Amber Restaurant

The 2013 edition of The List's Eating & Drinking Guide is out now – only £5.95 (+p&p).

This review is taken from the current (2013) edition.

Just a few steps down the Royal Mile from Edinburgh Castle, it's no surprise to encounter throngs of tourists in the lobby and shop of the Scotch Whisky Experience. Yet Amber Restaurant, tucked cosily into the red sandstone belly of the Old Town building, is a pleasantly sophisticated and contemporarily styled dining location, certainly compared to tasteless tartan excesses nearby. While the adjoining whisky bar, with approaching 400 different bottles, takes novice and connoisseur alike on a voyage of discovery, dining is by no means the poor relation. A tapas counter at the bar serves bites and nibbles of meat and fish to match the drams, while in the restaurant the lunch menu has sharing platters, mains and even a dim sum selection, all with a local flavour from Dunsyre blue cheese to smoked haddock. Evening dining is a little more substantial, but not overly formal, offering dishes including a terrine of wild mountain hare and homemade picalilli, a main of guinea fowl and skirlie, or a popular selection of miniature cooking pots offering local classics such as stovies, mussels and haggis.

• High point: Tourist friendly but still imaginative and interesting Scottish dining
• Low point: No whisky angle missed – there's even whisky butter icing on the carrot cake