Leith and Dinner at Tom Kitchin's The Kitchin

There were two reasons, that I wanted to stay in Leith when I found out that Tom Kitchin's famous restaurant was based there. I had always loved as a child the wonderful tongue twister: 

The Leith police dismisseth us
They thought we sought to stay; 
The Leith police dismisseth us
They thought we'd stay all day.
The Leith police dismisseth us,
We both sighed sighs apiece; 
And the sighs that we sighed as we said goodbye
Were the size of the Leith police. 

I also like the place because of the excellent series of BBC Radio4 and Radio4 Extra dramas of McLevy, the first detective in Leith, with Brian Cox and Siobhan Redmond as the stars, it is now in its eleventh series based (loosely) on the real life of James McLevy of the Leith Police. it is a very evocative series focusing on the role of the police and a bawdy house owner who knows more of crime in the town than anyone else.

So we were in the Premier Inn, Leith and Google came up with a short (20 minute) walk from our hotel to The Kitchin, it didn't indicate it was one of 'those' walks. Among the high/lo lights being Leith Asda and the Ocean Terminal and a dark underpass. Those who know me know I have taken Drew along dark streets with dead bodies (San Francisco);  in a deep underworld of hustlers and homeless hookers in Chicago; a street where we were 'chatted' up while we were lost finding the Minetta Tavern (Greenwich Village, New York); a place where we were approached by some gentlemen with knives in a deserted car park (Atlanta). I always explain that these occasions are accidents, but the accidents do seem to come a little too often. Drew is therefore weary of my 'short-cuts' but clearly didn't recognise walking to Tom Kichin's place as a risk. To be fair we only saw some people injecting drugs, but nothing more scary.

We arrived at the restaurant at 7 for our table at 7.30 and were invited into to the lovely bar area. I hadn't realised until arriving here that the restaurant is opposite a large Scottish Government Building, so I wonder if Tom gets any trade from there? I suspect so.

NB: there is a no photos rule at The Kitchin, so I am afraid you will have to rely on my descriptions of the venue, and the food.

The food style adopted by Tom Kitchin is what he calls: "From Nature to Plate" and the sense of place, of this being a distinctive Scottish experience, all be it in a French influenced Michelin star experience, is very evident throughout.

Sitting in the bar we are in a mix of post-industrial Leith brick on the walls with lots of tarten decoration and images of ancient and modern Scotland. In the dining room this mix between urban and Scottish was again evident with lots of steel girders and rivets. We ate at Glynn Purnell's place two years ago and that had more of the urban feel, the blend here is a mix between the modern and the traditional Scottish style.

We opted for a bottle of sparking water as we perused the menu - this, of course, was Speyside Water in the tradition of using Scottish products and ingredients. Many of the waiters were wearing Kilts, and the female waiters were also in kilt style skirts. While we were having our water we were given a cheese curd and peppercorn dib and various flavoured crispbreads made with seaweed, caraway seeds, sea salt and honey and oats. I swapped the honey one for Drew's seaweed one. These were very tasty and we mopped up every bit of the dip with them.

The restaurant offers two tasting menus, the Classic Kitchin Surprise Tasting Menu and the Celebration of the Season Surprise Tasting Menu. The waiter recommended that we take the first of these if this was our first time at the restaurant as it better showcased the Chef's food. We agreed to his recommendation and opted for this menu. The menu included an amuse bouche, pre-starter, starter, middle course, main course, cheese course and dessert followed by coffee/tea with homemade petits fours. 

When we reached our table it became clear that we had a good view through the end of the room where Tom was in his kitchen leading his brigade. Every time we looked up during the meal we would be captivated by the interaction between Tom and the brigade, seen from the back of Tom Kitchin's head. I mentioned Purnells above, when we ate there all we could hear through the opened door was Glynn's loud voice berating one or other of his staff. Things were very different here, with Tom taking a direct but calm approach to make everything proceed as best as possible. His in-situ personailty seems to fit with the personality that comes across on his TV appearances, most recently as he won the cook-off in the Top Gear series.

