Agua

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The 2011/12 edition of The List's Eating & Drinking Guide is out now – only £5.95 (+p&p).

This review is taken from the current (2011) edition.

The leading restaurant in the set of three Apex Hotels in Edinburgh, Agua, as the name implies, offers some piscine-influenced dining. The loss of the fresh crustacean menu is a bitter blow, but the canny owners of Agua have racked up the ambition of the cooking to mitigate. One example, scallops cock-a-leekie, sees a crisp of salty fried chicken under seared scallops somewhat confused by a delicate prune and leek purée and a barley jus. East meets west with the more successful soused mackerel with an oyster dressing and curry mayonnaise. Innovation continues with the mains, which offer much more than just seafood with pheasant, lamb and beef. Most interesting is the roasted salmon with a crab spring roll and ‘cashew nann jim oriental bouillon’. Desserts are more consistent with the peppermint soufflé and vanilla pod ice-cream the stand out. The setting for this hit and miss culinary experimentation may feel a little like a trendy breakfast room in a hotel, but this is after all a hotel restaurant, and at least one that dares to be different.

• High point: A hotel restaurant that attempts to be different
• Low point: The experiments don’t always come off