I had lunch at the newest restaurant in Edinburgh's most dynamic waterside venue
It joins the established residents at this venue
There’s something brewing in Edinburgh’s eating scene.
It involves the friendly invasion of Glasgow restaurants.
In recent months, we’ve seen three west-coasters land in the Capital’s food hall Bonnie & Wild. They include the bakery arm of beloved Italian restaurant Eusebi’s, as well as Julie Lin’s place, Tacos Lah, and pizza and pasta bar Flur from Ivan Stein, co-founder of The Gannet. Pizza purveyors Paesano opened a branch on Edinburgh’s George Street a wee while ago, and Glasgow’s Gary Maclean has launched a new restaurant, Kin, at Haymarket hotel The Roseate.
What’s next? Are we to have an outpost of The Ubiquitous Chip? (Except with salt and sauce). Well, not quite.
Instead, the team from well-loved G3 postcoders Five March have opened a concession at the super-cool destination that is former steelworks building Brown’s of Leith, down at the Shore. It’s owned by restaurateur Joanna Nethery, and is called Asu, which is the noise I make when my allergies flare up.
You’ll find it at the back of the space, next to the OG residents ShrimpWreck and Civerinos.
We rocked up - take note, it’s walk-ins only - on a Sunday lunchtime, and it was interesting to see how this industrial and ecclesiastical-feeling building has evolved since it opened nine months ago. I’d say the clientele looks more diverse than I remember. There were families, puppies of every pedigree, and a broader spectrum of ages.
First, drinkies. We ordered up at tinned-fish purveyors Haze, which now has a little deli area going on, and is knocking out soft serve for those who want to eat ice-cream on the waterfront. I decided I’d try a boozy slushie (£10), and went for the kalimotxo - a Basque drink that’s a mixture of red wine and cola, and was like a very sophisticated take on Buckfast. I sucked the ice through the thick straw and enjoyed the sugary brain freeze. He opted for the house kombucha (£6), with mellow mulled wine vibes.
Then food, which we ordered up at Asu’s counter.
The first dish to land, from a menu designed by head chef David Cleary, was the super vibrant tomato dish (£12).
Usually, at the weekend, I find myself mainly eating beige and brown foods, but this dish was healthily Technicolor. There were traffic light-coloured room temperature wedges of this fruit, basil leaves, and a few cubes of watermelon - some zingily pickled and others naturally sweet - as well as a tomato dashi with basil oil floating on top like a lava lamp. Two of our five a day. Boom. Gorgeous. You say to-may-to, I say to-ma-woah!-to.
Then, another colourful plateful. This time, the winsome pile of shrubbery included strips of mango and mangetout (£12) mint leaves, crunchy carrot, crumbled peanuts and an uber garlicky and limey nam jim dressing.
We’d slightly overordered with a third salad. Two is enough, but there were no complaints when it came to our bowl of kimchi (£11) with tissue thin slices of nashi pear, sheets of pickled ginger, black radish, glutinous and chewy rice cake sticks that we chomped on like staffies eating their daily Bonio, sesame seeds, coriander, and other treasures in the spicy mix.
They don’t only do healthy veggie-based dishes here.
If you’re feeling filthy, there is also a smash burger (£14.50) and a fried chicken sandwich (£14) on the menu.
We couldn’t resist the latter, and it featured a nutty katsu-crumbed slab of chook on a towering and soft sesame seed dappled bun, with a central reservation of chopped endive and hispi, pickled ginger sheets and a sriracha mayo.
Then, like foodie Jekyll and Hydes, we quickly switched back to our virtuous selves.
Our final course was a huge bowl of Vietnamese pho ga (£14) - wholesome and soothing soul food that was served in a dish that’s the size of our fruit bowl at home. It contained pads of pale poached chicken, a whorl of pale rice noodles, a salty and rich bone broth that seemed to be topping up my menopause-ly depleted collagen levels with every slurp, and loads of heaped herbs, like Thai basil and mint, plus a curly topknot of spring onion ribbons. I felt healed. Praise Asu! Bless you, it’s just the pollen.
I really hope this place does well. It’s a perfect counterpoint to the other businesses that are in residence.
I love salt and fat as much as the next man, but here’s something for those who want something lighter, livelier and fresher.
So I suppose we can count this new wain as yet another successful outpost from Glasgow.
The Weegies are taking over, and I’m all in favour.
Asu, Brown’s of Leith, 4-6 Shore, Edinburgh, www.customelane.co
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