The Forth Floor

Harvey Nichols, Edinburgh

visited 11/10/08

The last time I visited the bistro here they had a bit of trouble with the concept of "rare". But I had a couple of champagne vouchers and when three of us turned up for lunch at the restaurant they gave us a third which made me look warmly upon The Forth Floor. The view is splendid and the service absolutely professional and charming (in fact, the best in Edinburgh so far).

To start with I had a small fillet of red mullet with a well balanced disc of olivey crushed potato. Red mullet is the best fish in the world but this was slightly curling (only slightly) and not as good as a delicious and moist bit of mackerel one of my companions had in a similar dish. Next a decent piece of chicken* with a nice rillette of braised guinea fowl that added a wonderful richness to the chicken. A couple of pieces of roasted buttered leaks were a good idea, some pointlessly "saffron" potatoes not so. I tried a glass of Morgon but it was over chilled. It's fine to chill a lighter Beaujolais but not the earthier Morgon, which aspires to the condition of Burgundy.

A good espresso and all in all a very nice (though not cheap) lunch.

*the best chicken in Britain is to be had at the Old Vicarage in Oxford, strange to relate, and after this all others seem inferior.