text: There are not many places like The Bon Vivant nnIts deliciously romantic and atmospheric No matter what time of year it is dark wooded candlelit littered with empty champagne bottles red wines and beautiful staffnnIt has real atmosphere not a forced fake one And many different people can come here for different reasons Note the suits at the bar postwork drinks Note the table of mummies with babies in the restaurant area midweek family lunches Note the gaggle of girls in the corner giggling over a bottle of champagne girls night out Note the hushed couple in the corner canoodling over crafty cocktails and light bites date nights nnThe atmosphere I would say lends itself more to date nights and nights out but it is not exclusive despite thisnnWhat does it serve Why everything But does it do everything well A hard feat In fact yes it does A champagne and wine bar it has many many types of wine by the class all different types of champagnes But it also has a very creative cocktail list a margarita with black pepper andsomething else which pack quite the punch Fruity gimmicks these are not The Bon Vivant know their cocktailsnnAnd quite possibly my most favourite thing about this bar is the nibbles and food menu Where else in Edinburgh can you get little snacks for ua And really really frickin good snacks at that They have a food menu that runs from noon to pm all day When I was in town on a Sunday having not had lunch but stuck at pm with most places having stopped lunch but not started dinner I realised The Bon Vivant was the cure nnHave a look at my uploaded photo of the mixed plate we got I ordered ua servings of the blackpudding and soymarinaded swordfish And my partner ordered ua servings of the octopus and lamb pakoras The octopus were apparently delicious This was not calamari or deepfried Oh no Real octopus fresh and cured the way you would find on the continent My little bite of swordfish was delectablennThey also have a full menu of larger mains So really you can come here in any mood or having even not made up your mind and you are pretty much guaranteed to be satisfied My only quandry is I may end up spending ua on their ua bite menus and several cocktails on the sidennWith the winter months drawing in I think I may have found one of my new favourite spots to keep cosy