Abstract, Edinburgh - Restaurants in Edinburgh | s1play.com

Ooh la la

Review published on 06/04/2007 © Sunday Herald

Edinburgh’s restaurant scene burst into life last summer when the Kitchin opened, pricking the city's complacent fine-dining bubble. Its restaurants had got into the bad habit of charging top-whack London prices for stolid, Eighties stockbroker grub.

Tom Kitchin not only cranked up the city's cooking level by several increments, but by offering challenging ingredients and going seasonal in a big way, he demonstrated that diners were hungry for something other than fillet steak, salmon and chicken breast plated up by time-servers resting on their dusty cooking laurels.

Now, to up the ante further, Loic Lefebvre, a top-notch French chef, bursts into town bearing a CV studded with Michelin-star establishments. What brought him to Scotland is a mystery, but having established Abstract in Inverness, the ambitious Monsieur Lefebvre has decided to locate himself closer to the epicentre of the restaurant guides' map. So he is now at the stove of a new Abstract in the capital.

Chef Lefebvre positively bristles with the commitment and single-mindedness required to make an impression on Michelin. Having been steeped in the hotpot of French cooking, he understands all the little folderols Fat Mitch is looking for, but sometimes, his presentation shows Folies Bergère tendencies that need curbed.

That said, our meal was impressive, immensely satisfying, yet light on the stomach, in the main well-conceived and, on occasion, showing promising originality. This latter attribute showed in his treatment of a fillet of very fine turbot, which was served on a coal-black, mineral-tasting risotto of nutty black rice from Piedmont, seasoned with nutmeg and surrounded by a sharp, lemon beurre blanc.

The risotto/butter emulsion pairing combined refreshing and earthy qualities and showed off the fish beautifully. There was more originality, too, in a starter of exquisite cold-smoked roe deer fillet which came with tiny toasts topped with fattened duck liver and poached quails' eggs. It was an interesting idea and a highly successful one, too, to use salt cod and sweated leek as a filling for ravioli.

Salt cod is one of those elusive savoury tastes and, teamed with a silky artichoke purée and a truffled foam, it made a sophisticated and unusual dish.

Only a courageous chef serves hare, since it is an overly strong meat for most people. Mr Lefebvre had attempted a fire and ice contrast of opposites, the intensely gamey meat offset by a purée of tangy fruit. But the clean-cut fruit only served to make the meat taste black as pitch. It didn't work. The hare probably needed stronger flavours like wine, or fungi, or dark chocolate to match its weight. As it was, it was like introducing a pitbull in a roomful of neurotic poodles.

A pre-dessert of pineapple and passionfruit jelly topped with frothy coconut cream and gritty pistachios primed the taste buds for the main event. Resplendent among these was a hot hazelnut soufflé standing to attention in its ramekin, flanked by a warm crème anglaise flavoured with Dalmore malt, and a svelte coffee ice-cream. A chocolate dome with mandarin crème brulée centre was pleasing to the palate, but its sputnik-like decoration with chocolate straws resembled a toddler's birthday party hedgehog.

Abstract can't seem to decide whether it is going for the swanky nightclub or the disco look. Mirrored terrazzo pillars and fake snakeskin table tops vie with gilt and leather – but not enough to spoil enjoyment of the food.

© Sunday Herald