The Kitchin

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.

Of course, you can melt the credit card with the tasting or seasonal menus at this ultra-slick Leith restaurant, but Tom Kitchin has also brought his Michelin-starred brand of fine dining to a refreshingly wide audience of food lovers. A set lunch menu offers all the precision, provenance and presentation you’d expect from a restaurant groaning with accolades, but without requiring a second mortgage. Straw-smoked herring ‘leaping’ through a hoop of finely spun crisp potato with artful islands of dill-flavoured sauce is a dish in point. Calves’ liver of a perfect pink richness is sweetened with orange sauce and a tatin of endive. Pork belly crackles and oozes meatiness in the right proportions. A lemon soufflé is all about lightness and flavour; custard tart and poached rhubarb are ideal plate mates. It’s all simple in concept, but still ultra sophisticated. Not food for making headlines, but for giving pleasure and putting you at ease. But then, ‘Nature to Plate’ is the concept here, so ultimately – and a little ironically – the food is the star here, not the chef.

• High point: Matching wines are worth the outlay
• Low point: Cheese information is a trifle sketchy