Amber

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• What are these?

• Average price 2 courses:
   £9 (lunch)
   £22 (evening meal)
• House wine: £13.50 per bottle

• Hitlisted
• High point: Great food cooked by food lovers for food lovers
• Low point: Why aren't all restaurants this good?
• Food served: Mon–Sun noon–3.45pm; Tue–Sat 7–9pm
• Open since: 2004
• Also offers: Vegetarian options (at least 25% of main courses), Children's portions, Children's high chairs, Wheelchair access

This review appears in the The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008
– in the shops now or buy online.

Amber is ideally placed to capitalise on the tourist trade – it's close to Edinburgh Castle and forms part of the Scotch Whisky Experience – but don't let visitors to the city be the only ones to enjoy its charms. Dispensing with folksiness, Amber presents a more modern face of Scotland to the world. Friendly, knowledgeable staff are on hand at every turn to welcome you and offer suggestions and expertise on the bafflingly vast selection of whiskies on offer. Whisky is, unsurprisingly, one of the main features of the meal; it crops up in cocktails served at the well-stocked bar, is an ingredient in several of the dishes and can also be matched to each course, should you wish. Those less fond of the uisge beatha shouldn't panic though, as there's a wide-ranging wine list on offer, and the truth is that the food will distract even the most rabid whisky lovers from their dram. A typical starter pairs rich, creamy, warm goat's cheese with a tart blackberry dressing on crisp, buttery herb bread. It's delicious, but is just outdone by a main of melt-in-the-mouth garlic roast rump of lamb. Alternatively, begin with the pigeon pâté, which comes with a balsamic and fig dressing and is surprisingly substantial, and follow with a fillet of pork with whisky and apple chutney, black pudding and herb mash. The flavours are big, confident and perfectly matched.