SETTING George Street is a place for designer shopping with bars, bistros and boutique hotels, all featuring Continental style pavement cafes. At the elegant George Hotel, the French café-style Tempus bistro-bar and adjoining opulent, art deco restaurant offers a smart, relaxed meeting place for conversation and leisurely wining and dining. Day and night, it’s popular from hotel guests and shoppers to friends and couples of all ages. Check out the glamorous banqueting hall for weddings, events and private parties (Scottish Wedding Hotel award, 2010).

FOOD The new Tempus restaurant menu for Spring - Summer is a welcome change, combining gastropub grub (burgers, mussels, pasta - previously only served in the Bar) with classic British cuisine featuring beef, salmon and lamb. We indulge in a glass of Perrier Jouet champagne while studying the menu; the wine list is varied and well priced with good choice of bubbly.

To start, I could not resist the home-made chunky fishcake with a soft, perfectly poached egg on the top, and drizzle of Arran mustard hollandaise sauce. My partner sampled the very fine, melt-in-the-mouth, Loch Fyne smoked salmon; taste, texture and quality is fantastic and no wonder crates of Loch Fyne oysters and smoked fish is exported world wide each week.

To follow, Pan fried sea bream served with colcannon and pea and pancetta fricassee: tender flakes of fish complemented beautifully with the hearty, healthy potato and curly kale mash and sweet green peas, create a quirky revamped “fish and chips” dish. Also tried and tested was a tasty vegetarian dish, light and summery open lasagna stuffed with girolle mushrooms and baby leeks. We share two side orders - hand cut Real Chips (fat, floppy, crispy and simply perfect) and steamed al dente broccoli. Throughout dinner we are looked after by Maria who tops up our glasses of sweet-bramble Stellenbosch Pinotage with a friendly smile. After this feast it’s difficult to find space for dessert but are tempted by the crème brulee and a platter of Scottish and French cheese, properly served at room temperature, featuring mature brie and tangy goat’s cheese. All in all, contemporary "posh -casual" cuisine celebrating locally sourced Scottish produce with a menu to suit all tastes and appetites.