'Going through' is a very Scottish term and covers the journey so many undertake for business or pleasure from Glasgow to Edinburgh and vice versa. After an evening spent with my sister's family in Glasgow round a corner table of La Valle Blanche on the Byres Road (for which the immediate directions are that it is opposite Waitrose and above a record shop), I 'went through' to Edinburgh where there has been a transformation in the city's restaurants.
Those that are in the centre still retain their historic charm but have become far more relaxed, far more fun and far less expensive than the more formal places of even only
a few years ago. And while this is a phenomenon common to many city centres, what is distinctive here is the emergence of a significant number of restaurants in Leith, Edinburgh's port, which is a ten-minute taxi ride from the centre.
URBAN ANGEL
121 Hanover Street, 0131 225 6215, urban-angel.co.uk
This branch of Urban Angel (there is another one on Forth Street), certainly lives up to its name. One is led past a counter full of cakes and the kitchen into a series of small rooms and a courtyard that catches the morning sun. The furniture is all wood, highlighted in our room by a pair of mirrors in the shape of angel's wings. A brunch menu from 9am to 5pm combines the usual combination of egg dishes with Scottish treats: oatmeal porridge with honey, Arbroath smokies and haggis, of course, which also comes in a vegetarian variety. And while the lunchtime menu offers a variety of Mediterranean dishes — a salade Niçoise and a falafel sandwich on flatbread – there is a strong Scottish element here too: steamed West Coast mussels with fennel, wild mushrooms on focaccia and a risotto of smoked haddock.
WEDGWOOD
Royal Mile, 267 Canongate, 0131 558 8737, http://wedgwoodtherestaurant.co.uk
Although Wedgwood is most definitively set in 'auld Edinburgh', it would not look out of place in any major French city. Lisa Channon runs the dining room on the ground and lower floors with a well-disciplined but friendly team while Paul Wedgwood squeezes around his fellow chefs in a tiny kitchen to produce distinguished food inspired by the finest Scottish ingredients.
These include diver scallops with pea purée, fillet of wild deer with poached pear, a Scottish cheeseboard and a marmalade crème brûlée. Other attractions are excellent value set lunch menus and an exciting wine list.
MITHAS
7 Dock Place, Leith, 0131 554 0008, http://mithas.co.uk
Leith is the setting for a new departure for the Mohammed family who, in 1947, pioneered Indian restaurants in Edinburgh with congenial, mid-priced Khushi's, three branches of which still flourish in Edinburgh, Dunfermline and Stirling. Now Islam Mohammed, one of three brothers in charge, has invested heavily in Mithas to be the first upmarket Indian restaurant in Scotland. Dinner is distinguished by a series of fish and shellfish dishes, scallops, monkfish and prawns, whose flavours are accentuated by their immersion in spicy but not too hot marinades and then a short time in a very hot tandoor oven. By contrast, the lamb and chicken curries are memorable for the manner in which gentle, slow cooking enhances the numerous, disparate ingredients And, unlike in so many other Indian restaurants, there is a first-class pastry chef.
THE KITCHIN
78 Commercial Quay, Leith, 0131 555 1755, http://thekitchin.co.uk
Five years ago, Tom and Michaela Kitchin opened this restaurant and set about enhancing Leith's reputation as a restaurant destination. Tom served his apprenticeship in London under the eminent Pierre Koffman, and his menu today is a combination of French culinary technique, the best Scottish ingredients and particular generosity. Most impressive are dishes for two to share that are carved at the table: a tail of monkfish, wrapped in pancetta, served with squid and persillade, and a peppered rib of beef with marrow potatoes and a parsley sauce. Also excellent is a whisky baba with cherries macerated for eight months in brandy, a recipe Tom generously credits to Madame Koffman.
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