El Daar

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What happens when Palestinian and Scottish cooking meets up in a bright basement restaurant on Nicholson Street? Well, a choice of chips or roast potatoes with your main course and a smoked salmon starter, for two things. Of far more interest are the flavours and ingredients hailing from the Middle East. When you taste the baba ghanoush, the falafel, the hummus, they come as fresh and authentic as in any Palestinian home kitchen. El-Daar, after all, means 'The Home'. That means plenty from the grill, too, from minced and herbed lamb to a sea bass stuffed with garlic, lemon, herbs and just a touch of chilli. Other simple combinations blend couscous or rice with the flavours of lemony sumac, pomegranate sauce and El Daar’s own potent chilli sauce (beware). For a little table theatre, try maqlouba: rice casseroled with chicken, sautéed aubergine, tomato and spices, then flipped upside down onto your plate. Desserts are absolutely no afterthought. Nablus (ricotta-like) cheese squeezed between two layers of shredded pastry doused with honey syrup and rose water is a warm, gooey, sweet delight.

• High point: Homely middle-eastern cooking.
• Low point: Ubiquitous chips.