Richard Bath visits Stuart Ralston’s new ‘Parisian bistro’ Vinette in central Edinburgh, and finds the new Scandi-chic eatery and attached bar Vivien doing a roaring trade.
Hospitality may be having a horribly hard old time of it, but the culinary steamroller that is Stuart Ralston rolls on regardless.
His mothership of Aizle may be no more, but earlier this year his flagship fine dining restaurant Lyla earned a Michelin star, while his two Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurants, Noto and Tipo, continue to collect new plaudits and diners in equal measure.
But three restaurants clearly isn’t enough, and following the closure of Aizle, Edinburgh’s hospitality midas has joined forces with longtime collaborator Jade Johnston and opened a new restaurant and bar on the rabbit warren-like footprint of the dearly departed Fhior on Broughton Street.
Ralston and his team – which now includes both of his brothers – runs the 40-seater restaurant Vinette, while Johnston is in charge of Vivien, ‘an intimate cocktail bar’ in the basement which is named after celebrated Belle Epoque lesbian poet Renee Vivien.
Ralston’s idea is to have somewhere casual, or, in the words of his publicists, somewhere which will ‘embody the convivial spirit of Parisian wine bars’.
Stuart Ralston has opened his newest restaurant.
That said, from top to bottom, the décor by Ross McNulty of Scarinish Studios is so pared-back and minimalist that it feels more Scandi chic than Parisian.
There are no pictures on flesh coloured walls and the wooden floors are bare while all the furniture is sleek and Arcol-inspired.
Sotto voce lighting and the narrow rooms in this infuriatingly difficult to navigate warren makes the whole place feel cosy and conspiratorial, but the downside of so many hard edges is that it can get a tad noisy when the wine starts flowing.
The Bar
Located in the bowels of the building, Vivien is a welcome return to the pre-Fhior days when there used to be a bar downstairs. There’s good precedent to think it will work commercially, with Pickles, the bar underneath (and now next to) L’Escargot Bleu just down the road doing a roaring trade.
Vivien is supposed to ‘embody the rebellious and inquisitive spirit [of poet Renee Vivien], as well as aesthetic principles of Decadence’ whatever that means.
Headed up by the well-kent Rebekah George, it’s a pretty compact space split into two, with three or four bar seats and a couple of small tables, and then an area with a large 10-seater table and another couple of smaller tables.
The lighting is low, so are the ceilings, and the vibe is the lovechild of the Savoy’s American Bar and a Scandi speakeasy.
When it came to the cocktails we opted for a Cosmonot (citrus vodka, lucky chuckleberry liqueur, spiced orange cordial, lemon and egg white) and a classic signature serve in the Strawberry Thief (rum, campari, strawberry, tropical rooibos, lime and soda), both of which were excellent. Cocktails cost £12-14 and bar snacks are also available.
The Food
If Ralston is keeping it in the family figuratively when it comes to the bar by employing long-time operations director Johnston, upstairs he is taking it more literally.
Ralston’s older brother Scott has stepped up to Group Chef, where part of his role will be overseeing younger brother Calum, who has taken on the role of head chef at Vinette.
The food itself is pitched as sharing plates in a relaxed bistro environment, and while the bistro description is fair they’re not really sharing plates, more conventional a la carte.
The one obvious exception is the £6 pre-starter snacks, so we chose three: the rarebit with marmalade (good, recommended), four pigs head croquettes (decent, may order again) and potato crisps with cream cheese and trout roe (too snacky, will avoid next time).
I could have happily eaten any of the starters but we went offal-tastic and chose a large helping of chicken liver and foie gras pate (£15, very good), and the duck hearts in a pepper sauce on brioche (£14, undoubted highlight of the meal).
The main course saw us pass up on the burger and quiche (at £18 the cheapest mains) and instead opt for a perfectly cooked chicken roulade with smoked butter and girolles (£23), and then a toss-up between pork collar (£22) and monkfish tail (£26).
As it’s now a bit of a rarity I plumped for a really decent sized portion of the latter, which felt near came with mussels and purslane, plus a side order of tenderstem broccoli (£5) and a curiously watery potato and celeriac tartiflette (£5).
Despite being stuffed, in the spirit of culinary enquiry we rounded off with a marjolaine cake with chocolate and praline (£8, too sweet for me and I’ve got a sweet tooth) and a blackberry and bay leaf olive oil cake (£8, nicely light and an unusual option).
The wine list put together by group sommelier Stuart Skea was fairly punchy price wise, but helpfully there’s a really good spread of wine by the glass. We left them to bring wines that suited our starters and mains, and were pleased with the response.
I enjoyed Vinette, which was pretty full on a miserable mid-November night. Vivien is a good place to start, and the relaxed atmosphere continues right up through the building, although the word ‘bistro’ brings to mind smoky evenings in traditional Parisian eateries, when this was a far more refined and knowing experience.
The quality of the food was decent, and the prices of the mains in particular were sensible, although if you fancy topping up with wine make sure you come with plenty of cash.
In all, the price of the meal we ate was £125 before wine, coffee and service, but there’s also a set lunch with wine at £32 for two courses and £36 for three courses.
Vinette: 36 Broughton St, Edinburgh EH1 3SB.
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