You might remember I recently went to Burgers and Beers and then onto Spatch which are sister companies of The Newsroom on Leith Street, and to complete my hat-trick of all the associated venues, the assistant manager of the Newsroom kindly invited me down to review them too.

The Newsroom is immediately recognisable as the “one by St James Centre” which I’m sure many, many of us will have walked past over the years but have you been in yet? We went on a busy week night in December where Christmas jollities were in full swing making the atmosphere fun if a little loud. I don’t imagine it will be quite the same volume outside of Christmas Party Season. We were invited down for some cocktails and grub but as I was driving my boyfriend – he conveniently doesn’t drive 😉 – took full advantage of the free cocktails on offer and started off with a “Passionberry Fizz” which I had a cheeky sip of and it was really lovely – fresh and fruity.

The bar itself is plastered with headlines from celebrity deaths which makes for… interesting reading whilst eating your dinner with a bit of morbid curiosity! Meanwhile the windows are litten up with hundreds of Edison bulbs which make you feel like you’re in an All Saints merchandiser’s wet dream.

We decided just to go for main courses and I shall start with my boyfriend’s choice: a 10 oz rump steak served with hand cut chips, onion rings, Portobello mushroom and a mixed dressed salad and he of course had to have his pepper sauce with it too. He asked for it medium and it came just as promised. I’m not a lover of steak (quelle horreur) so I never bother to try his but it looked nice and he thoroughly enjoyed it.

The following absolutely filthy (and I mean that as a compliment) plate of food got some of the most traction I’ve ever seen on my Facebook page (and in work when I showed it to my primarily male office the following day). The “three little pigs” is one of the most underestimated names for such a gargantuan meal! A battered king rib topped with pulled pork and bacon and cheese in a crisp bun. I think it should be called “the absolute porker” as that’s how I felt after I ate it (and I ate almost all of it bar the bun!). Whilst the bun understandably holds the whole thing together and I can’t think of another way to better present this bad boy it’s totally surplus to requirements as the filling is so substantial! The salt and vinegar batter was a revelation – tangy batter that tastes like a chippy on its own – and has my mouth watering remembering it.

I ordered some fries on the side too which were almost inedible due to the amount of salt which was our only complaint over the evening of the food.

As with its sister companies, The Newsroom really stands out on customer service. Both Greger, the assistant manager, and our waitress for the evening were outstanding in service – friendly, smiley, chatty and welcoming. These guys really know how to hire good staff and keep them happy as it’s the most consistently good service I’ve ever received.

Keep me posted if you try out the “three little pigs” – and especially if you manage to finish it all!

* This meal was complimentary for the purposes of this review but as always all words, thoughts and imaginative renaming of dishes are entirely my own.