First
of all I would like to thank you everyone who voted for my recipe in
a competition in March. On the Saturday, 26th November we had our meal
in the restaurant of our choice - The Kitchin on Edinburgh’s stylish
waterfront. Without shadow of a doubt this experience was worth every penny
spent and every minute waiting. Thank you very much! I think I better warn you
- this is not a quick review. I just couldn’t stop writing once I started; I had
so many things to tell you. I truly regret that my photos are not good quality
– I was unable to take my proper camera as I only had a clutch with me so I
took an old compact camera and obviously the light wasn’t good enough to take
photographs of food. I did not want to use flash too. I hope my enthusiastic
words will tell the story anyway.
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| We were given printed menu and wine list after the dinner |
Let
me start from admitting that as much as we both are food lovers we never went
to any Michelin starred restaurant as we thought it might be little overpriced
and money not worth the whole experience, alcohol served and the ingredients used.
Too stiff and too snobby. “Lunch perhaps”, we though. “One day”. Today we know
how wrong we were even if you read about the dishes we were served and still
think this is far too expensive for the cuts we ate (pig’s head, fish cheeks) I
will tell you now: this is not about the food only. Thankfully the food is the
most important, but the whole experience is about the service, the atmosphere,
the chat with the chef – annoyingly talented, probably one of the best chefs in
Europe if not in the world. We are certainly
ready to do it again. And again. We are actually planning next trip, around
spring time.
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| Courtesy of Stripecom http://stripecom.co.uk/ |
We
both knew from a very beginning that we will go for a tasting surprise menu. It
would be extremely difficult to decide and have only three courses from a
regular menu, but the tasting menu consists as much as seven courses and it was
perfect for us, who did not have a chance to eat at The Kitchin before. What
was even better – the menu was based on sea and land products.
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| Courtesy of Stripecom http://stripecom.co.uk/ |
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| Courtesy of Stripecom http://stripecom.co.uk/ |
We
had a very warm welcome and receptionist looked after us very well before we
were taken to our table. The interior is stylish, quite plain, and very
elegant, of dark woods and shades of grey with very subtle light. The bar and lounge also area seems very
relaxing. We were welcomed by a glass of champagne, as we decided to go for a
wine package matching our surprise menu.
A
window opens from the dining room onto the kitchen area itself so the diners
are able to see the theatre of cooking and preparation. Men are in charge, Tom
Kitchin and about 10 others, also one young female chef. There are also some
glass cabinets with gifts that you can purchase from the reception (signed
books, vouchers etc). According to me the dinning area can handle between 40-50
diners at once.
The
service was excellent. Very polite, helpful, entire team shines
through in what they deliver - quality and consistency. Sommelier perfectly
synchronized with the waiters bringing the dishes to our table. To make you
even happier he explains where the wine comes from and why they serve it with
this particular dish. I think you had enough of this talking and I am sure you
would like to know what we had on our menu. The
Chef’s land and sea surprise menu is based on the imaginative creations of Chef
Tom Kitchin. The menu is, as the name suggests, a food lovers’ surprise,
compiled from the very freshest produce. We also decided to go for a Matched Wine Package - a welcome drink glass of champagne followed by a different glass of wine with
each course.
First
we had a beautiful blue cheese dip with some nibbles, mainly fresh vegetables
and a kind of dough sticks and crispy kind of pancake to dig in this mouth
watering, creamy dip. A man with a bread trolley appeared and introduced the
whole range of bread to choose from for our starter. We both went for sourdough
bread and I have to say it was the best bread (excluding my own, homemade
sourdough) I had since I moved to UK over five years ago.
Appetiser
Celeriac velouté served with chestnuts and
apple
(Philipponnat Royal Reserve Champagne, France)
It
was a time for a first course: amuse bouche, little soup to cheer our mouths up, as the French name says. It was
creamy, velvety, velouté – classic French recipe using a roux and
a good quality stock or just simly - velvety thick sopu. Sounds bit heavy? It was not at all. Creamy, sweet soup was complimented beautifully by the crispy tiny croutons and diced and little bit sour apple.
Shellfish Rockpool
A rockpool of West Coast shellfish served
with sea vegetables in a shellfish consommé
(Three Choirs, Coleridge Hill, Gloucestershire, England, 2010)
Before
the proper starter we had another dish surprisingly served by Tom Kitchin
himself. It was a pleasure to meet the chef in person, and it was very kind of
him to come out of his kitchen and welcome us. The dish was a composition of few different types of shellfish and sea veg that Scottish
coast is proud of: seaweed, prawns, caviar, crayfish tail etc. Chef explained
that this is his idea of shore and the tide is coming – the tide was the
shellfish consommé poured by
the chef over the dish from a little jug. Do you think this is little
bit of showing off? Perhaps little bit, but extremely tasty. Shellfish was so
fresh that it was almost sweet and the consommé brought is all together so it
was all very harmonious.
Razor Clams (Spoots)
Razor clams from Arisaig, cooked to order
and served with diced vegetables,
chorizo and lemon confit
(Semillon “Margaret”, Peter Lehman, Barossa, Australia,
2005)
It
was a time for a starter – again something very tasty from a Scottish coast.
