Morten Andersen rates a bar that commits to a theme and still pours a proper drink, and The Voyage of Buck manages both. It sits on a cobbled stretch of William Street in the West End, builds its rooms around a fictional Victorian wanderer, and keeps the cocktail list sharp enough to outlast the conceit.
The bar occupies 29-31 William Street, EH3 7NG, on the quiet shopping street that runs west off Shandwick Place, about a ten-minute walk from Princes Street. It is an independent house rather than a chain fit-out, which shows in the detailing of the rooms (Voyage of Buck official site). The frontage is easy to miss, which suits the West End crowd it draws.
The conceit is the spine of the place. The bar is named for William "Buck" Clarence, a fictional gentleman who in the late 19th century developed a taste for travel and worked his way through France, Taiwan, Egypt and Cuba (Bar Magazine). Those stops shape the look of the rooms and the framing of the menu without tipping into pastiche.
Three things to order. Start with the award-winning cocktail list, which the bar leans on hardest and rotates around its travel theme. Pair it with the kitchen, since the bar serves food from a 10am breakfast through to a dinner that runs to 10pm. Round out a table with the Scottish beers and the wine list, both of which sit alongside the drinks rather than behind them (Voyage of Buck official site).
The room reads as a series of small, separately dressed spaces rather than one open bar. That makes it a good fit for a table of four who want to talk, and a poor fit for a standing crowd after volume. Tripadvisor reviewers return to the cocktails and the staff, with the recurring note that the place fills on weekend evenings (Tripadvisor).
William Street is one of the few cobbled shopping lanes left in the West End, a stretch of independent shops and small bars rather than chains. That setting does half the work, since a drink here comes with a quiet street rather than a main-road crowd. Buck leans into it, keeping the rooms low-lit and the service unhurried.
The cocktail list rewards a second round rather than a single famous pour. The bar works its travel theme across the whole menu, so the better play is to ask the staff which build suits the mood and let them steer. That approach also keeps the kitchen in the conversation, since the food is set up to run alongside the drinks rather than after them.
Who it is for is the West End local after a considered cocktail, the couple wanting a date that is neither loud nor stiff, and the shopper folding a drink into the afternoon. It is wrong for anyone chasing a late-night session or a sports screen. For the rest of the city's cocktail rooms, our guide to the best cocktail bars in Edinburgh sets out the field.
Best time to go is early evening on a weekday, when the rooms are full enough to feel alive and quiet enough to hear the table. The weekend brunch service suits a slower start, and the kitchen hours mean a drink can stretch into a meal without a second venue. A Friday after seven runs busier, so book if the plan is a fixed table.
The West End rewards a short walk, so treat Buck as one stop. For the wider plan, start with our Edinburgh bar guide, and for a contrasting cocktail room a few minutes east try Bramble on Queen Street, a basement that takes its drinks just as seriously.
Sources: Voyage of Buck official site; Bar Magazine profile; Tripadvisor.
