitchen. He has an interesting background given the New Bell is such a classic Scottish eatery. He is half Californian, half Mexican and learned the restaurant trade in Barcelona before coming to Edinburgh 20 years ago. I put the attentive customer service down to Mr Heller's Californian background and the accent on cuisine to his Latin experience.

For starters we had a tasty game terrine enlivened with pickled vegetables and a Cumberland sauce (£5.95 on its own, or as part of the £25 three-course deal available Sunday to Thursday); and crêpe stuffed with Macsween's haggis (£7). The latter came with leeks and a whisky sauce. I was not convinced by the leeks, which were deep-fried and tasted a bit like rubber bands, but the combination of haggis and sauce was well orchestrated.

For mains we had chargrilled ribeye steak with hand-cut chips, buttered vegetables and a creamy pepper sauce (£17.95); and roast haunch of venison with fondant potato, braised cabbage, butternut squash and bramble and juniper jus (£18.95). In both cases the meat just melted on the knife, having been properly hung before cooking. The venison in particular was near perfect - Mr Heller knows his kitchen.

I was also impressed with the care taken over the accompanying vegetables, so often just an afterthought in Scottish restaurants. These all came suitably al dente - a difficult professional trick to pull off as different vegetables cook at different rates. And the New Bell hand-cut chips will delight anyone with a chip-shaped space.

For afters, we cheated and shared a cheese plate and a dessert, but all the portions at the New Bell are charmingly generous. The cheese selection (£7) was a Lincolnshire Poacher, a Dunsyre Blue and an organic Clava Brie, courtesy of Iain Mellis. A minor carp: the cheese needs to be a touch fresher. The dessert was an enterprising iced rhubarb parfait with rhubarb compote (£5.50). Well done Richard Heller for flying the flag for humble rhubarb, which has a wonderfully distinct and fresh taste.

The wine list at the New Bell is modest and populist but it won't hurt your pocket. I liked the fact they put the alcohol strength of each wine on the menu - something all restaurants should do. I chose a light Bordeaux - a Chateau Bonnet Reserve 2003 (£25). This is a pleasant 50:50 combination of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine tasted minerally at first but improved on breathing - get them to decant it for you.

The New Bell is decidedly old fashioned in ambience and the meat and fish courses very traditional. However, for those who want a chef interested in feeding his customers rather than using them as guinea pigs so he can win a Michelin star, the New Bell is the place to go when out for a Festival meal.