Forth Floor Brasserie

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

It may share space with the pricier Harvey Nichols' Restaurant on the top floor of Edinburgh's most upmarket department store. But patrons to the Forth Floor Brasserie needn't feel like second class citizens as both concerns share the same grandiose views of the capital. Blood red lighting, which seeps down from a multitude of decidedly retro disks in the ceiling, combines tastefully with the soft, ambient tones emanating from the music system to create a relaxed, informal atmosphere. The menu doesn't stretch itself too far, managing to do a handful of unfussy dishes with reasonable aplomb. A starter of chicken liver parfait is head and shoulders above most you'll find, being perfectly textured, light, smooth and expertly executed. Mains include sea bream with bacon and capers and bear further evidence of a competent kitchen that can cook fresh sea fish with moist sweet flesh locked beneath a crisped skin. It's less of a test to serve up a Toulouse sausage on a potato salad, and anyone seeking a safe, savoury, but tasty comfort bite may opt for this before perusing the glamorous goods on sale in the rest of the building.

• High point: Eating at a place worthy of name dropping
• Low point: It's rarely full enough to create much of a buzz