Fishers City Bistro, Thistle Street, Edinburgh, October 2006
It's the fag end of the month with heavy rain, low temperatures and strong winds. Edinburgh is not the place to wander the streets under these circumstances so a counterweight is needed to lift the spirits in the dark evenings. Fishers may be just the place. The young staff joke with us about the attractions of Burger King as it looks like there are no tables available but some kind couple takes pity on us and they finish their meal in time to pass on their table.
My companion is a journalist charged with reviewing restaurants periodically (as will as cruising the Med regularly) so is in automatic journalist-expenses-account mode when his knee jerks to order a dozen west coast Scottish oysters to start with. He is right of course. Clean, fresh taste of the sea and they slip down a treat with a little lemon juice or a dash of tobasco sauce (or both, hell, there's half a dozen each!). We both eschew the Harissa and the paprika accompaniments adventourously offered by the restaurant.
By this time of the evening (i.e. after most of a bottle of wine to myself in the fascinating Cafe Royale earlier) I leave it to my experienced companion to order for me and so for the main course, I find myself addressing the Grilled fillet of Halibut on an endive & bacon salad served with a blue cheese & pecan dressing. Tender fresh sweet white fish lovingly grilled to maintain its succulence without damaging the surface contrasts with a sharper crunchy salad and the slight tartness expected of blue cheese; surprisingly, bland lardons. A dish of additional plain vegetables is provided (boiled potatoes, cauliflower and green beans - cooked just as I like them with an edge of al dente left in them, not boiled away).
We order a second bottle of the excellent St Aubin Les Frionnes Rouge Premier Cru Cote d'Or Burgundy 2002 to accompany the interesting, though not exceptional, cheeseboard. My companion surprised me in ordering this (red) wine to accompany the fish (he had a langustine, which may explain why he was so bold but in any case he chose well). Coffee and a brandy - I stuck with a simple Courvoisier VSOP while my companion ventured into finer territory. Then coffee.
The bill, £92.75 for two. My companion and I stir up a frisson of opinion difference when it comes to tipping. He goes for adding 10% to the bill on the basis of When in Rome... etc. I point out that in England this balances the tippers and the non-tipper whereas I go for the French system whereby everybody chips in a very small amount and nobody fails to tip. I win.
My companion is a journalist charged with reviewing restaurants periodically (as will as cruising the Med regularly) so is in automatic journalist-expenses-account mode when his knee jerks to order a dozen west coast Scottish oysters to start with. He is right of course. Clean, fresh taste of the sea and they slip down a treat with a little lemon juice or a dash of tobasco sauce (or both, hell, there's half a dozen each!). We both eschew the Harissa and the paprika accompaniments adventourously offered by the restaurant.
By this time of the evening (i.e. after most of a bottle of wine to myself in the fascinating Cafe Royale earlier) I leave it to my experienced companion to order for me and so for the main course, I find myself addressing the Grilled fillet of Halibut on an endive & bacon salad served with a blue cheese & pecan dressing. Tender fresh sweet white fish lovingly grilled to maintain its succulence without damaging the surface contrasts with a sharper crunchy salad and the slight tartness expected of blue cheese; surprisingly, bland lardons. A dish of additional plain vegetables is provided (boiled potatoes, cauliflower and green beans - cooked just as I like them with an edge of al dente left in them, not boiled away).
We order a second bottle of the excellent St Aubin Les Frionnes Rouge Premier Cru Cote d'Or Burgundy 2002 to accompany the interesting, though not exceptional, cheeseboard. My companion surprised me in ordering this (red) wine to accompany the fish (he had a langustine, which may explain why he was so bold but in any case he chose well). Coffee and a brandy - I stuck with a simple Courvoisier VSOP while my companion ventured into finer territory. Then coffee.
The bill, £92.75 for two. My companion and I stir up a frisson of opinion difference when it comes to tipping. He goes for adding 10% to the bill on the basis of When in Rome... etc. I point out that in England this balances the tippers and the non-tipper whereas I go for the French system whereby everybody chips in a very small amount and nobody fails to tip. I win.
posted by Jean-Paul Sartre at
7:19 pm