As soon as we got to the table we were presented with a map of Scotland, see the photo, which indicates from where each of the products from the menu come. As each dish arrived the menu was pointed at as part of the explanation for the dish. 

Soon our Sourdough loaf arrived, the bread came from Edinburgh. This was enough for two generous helpings each. It was sat in a tartan lambswool container that could easily have been converted into a tam-o'shanter hat. From our point of view it was doing a fine job as a bread container. I am a fan of sourdough, but this one was light and fluffy and had a lovely flavour.

The Amuse was a rich carrot puree served in a clay pot and topped, very colorfully, with small pieces of apple, pear, radish and lemon verbena and finished with pak chi. The colours of this dish were remarkable, a real treat for the eyes. It tasted fine too, but I think the key performance was in the layout which put the various small pieces of items in various places to make them look a well organised whole.

Our pre-starter was Spoots, from South Uist. Spoots is, apparently, the Scottish name for razor clams and this one was served in the shell with small pieces of ham and chorizo served in a lemon and lime sauce with small pieces of veg (potatoes and turnip to mention at least two). The spciy chorizo added a different texture and flavour to the dish, but did not overpower the delicious spoots which were chewy and juicy.

The starter course was a lovely treat for me, Pig's Head, this one coming from Galloway at the bottom of the map. The head, which didn't look like one, having been cooked down was served with radish, lettuce and chicory. This was served with a lovely langoustine sitting on a tomato sauce with spices. The soft gentle langoustine going very well with the earthy, fatty meat from the head. The whole dish was finished off by a crunchy treat of a pig's ear crisp - this had the taste of very crispy cracking and was delicious. 

Our next course, sometimes called the fish course, was in fact a seafood course. A lobster, which the waiter mentioned was freshly caught this morning, had been taken from its shell, cooked to perfection and then shaped back into its shell with braised squid, parma ham, girolles, courgette, fennel and fresh peas all cooked in an escargot butter.  I wonder whether all this fussing is a bit much for a dish like lobster which with a bit of garlic butter could be perfect itself. While the additions were all good in their own right, I wonder if it might have fitted the restaurant's theme better if it had stuck to the basics.

Our main course was a dish of Island Lamb with a herb-crust, this sat of a bed of mixed veg, no I don't mean the type that comes in a bag or tin I mean a third of it was pickled veg, a third raw veg and a third cooked veg - what a fascinating idea. Sometimes this was the same vegetable, one pickled one raw, one boiled, so that the comparison in flavour came across well. Alongside was artichoke with carrots and peas and lightly mashed potatoes. The lamb was more cooked than I would have liked, I prefer my lamb on the pink-side, whereas this was well-done, a pity as it was pleasant lamb, but some of the flavour had been lost by being cooked for to long. The star of the show for me (well stars, as I had to eat Drew's too - him not being a fan of offal) was a thin slice of lamb's liver cooked very tenderly and dripping with flavour. I could have happily have given up the main lamb for more of this delightful morsel.

The first dessert (of which Drew had both) was a strawberry, chocolate carrot cake with raspberry sorbet and fresh raspberries. The cake was soft and easy to eat with the carrot cake base covered with a layer of chocolate and a layer of strawberry. 

Following the first dessert was a Cheese course, we opted for this and a selection of eight cheeses. I oped for a Shropshire Blue, a Somerset goats' cheese, an Irish salt-washed sheep's cheese and a very mature cheddar all of these were first class and were the only non-Scottish items served on the menu - Is there space for a Scottish cheese industry??  Drew opted for three of the same cheese as me, replacing the Irish cheese with a Welsh Caerphilly which was crumbly and tasty, according to him. These were served with a gooseberry compote, grapes and poppeyseed biscuits. 

The finale for the meal was an was Apple Crumble Souflee with vanilla ice-cream. Like good souflees this was standing straight and high above the bowl. Drew said it was tasty and topped with an additional crumb of crushed almond was delicious. Drew says that the heat of the apple and the coolness of the ice-cream meant they worked wonderfully when eaten together. Drew found the first souffle was a bit hot for the ice-cream and melted it quickly, the second (aka mine) was at a better temperature by the time it was served, though had started to flop a little.