I wanted to try at least one of the four (single) Michelin-starred restaurants in Edinburgh, and The Kitchin (named after the chef Tom Kitchin) seemed like the most promising to me. (The others are The Plumed Horse, Number One, and Restaurant Martin Wishart.) Based on the website and online reviews, I got the impression that the chef cares a lot about fresh, locally sourced ingredients, and promotes nose-to-tail (or as I prefer to call it, hoof-to-mouth) cuisine, which is my favorite kind.
After looking at the menu for all of 30 seconds, my 5 dining companions and I decided to go for the 7-course “land and sea surprise” tasting menu, as well as the accompanying wine package. For a first visit, I think this was a good choice. (In general, tasting menus are a good way of diversifying one’s gastronomic portfolio, which is important when one is not familiar with a chef’s style.) However, having been to The Kitchin once, I think I would now know how to order well off the regular menu.
For me, the best dish by far (which was also easily the best dish I ate in Edinburgh) was the main meat course, namely “early-season grouse”, a local game bird. It was served very simply, mostly de-boned, with some parsnip puree and a bland gravy-like “bread sauce” on the side. It’s one of the best birds I’ve ever tasted, its meat almost liver-like in flavor. Truly heavenly.
The “pig’s head and scallop” dish (the “pig’s head” consisting of a crispy pig’s ear sitting atop a little patty made from meat/fat from the pig’s head) was also very well-done, my second favorite of the evening. According to the waiter, this is one of the chef’s signature dishes. I’m not surprised, although to be honest I wouldn’t go out of my way to order it again.
The cheese course was excellent, including a number of unusual Scottish and French cheeses. By the time the cheese course rolled around, people were pretty stuffed, so the waiter allowed us to share two cheese plates between 6 people. (This turned out to be an appropriate amount of cheese per person, as opposed to the gargantuan cheese plate one typically receives in European tasting menus.)
The wine pairing (including 7 or 8 wines) was also above-average IMO, definitely worth the cost.
The other dishes included a fennel-cream amuse bouche, a smoked mackerel appetizer, a razorfish clam appetizer, a turbot-and-vegetables main fish course, and a hibiscus pannacotta dessert. While these were all very good (and some of my dining companions declared the razorfish dish the best of the night), I was frankly somewhat underwhelmed. All these dishes were quite delicate and IMO rather character-less. I could have received them in any fine dining establishment. They didn’t speak to me.
So, all in all, I was somewhat disappointed. The food was all very good, and of excellent quality, but for me only the grouse was truly memorable. If the restaurant were about 30% cheaper, that would be enough for a strong recommendation, but at The Kitchin’s rather high price point I can only give a moderate recommendation.
Price range: Very Expensive (over 100 GBP)
Rating: B / B+
