The one that got away

The bond between Leith and the great grey waters that bound it go back so far even The Old Man and the Sea have trouble remembering. The link between Edinburgh’s coastal community and fine dining is far more recent, but runs just as deep; the start of any history of Leith’s culinary credibility would have to include Fishers Bistro, for twenty years Edinburgh’s finest seafood restaurant by a nautical mile. In 1997, fighting the tide of gentrification that has swept through its territorial waters, the restaurant spawned a twin, Fishers in the City. Now that the original is even less convenient to Edinburgh landlubbers thanks to the tram works, it seemed the appropriate time to pay the latest edition a visit.

Tucked away, like so many great eateries, on the quiet cobbles of Thistle Street, the atmosphere inside Fishers in the City is like too few other local restaurants. Warmly lit and artfully decorated with nautical references, the interior is ingeniously laid out in multiple levels, keeping diners cozy without forgoing privacy, and giving all guests a view of the bar and the kitchen. Modernity and style follow comfort, and you are immediately put at ease. The service echoes the best qualities of the space: quietly efficient, kind and welcoming; without any pretension, the waiting staff projects a feeling that you’re being looked after with the utmost professionalism and attention to detail.

Unfortunately, on the evening in question the trio of rock oysters – three tantalizing preparations, each promising to do what nature could not and make palatable, if not delicious, her most unappitizing delicacy – is off the menu; we settle for a smoked mackerel omelette for her, and the spinach gnocchi with sautéed mushrooms for me. The former would be impossible to get wrong, and so is suitably light and punctuated with savoury morsels of fish. The gnocchi, however, are glutinous, stodgy and bland, with a mean sprinkling of accompanying fungus. The entire ensemble has been overcooked.

The mains, too, are also disappointingly hit-and-miss. A selection of panfried scallops with black pudding is fantastic – moreish, beautifully cooked and seasoned, the scallops melt in the mouth as readily as the rich, meaty black pudding which beats even the best results of a three-year odyssey around Edinburgh’s butchers for what is a personal favourite. My companion’s crab fettucini is a letdown from the moment it arrives, with pasta and mean-spirited shredded crab languishing in a brown sauce that is begging to be left alone on the plate. So it should be: it is briny in a way that does a disservice to the expertise with which good seafood is handled.

A dessert menu that performs all the classics admirably well, as well as a few surprises—such as my plum frangipane with lime cream—does little to dispel the feeling that in the face of leviathan expectations, Fishers in the City was the one that got away.