Edinburgh brunch now on the menu at The Villager

From eggs benedict with smoked salmon to chilli-and-lime smashed avocado toast and gluten-free kedgeree, it's the first time brunch will be served at  popular George IV Bridge The Villager.

The Villager serves new brunch menu.

The new brunch will be available from 10am-4pm on Saturdays and Sundays and has been designed by head chef Kenneth Hamilton to feature local produce as well as an extensive vegan selection.

With an increasing number of people enjoying vegan diets, manager Caz Park said it was important to reflect this lifestyle change with the food choices on offer.

“A quarter of Edinburgh people are now eating vegan diets,” she said. “It is important to us to have something on offer for such a large percentage of locals - rather than just altering dishes to suit these diets, we have items such as buffalo broccoli, matbuka dip and an intensely flavoured Malaysian curry which are always vegan, and not forgetting our vegan sticky

Brunch at The Villager

toffee pudding!”

As well as revamping the food menu, The Villager has also shaken up its drinks list with a particular focus on showcasing local brands, and gins in particular.

Caz added: “We've taken the time to select products which we really believe in. A lot of our products are from smaller lesser-known companies, hailing from Scotland where possible. For example, included in our brunch drinks menu is an Arbikie chilli vodka bloody mary, from Arbroath.

“Through staff training we can pass on the knowledge of these smaller brands to our customers and help them grow, giving something new to our customers at the same time.

Bar staff also refresh the Villager bar menu.

“Scotland has a booming food and drink industry and we are proud to be showcasing a selection of these. We are using Sweetdram's Escubac in one of our cocktails - it is distilled in the same way as gin and sits happily on the gin shelf amongst the others but is marketed as Not a Gin! due to the absence of juniper.

“The guys at Sweetdram are based in Edinburgh and are always coming up with new things - they have recently released the first whisky-based Amaro.

“It is these kind of companies who we support as they are our neighbours and are doing some really interesting stuff and thinking outside the box.

“We are also stocking gins from North Berwick, Arbroath, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Shetland Isles as well as all Scottish craft beers in our fridges and of course Thistly Cross cider is in there, too. In the kitchen we use a local bakery company for delicious bread rolls and hope to expand into other Edinburgh-based businesses in our food menu, too.”