Razor clams described in Scottish manner (that I absolutely love and I have a
crush on a Scottish names and accent!) as spoots
were served with a diced vegetables, chorizo and slightly lemony sauce that I
just could not leave in the shell – I wiped it with a piece of bread. Very
sunny and refreshing dish served with a lemon (lime?) confit.
Pig’s Head & Scallop
Boned and rolled pig’s head, served with
seared hand-dived Orkney scallop and crispy ear salad
(Gewurztraminer Hugel, Alsace, France, 2009
Now
it was a time for a middle course. A chef’s signature dish we were told. Boned
and rolled head of pig does not sound particularly appetizing, doesn’t it? I
tastes so opposite. It was a kind of small cake in crispy crust and the taste
of it and the texture was simply divine: sticky, very meaty – the flavours of
pork is in this cheap cut not in a pork fillet – I thought to myself. Served with lovely Orkney hand dived scallop,
cumin sauce, crispy pig’s ear and salad that give it a bit of the sharpness –
it had a gherkin in it and was similar to a good quality tartar sauce. I
absolutely love the idea of using the animal from head to tail and my regular
readers know it. I was thrilled to have such a wonderful composition of three flavours,
three different textures. Triple pleasure, I would say.
Monkfish
Seared monkfish cheeks from Scrabster and
local red mullet served with risotto
and a lemon buerre blanc
(Etna Rosso, Tenuta Delle, Terre Nerre,
Sicily, 2010)
The
middle course was followed by a fish course. I have to say it felt like chef
Kitchin knew my favourite food – risotto. It was creamy, served with lemony
butter sauce (beurre blanc) Topped with a piece of monkfish cheek –
meaty, yet tender and a piece of red mullet – certainly the best fish dish I
had in my life. Perfectly balanced, fish cooked to perfection.
Woodcock
First of the season Perthshire woodcock
served with pumpkin, salsify and a sauce ‘salmis’
(Carmenere ‘Orzada’ Odfjell, Maule Valley, Chile, 2008)
Last
dish before we had our dessert was a meat dish. I was expecting game dish but
what I was presented with did not match my expectations at all. I did not expect
to have a woodcock dish made with its breast, leg and… half of the head with a
brain still in. I was in a bit of a shock when I saw it first, but when I was
given a finger bowl and extra napkin to clean my fingers I grabbed the head and
enjoyed it. It was unusual, but nice, not putting me off in any way (yes, you
can tell it was a head with the eye holes and the nib). However it was very
gamey and I am not a big fan of game – I liked it, but probably this was the
only one I probably wouldn’t order from a regular menu again. But who knows?
Before
the dessert was served we were offered a selection of cheese, but we were so
full we sadly had to say no. Perhaps next time we will go for it. The cheese
trolley was very impressive.
Pumpkin
Spiced pumpkin custard served with maple
and pecan ice cream and candied pumpkin
(Kanu Kia-Ora late harvest, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 2008)
Oh,
the dessert. My lovely, beautiful, mouth watering dessert made of… vegetable.
Pumpkin goes very well with the spices so I was not surprised at all by the
whole idea. Again it had different textures from velvety ice cream to crunchy
pumpkin seeds. For me it was the perfect dessert.
Encouraged
by the look of fresh mint tea we skipped the coffee and enjoyed very refreshing
herbal drink together with selection of petits fours – dark chocolate truffle, pistachio
nougat, pink macaroon and mini frangipan tart. 100% satisfaction - if I had to
choose selection by myself I would definitely go for those four, as these are
my favourite things. I enjoyed every
single bite.
How about the wines? In my
opinion the wine selection was very good and matched the meals nicely. But please
remember – I am not a wine expert. In the brackets I gave you the names of the
wines served with the particular courses. The only one I found little bit not up
to my taste was the white wine served with pig’s head dish. I quite understand
the idea of serving quite strong flavoured wine with the intensive flavours of
the meat however it had something in it that annoyed me little bit. On the
other hand I was very pleasantly surprised with a dessert wine; especially that
in general I am not w big fan of this kind of wines. It was little bit floral,
but not overwhelming the dish. Very good choice indeed! My favourite wines were:
the second one served with a pre starter – quite citrussy and refreshing and the
red served with a woodcock – deep, intensive, very well complimented the gamey dish.
Just
to finish this long (too long) review let me mention the main idea that seems
to be a mantra of The Kitchin - "From nature to plate"
presented by an appreciation of the best quality ingredients available from
Scotland's fantastic natural larder. It guarantees the best quality and freshness of the food
served. It a place where modern British cuisine influenced by French cooking
techniques shows everyone who says that British food is boring that it is
certainly a time to re-educate about the British cuisine.
With all my heart (and tastebuds!) I recommend this place to a food lovers.
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| Chef Tom Kitchin and I :) |
The Kitchin
78 Commercial Quay
Leith, Edinburgh EH6 6LX
Telephone 0131 555 1755
Fax 0131 553 0608
Email info@thekitchin.com
Opening hours:
Tuesday to Thursday 12.15pm -2.00pm 6.30pm to 10.00pm
Friday and Saturday 12.15pm - 2.00pm
6.30pm to 10.30pm
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