Restaurant
The best place to eat in town
Nigella Lawson
You get the feeling in Edinburgh that no one really goes out to eat, that is, those who want to eat well. This is partly explained by the paucity of good res- taurants, partly by the prevailing spirit of the place which gives the impression that frequenting eating houses is, frankly, a little bit vulgar. For Edinburghers, eating seems to have remained a respectably private pleasure: hungry visitors are advised, then, to pick their spot with care.
SCOTTISH SPECIAL
And the best place to eat in this city is Martin's, a small but serious establishment hidden away in a little alleyway off Frederick Street.
It is not an easy place to find. Turn right, from Frederick Street, into Rose Street and then turn right into North Lane, looking out for the sign which the prop- rietor has put up to let you know you are on the right track, until you find a small house with a green awning: you have arrived at Martin's.
On your left, as you go in, is the table-decked bar, on your right the softly lit, small dining room from which emanate a reassuring stream of smells and the low, steady murmur of earnest eaters. The bar has a rather Scandinavian feel to it: white formica tables, wooden-slatted blinds and modern ironwork candlesticks. The auster- ity of the decor is softened by the large Prints which hang on the walls, pastel- toned examples of illustrator's art which seem to appeal to restaurateurs every- where. Here you sit, sipping sherry, read- ing the menu and observing your fellow diners, a crowd of smartly dressed men With a schoolmasterly air and neatly cos- tumed women.
Martin Irons, who runs the place with his Wife Gay, has spent his working life in restaurants and hotels in one way or another, but Martin's, about to celebrate its fifth birthday, is the first restaurant of his own. This is a determinedly Scottish restaurant. Irons is not a native of the city, having been born in Dublin (though brought up in East Lothian), but his chefs are all Scottish. There are a lot of them considering the size of the place: David Macrae is head chef, under him are Forbes Stott and Andrew Porteous, the youngest finalist in the Young Chef of the Year Award. They use local produce and organi- cally grown vegetables, and although it certainly is not a vegetarian restaurant, Martin Irons claims it is 'as green as we can be'.
Slightly odd, then, that one of the starters on the menu when I went was quail stuffed with foie gras. Suspect on ideolo- gical rather than culinary grounds, it came glossily brown and wonderfully gamy, on a conker-coloured garlicky sauce sprinkled With nutty wild rice. Other starters on the daily changing menu were a warm salad With venison and pigeon, a crayfish bisque Spiked with pickled ginger, an intensely flavoured almost meaty soup which came several shades darker than the usual Picture-book coral, and North Minch scal- lops with rhubarb butter, a suspiciously adventurous combination, but one that paid off: the delicate-fleshed seafood held its own remarkably well against the pro flounced asperity of the matchsticky strips of pink fruit.
Main courses similarly come in fours, and we tried three of them: the West Coast halibut with sorrel butter, the green- flecked sauce masking none of the fresh- ness of the firm and gloriously white fish; escalope of salmon with two sauces, aspar- agus and saffron, the fish tender and strong-tasting, the sauces, making a Mosi- mannesque pattern on the plate, smokily, delicately flavoured; and a wonderfully robust fillet of Scottish beef with glazed shallots and wild mushrooms. The fourth, untried, item was poached chicken breast with fresh garden herbs.
There is a lovingly composed cheese- board of unpasteurised, mainly Scottish, cheeses which comes with Orkney oatcakes and fruit, and a small pudding menu. The masterpiece has to be the chestnut cake with an orange and cardamom sauce, but the rhubarb and ginger ice-cream and iced eau-de-vie de framboise souffle are not to be sneezed at either.
There is a serious but affordable wine list, which offers a good choice of half- bottles. House wine is £6.75 for a 75c1 carafe, £8.95 for 100c1, and we had a marvellously spiky Sancerre rosé for £12.95. Mention must be made of the bread basket, which has an all-too-eatable treacly-sweet brown bread which is baked nearby. Dinner for two, with drinks be- fore, a good wine and coffee afterwards, will cost around £50. There is a two-course lunch menu of £6.95, astonishingly good value. From this you might choose from salmon and turbot terrine with sea vege- tables and coriander, leek and carrot soup or a warm salad of chorizo and new potatoes to start with, braised chicken with rosemary, lemon sole with capers and lime or grilled sirloin of beef with a Dijon mustard sauce to follow. All main courses come, as they do at dinner, with a selection of vegetables or a fragrantly dressed salad, complete with designer leaves and sunflow- er seeds.
One word of warning, however: it is a no-smoking dining-room. You can creep off into the bar to smoke without incurring the proprietor's disapproval, but serious addicts may have problems.
Martin's, 70 Rose Street North Lane, Edinburgh. Tel 031-225 3106. Open lunch Tues-Fri, dinner Tues-Sat. N. B. Martin's will be closed from 13 to 22 May.
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