Merchants has a long-standing reputation for various forms of catering in Scotland; its handsome and well-respected restaurant at the very heart of Edinburgh Old Town is an important part of the empire. Emphasis is on Scottish ingredients and dishes, but by no means excluding a wider spread on the daily changing menu. An attractively arranged wheel of Angus beef (and when we were there the beef gave every evidence of having been treated properly prior to cooking) comes well-dressed with an Arran mustard coat, or a filo pastry generously filled with guinea fowl and black grapes, and some very good soups all appear regularly amongst the starters. Main courses are comfortable rather than exciting and may include a fillet of Angus beef on a bed of haggis and glazed with a whisky sauce, crown of quail filled with an orange stuffing, served with a smoked bacon and mushroom sauce, or a pan-fried fillet of trout with an anchovy and Provencale sauce. Service can be a touch patchy but when it's on form it's very good, and the overall quality of the operation is never in doubt.