A guarded secret
Duck liver parfait with toasted brioche, £5.95
Shellfish bisque, £5.25
Potato and leek truffle essence soup, £4.95
Sage and pork sausages with caramelised apple, £7.95
Avocado and goats' cheese with an apple and walnut chutney, £4.95 (small) £6.95 (large)
Monkfish, fettucine and a saffron sauce, £13.95
Pistachio tart, £4.95
Blueberry cheesecake, £3.95
Lemon tart with a lime and ginger sorbet, £3.95
PASSING through the austere entrance of Edinburgh's Museum of Scotland, you see little hint of a restaurant. It's not until you have dodged the security guards at the admissions desk and get upstairs that you find it.
James Thomson's 88-seat Tower restaurant opened on 1 December last year. Head chef is Steven Adair, previously senior sous chef at the Witchery, Thomson's other Edinburgh restaurant. Adair heads a brigade of 13 chefs, while the eight-strong front of house team is looked after by general manager Stuart Thom and restaurant and training manager Sue Bissett, both also from the Witchery.
The target market of the restaurant is thirtysomething professionals, but a glance at the lunch crowd reveals Edinburgh lawyers sitting alongside elderly tourists and smartly clad museum visitors. Lunch is big business, doing 120 covers, and dinner provides 70 daily covers, with an extra 70 in the summer on the terrace. Average spend per head is currently £15 at lunch, £30 at dinner (including wine).
Customers have a choice of about nine starters, 10 main courses and six desserts on seasonally changing lunch and dinner menus. Three crustacea, four salads and six side dishes are also offered - plus two soup choices on the dinner menu. On both menus a starter of marinated chicken with a mango and salsa dressing (£4.95) sits alongside carpaccio of beef with a horseradish and wholegrain mustard dressing (£6.50). Also on offer is salmon, smoked on the premises, and served with a sweet chilli dressing (£5.25) which is made in-house.
Fish and chips (£8.95) - usually cod - is a favourite here, on offer for lunch alongside braised lamb shank (£8.50); while dinner includes roast saddle of rabbit with a fennel and thyme purée (£14.85) and steamed sea bass and baked eggplant ratatouille (£13.95).
Many of the ingredients are sourced in Scotland, including the venison, which appears on the menu accompanied by creamed leeks (£18.75), and Aberdeen Angus, served with a garlic broth (£16.95).
Desserts (mostly at £3.95, except for sorbets and ice-creams which are £2.95) are traditional but with a twist. A cräme brñlée is flavoured with elderflower and ginger, while the apple tarte tatin comes with plum ice-cream.
Offering fine ingredients with a simple approach is a combination that is working for the Tower, and its full-capacity figures show that diners think it's worth running the gauntlet of the security guards. n
The Tower Restaurant, Museum of Scotland, Chamber Street, Edinburgh EHI IJF. Tel: 0131-225 3003
