Restaurant Martin Wishart

Chef and well-respected restaurateur Martin Wishart has held a Michelin star here since 2001, and standards remain sky-high at his suave flagship restaurant on Leith waterfront. Thick pile carpets, stripped pine panelling and mellow colour schemes create a mood of suave sophistication, while Wishart’s cooking takes account of Scottish produce – although his seasonally changing repertoire bears all the hallmarks of rarefied and refined French technique. You could open your account by ordering ravioli of snails with Shetland mussels, Ayrshire wild leeks, garlic shoots and white onion velouté, before tackling braised veal cheek with a fricassee of peas, morels and broad beans. After that, a dessert of brown butter pannacotta with blackcurrant crémeux and Granny Smith granita might beckon. There are also two tasting menus (including a veggie version featuring the likes of basil gnocchi with sprouting broccoli, monk’s beard, celeriac and Parmesan), while the superlative wine list offers some fine food-matching possibilities. Some readers applaud the “flawless attention to detail” and the service from “friendly French-speaking staff”, while others point out that lunch is “excellent value for money”.

Martin Wishart is an Edinburgh born chef who has honed his talent when training under such renowned chefs such as Alnert Roux and Marco Pierre White, that he has established himself as one of the most respected chefs in the country. Wishart worked in kitchens from a teen, and although he initially never planned to become a chef, he fell in love with the industry and is now well established as a multi award winning chef and restaurateur.

Wishart is exceptionally proud of his Scottish heritage and loves to focus on the very best ingredients he can source, saying that “the langoustines, scallops, crabs and lobsters always come live into my restaurant. I am very passionate about Scottish produce and use it as much as I can.” He was on the search for nearly seven years before he found the perfect property for his first restaurant in Leith, and has a great entrepreneurial attitude, these days owning three restaurants, a cook school and outside catering opportunities.

For lunch, try the three or four course option beginning with a gratin of white asparagus starter with smoked salmon and a poached hens egg, or the broccoli ravioli with smoked almond crumb and red pepper veloute. Your main course may be the Tweed Valley aged sirloin with braised short rib, black pudding and Roscoff onion, or the roasted halibut and pig's trotter.

Dessert includes the cherry beer baba with pistachio cream and sorbet, and there are additional options of a cheese board and coffee with petit fours. The tasting menu is vague, and leaves much to be discovered, just like many others. To start, you'll enjoy flavours of wild garlic and onion, before a ceviche of halibut with mango and passion fruit and Orkney scallops with vadouvan spice with squash, walnut pesto, sauternes and curry veloute. For dessert there is a pairing of gariguette strawberry with yoghurt mousse and pink peppercorn glass.