The Kitchin — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

Me and my partner went to The Kitchin for our very first Michelin starred restaurant meal and we were really excited to experience this. It was very good, but ultimately we weren't as blown away as we'd hoped for.

A canapé of a crisp potato cube with a strong whipped cheese on top was a nice opener, although the cheese was far too strong for my gf. An amuse bouche of cherry tomato in a sort of tomato consommé followed which I liked, although the tomato itself didn't smack me round the chops with the most tomatoey tomato flavour I'd ever had. The warm sourdough bread and homemade salted butter that followed deserves a special mention too. They were both incredible and probably the best bread and butter we've ever had. Actually gutted we were too stuffed to finish it.

Starters up next. I had the veal sweetbreads which were lovely and crisp with an almost charred bacon aftertaste. Everything on the plate belonded alongside the sweetbreads. I've always hated raisins, but the raisins served here were actually lovely and sweet. My gf had the boned and rolled pigs head (which was FAR outside her comfort zone) yet she absolutely loved it, especially the crispy pigs ear which she said was like the best crispy bacon she'd ever had. She couldn't finish it and took it home with her. She was carrying half a crispy pigs ear around in her handbag for days. THAT'S how much she loved it.

Now by this point, we were actually, surprisingly, almost full and wondered how we would even finish all three courses. Michelin starred food is VERY rich! People who think fancy dining with small portions is a rip off don't realise how much eating it takes it out of you! At this point I should advise anyone wishing to eat here, that the dinner menu of three courses (technically actually six courses) took almost four hours, from arrival to leaving the restaurant, so manage your time appropriately.

Mains. I had the venison. Both cuts of venison were perfectly cooked, tender, and just the best venison I'd ever eaten. There were two different variations of turnip. One was next level turnip, the other was not. My gf had the seabass and again, best seabass she'd ever eaten. Totally changed her perception of seabass based on every previous time she's eaten it. Seabass came with Jerusalem artichoke. Neither of us had ever had that before and years of watching Masterchef made us both eager to try it. It was awful. Truly horrible. Definitely an acquired taste but not for us sadly! However the fennel tops were a surprising revelation and went through a variety of flavours, ending with a taste of green apple peel. Very intriguing.

Then a pre-dessert of a strawberry on a base of some type of cottage cheese I can't recall with a sort of strawberry juice. It was astonishing. Like a mini strawberry cheesecake. Just incredible.

At this point we really began to debate whether it would be possible to even attempt to have some dessert as we were really stuffed, and our previous plates hadn't even been cleared completely. My dessert was the baked alaska. I was excited to try this based on recent user reviews and it was just... fine? Nothing about it seemed particularly impressive. My gf had the apple crumble soufflé and that was by far the biggest disappointment. It tasted of nothing but egg white. There wasn't even a hint of apple, just egg white. So that was a shame. Neither dessert came anywhere close to anything that preceeded them.

At this point the staff could have rolled us onto wheelbarrows and carted us home for our ability to move and walk.

Special mention must also go to the service, which really was next level. I lost count of how many people served us and looked after us during the courses. They were all engaging and informative. It was also pretty cool to see the big man with the big hair Tom Kitchin himself working in the kitchen, instead of adding his name to a restaurant and going off to do TV gigs like a lot of other...

After a 2 year wait from the time we saw the restaurant on Remarkable Places to Eat, we finally got booked in for lunch for our annual Christmas celebration lunch / dinner and we were not disappointed.

Having sampled a number of amazing starred restaurants around the U.K., we most definitely had high expectations. We are very lucky to have such culinary talents within driving distance around the U.K..

Known for selecting the best sustainable sources of ingredients around the region, it was so helpful and novel to provide a little treasure map of the locations where the food we were about to eat came from. This added another level of excitement.

Unlike some starred restaurants we have visited, The Kitchen offered a number of menus to choose from, starting from their reasonably priced lunch sets to the full tasting menu with wine pairing. This was unexpected, but welcomed as many establishments would have only offered their tasting menus during the festive season.

We had budgeted for their tasting menu without wine and wanted to sample some of their signature dishes.

As can be seen in the pics, plating and presentation is of a very high level and with the drama of at table pouring of sauces / soups and opening of the pastry sealed scallops added the extra sense of occasion.

The front of house service was impeccable, very attentive but not instructive, the dining area was warm and cosy yet not too formal and suitable for families as well as more formal dining when required.

The food, oh the food!!! The highlight would be the signature scallops, cooked perfectly from the largest and sweetest scallops I’ve ever tasted. The sauce is quite full bodied yet complements the natural sweetness of the scallops, very well balanced and would come back again just to have sample these again. This is definitely a Signature Dish that does the Michelin Star justice.

The venison was amazing, cooked perfectly, full of flavour and tender yet maintained it’s unique texture.

The fish dish also had an amazing balanced flavour profile and freshness, my only small niggle would be that my fish was slightly overcooked for my personal liking, but unfortunately seems to be the norm when having seafood in the U.K. but definitely does not take any points off the overall quality and experience.

The Kitchin is probably top 3 on our list of Michelin starred restaurants we’ve dined at in the U.K. and that top 3 includes a 3 starred restaurant. We are looking forward to going back for seconds, we just need to save up.

If you’re looking to find the best place to experience the freshest ingredients Scotland has to offer, cooked to perfection with a natural and rustic flavour palette, you’d be hard pressed to find better than “The...

THE KITCHIN! Of course, this Michelin star restaurant requires no review; however, since it is one of the few occasions my husband and I have indulged in fine dining, I cannot resist describing our amazing experience. Not to mention, there is a back story involving one of my favorite shows, Outlander. For all you Outlander Fans, Sam Heughan and Graham McTavish narrated a show titled "Men in Kilts." My husband and I were planning our anniversary trip but struggling to narrow down a destination that we both agreed on. Being Outlander fans, we sat down to watch Men in Kilts, and were mesmerized by Scottland's beauty, so without hesitation on both our parts, we decided to make Scottland our destination. Tom Kitchin, the owner of the Kitchin, was featured on the show, and once we saw the dishes he prepared for Sam and Graham, we knew immediately that while in Scottland, going to the Kitchin would be one of our top things to do! We made our reservation months in advance, hoping to indulge in what seemed like heavenly cuisine, and catch a glimpse of Tom Kitchin. When we arrived at the restaurant, my husband and I were welcomed in as if we were royalty. We were not shown this treatment when we patronized other fine restaurants in the States. It was clear as we looked around that everyone was treated this way. In other words, we marveled at the fact that we do not sense any air of pretension.

We decided to treat ourselves to an entire nine-course meal with wine pairing. We began our experience with the Amuse Bouche, which included a cherry tomato and a fabulous sauce which tasted otherworldly; it was amazing! Course by course became more tantalizing than the last, we opted for the surprise dining experience, and the surprises kept us wanting more. A few dishes stood out: the perfectly cooked scallops baked in its shell and the exquisite lamb. (haha, I cannot reveal any more). To top the night off, we were surprised to learn that Mr. Kitchin himself served each main course. We a generally NOT people who are ga ga for celebrities, but this was a real treat! A great pleasure, indeed! Tom Kitchin was a pleasant, soft-spoken, obviously humble gentleman. We told him the story of how we ended up there, and he joked that people generally come to find Sam Heughan. Mr. Kitchin later stopped by our table to offer an opportunity for a photo before we left. True to his promise, he returned, and we took our...