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At a neighbouring table, a businessman has asked for ‘a plain slice of white bread’. Not for him the three roundly delicious, freshly baked offerings (black olive, brown and walnut, if memory serves). No – give this man some Kingsmill. A slice of white is duly brought (Kingsmill, it ain’t), neatly presented under a beautiful crisp white napkin. He clearly didn’t get the memo: nothing about this restaurant is ‘plain’.
Set down in Leith, Martin Wishart opened his flagship venue in 1999 and was well ahead of the curve when he gained his Michelin star just two years later. Back then the now gentrified Shore area was just finding its feet, and while the area has continued to boom, Wishart has lost none of its appeal.
On a weekday, you might catch some local business folk chewing the fat, but this is largely the domain of locals and visitors to the city, keen to blow the budget in one of the city’s finest restaurants. This is elegant, decadent dining at its best, with Scottish ingredients laying the foundation for both traditional and modern French cuisine.
The menus change with the seasons, but the lunch, à la carte and various tasting menus are always available. Each is a cornucopia of flavours and surprises, from playful amuse bouches through to robust, intricate mains and artful, mouth-watering desserts. The matched wine package is a necessary, if costly delight.