Martin Wishart

Martin Wishart does what he does extremely well. He is also open to feedback and not afraid of engaging with his guests. Some friends went to lunch at his Leith restaurant and were disappointed that instead of a selection of petit fours at the end of the meal, they were given a gift case of madeleines. One of them wrote to the restaurant and received a phone call a week later from the man himself, promising to restore his petit fours to their rightful place on the menu.

Martin Wishart is a great place to start if you have the taste for Michelin food but perhaps not the budget to go for the full blown tasting menu extravaganza of an evening meal. He offers a set 3 course lunch for £24.50 – incredible value given that you receive the full Michelin treatment. 3 courses quickly becomes 6 or more as you are given an amuse bouche on arrival, followed by a selection of freshly baked bread hot from the oven, dessert is followed by the superb petit-fours and if, like us, you couldn’t resist champagne and the cheese as an added course then you have no-one but yourself to blame should your initial £50 lunch bill start to climb upwards!

The restaurant in Leith is small, and the staffing has been designed so that there is at least one waiter for every two guests. The service is impeccable – very much in the French style but with an endearing edge of Scottish friendliness to lighten the tone. The waiter who served us the cheese took us on a world tour of stinky cheeses and gave us a recommendation for a great Edinburgh deli while he was at it. Our set lunch included a superb soup that was presented beautifully – a single lobster ravioli was brought to us in a bowl, after which the waiter produced a warmed jug of the soup itself which he poured theatrically into our bowls from an impressive height. My fish main was amazing, our raspberry soufflé desserts impressively high and fluffy, the cheese aged and perfectly ripe and oh the petit-fours! A divinely presented row on a narrow silver platter ranging from passionfruit truffles to crisp light madeleines and delicious nougat. Thank God Martin is not above taking criticism because missing that truffle would have been tragic!