Cafe Fish – SADLY NOW CLOSED

Scotland’s Seafood Restaurant of the Year for 2012, Cafe Fish is a very smart, bright and airy place, situated in a former branch of Bank of Scotland. During the day, it serves a lunch menu of tapas dishes, with a full a la carte in the evening.

On this occasion, I had the considerable pleasure to be joined by one of my favourite people in the world, Anna, who was back in Edinburgh for a few days. I had the honour of meeting her lovely sister and bonnie wee daughter, which was a great way to start the lunchtime merriment.

Prosecco was ordered, and catching up commenced at a furious pace. When approached by the helpful and enthusiastic waiter, we opted to place ourselves in his hands, so with the odd question on size of portion and preference, he recommended half a dozen items for us to share, covering hot and cold dishes.

Dishes appeared quickly, and all looked rather tempting. We had smoked salmon, potted shrimp, panko-coated John Dory, herring, clams, and patatas bravas. All were neatly presented and refreshingly simple in their construction. The little sharing feast was just the thing to accompany our gabbing.

Each of the dishes was very good. For me the highlight was the potted shrimp, served with chunky toast. Each little morsel was sweet and satisfying.

It was rather disappointing to see the place so sparsely populated. Once a large party of birthday celebrationists had sung their songs, we had the run of the place for the afternoon. It suited us beautifully, but it’s definitely not good to see such a high-quality place lacking a full audience.

To follow our tapas, we sampled a wonderfully bitter blood orange cheesecake, and a good selection of cheeses from nearby Mellis’s.

So overall, we were both really impressed by Cafe Fish. It served us very good dishes, in stylish surroundings with welcoming service. We spent an enjoyable, relaxed afternoon, taking around four hours to get through everything, set the world to rights, and dine in considerable style. I’ll be back for an evening visit, soon, as I’m keen to see how their a la carte compares.

Scores

Blythe scores Cafe Fish:
4/5 for food
4/5 for presentation
4/5 for service
4/5 for setting
giving an overall 16/20

Today’s questers were: Anna, Blythe

We ate: smoked salmon, potted shrimp, panko-coated John Dory, herring, clams, patatas bravas, blood-orange cheesecake, cheese board

We drank: water, prosecco, coffees

We wore: fuchsia dress, www.tieclub.co.uk tie

Total bill: c.£110