Fusion Gourmet

Small, stylish restaurant exploring a wide variety of Chinese cuisines.

The 2018 edition of The List's Eating & Drinking Guide is out now – only £7.95 (+p&p).

Handily positioned between the university heartland and Lothian Road’s nexus of cinemas and concert halls, Fusion Gourmet is poised to pick up on both the hungry culturati and discerning student diners. With a menu that stretches from fiery Szechuan standards to nourishing north-east cooking and elegant Shanghai dishes, this stylish spot covers a lot of culinary ground. There is no trade-off in terms of quality, however. Tiny spring rolls are crisp, plentiful and full of flavour. Salt and chilli squid is meltingly soft in its blanket of batter. Portions are generous: a stew of whole sea bass and bean curd is enough to feed four and is a perfectly cooked blend of flavours and textures with melting chunks of tofu, tender fish, meaty mushrooms and tastebombs of ginger and star anise. With a mission to broaden local tastes, the restaurant is accustomed to comments about unfamiliar ingredients and flavours but the strong showing of Chinese customers here shows that they're scoring high on authenticity.