Restaurant Martin Wishart: Edinburgh’s Michelin starred restaurant with a heart

Award-winning

Michelin starred restaurants can seem daunting, we get it. The fear of forking out for meals smaller than small plates, boasting a concoction of flavours you didn’t even know existed, is very real. That’s unless, you know where to look.

The multi award-winning Restaurant Martin Wishart, named in the Good Food Guide’s top 50 restaurants in the UK and 2022’s Tripadvisor Traveller Choice, is an exception to the cause – placing modern European cuisine at its helm.

Chef

Wishart himself, an Edinburgh-born chef, has more than three decades in the business – having started working in kitchens from the age of 15 – and is established as one of the UK’s most respected chefs. Now, with three restaurants and a cooking school under his belt, Wishart’s food sources inspiration from his renowned mentors: Albert Roux, Michel Roux Jr, Marco Pierre White and John Burton-Race. 

His own culinary magic represents the chef’s sheer passion for food, and a deep appreciation of French cooking techniques – conjuring up delights for us all to devour.

Menu 

It’s clear to see from the restaurateur’s menu, too – where creativity is certainly not lacking. For lunch, you can expect to sample confit cod with brown shrimps and vivaldi potato; roast skate ‘forrestière’ – a creamy, traditional French mushroom sauce – served with wild mushrooms, lardons and pomme Cocotte (buttery roasted potatoes), or braised beef shin with sweetbread, pumpkin, salsify (a root vegetable) and red wine jus. 

If there’s room for dessert, choose from lemon tart with passion fruit sorbet and meringue, or malt chocolate mousse with hazelnut praline and banana ice cream. Be sure to select carefully paired wine suggestions, too.

Vegetarian? The lavish spot has a menu to match for the plant-powered, which doesn’t scrimp on taste – think truffle arancini and sweetcorn velouté (a savoury, velvet-like sauce), as well as vegetarian haggis bon bons to start; followed by butternut squash ravioli, complete with piccolo parsnip and chestnut velouté – or mushroom tart with pickled shimeji (white mushroom) and roast roscoff onion sauce. Dessert is no exception to the cause, either, with a creme fraiche mousse, complete with Amerena cherry and Valrhona Guanaja chocolate crémeux.

Scottish produce 

Restaurant Martin Wishart focuses on sourcing high quality, local, exciting ingredients – including from Wishart’s native Scotland. And it was his love of Scotland that led him to set up shop in its capital city, Edinburgh.

“As a Scotsman, when I worked in London and abroad, I was very proud to see that Scottish shellfish and game were always on the menu. When I opened my restaurant, I realised that I was more fortunate as I was getting the ingredients even fresher, and I was able to personally meet the great Scottish producers. The langoustines, scallops, crabs and lobsters always come live into my restaurant. I am very passionate about Scottish produce and use it as much as I can.”

Restaurant Martin Wishart has the air of the ocean and great outdoors about it. Nestled in a trendy, modern and bright spot on the historic shores of Leith, with the city’s gentle Water of Leith a stone’s throw from its cobble-set doors. The search for Wishart’s debut venue took seven years in the making – a true labour of love, quite like its food.

A little bit of luxury

Wishart’s efforts have not gone unnoticed either. In November 2012 he was awarded a Degree of Doctor honoris causa by Edinburgh University for his “contribution to the raising standards of Scottish cuisine, specifically in Edinburgh” – no mean feat, by any means.

The venue is open for lunch from 12:00-1:30pm from Wednesday to Friday – in which a set lunch and tasting menu will be served – and the same time on Saturday, where a market and tasting menu will be provided. Dinner is served from Wednesday to Saturday, from 6:30pm to 11:30pm.

Restaurant Martin Wishart is a little bit of luxury to reward that special occasion, and goes a long way in creating memories.