Good food, but a lack of soul on the waterfront

Restaurant review

TEUCHTERS LANDING & A ROOM IN LEITH
1c Dock Place,
Edinburgh
(0131-554 7427)

The Bill
Dinner for two, £58.30, excluding wine

I AM standing in front of a pub called Teuchters Landing feeling embarrassed. No adult Scot in their right mind wants to be seen entering a bar with such a ghastly name. And not just because of the modern penchant for dropping the possessive apostrophe – that could be down to a poor education on the part of whichever teenage public relations consultant came up with the title.

Teuchters Landing was called the Waterfront Wine Bar until three months ago. The old Waterfront was a legend in Leith. Back in the 1980s, Edinburgh's forgotten docklands were undergoing a renaissance. The clanking shipyards and factories had gone, taking with them a century of working class grime. Vast areas of Leith Docks lay derelict. But the lure of cheap property was drawing in an eclectic crowd of young professionals and start-up media companies.

There remained some old-fashioned pubs and the odd chippie, but otherwise you had to trek back up Leith Walk to find anything decent to eat and drink. Then the Waterfront Wine Bar arrived – and with it a little bit of restaurant heaven was born.

The old Waterfront Wine Bar gave the revived Leith its first sense of place. Converted from a waiting room for steamship passengers on the Leith to Aberdeen run, it was not pretentious, designer chic. It was quirky, comfy and crafted. The main restaurant was a vine-encrusted conservatory created by architect-artist Adam Zyw. Even on gloomy days it was a joy to sit in.

Alas, the encroachment of new flats and factory-shaped government offices robbed the Waterfront of its view and ambience, while dozens of other eateries turned Leith into a gastro circus. The Waterfront lost its way. Now it has shed the last remnants of its former glory. The new establishment – owned by the folk who run the popular A Room in the Town and A Room in the West End – has no magic. The wooden booths in the front bar have been taken out, reducing the room to sterile conformity. The restaurant itself is just a big barn filled with ugly, plastic tables set at discordant attitudes to each other. The amateurish mural on the wall depicting pub scenes is – I presume – designed to evoke a sense of community. It was so manipulative that I wanted to run for the door.

There was only one surprise in all this: the food at A Room in Leith (the restaurant attached to Teuchters Landing) was reasonably good. The menu sticks to fairly safe fish and meat dishes but they are presented with some flair and there is an attempt to explore taste. The old Waterfront was more of a good gastro pub than anything else – A Room in Leith has moved a bit upmarket, doubtless in response to the Michelin-starred company it now keeps. So have the prices.

To begin, we had the seared king scallops with spiced pork belly, pea purée and coriander yoghurt (£6.95). I think this combination was clever but I found the scallops a touch too over-done and turning rubbery, while the pork belly went in the opposite direction and was not cooked enough to melt in the mouth. We also had the starter haggis, neeps and tatties (£5.25). This came with carrot and ginger marmalade and Dijon mustard drizzle. The tang of the marmalade went perfectly with the smooth and refined haggis – a definite success.

For mains we tried the pancetta wrapped roast saddle of rabbit with apricot and thyme stuffing on potato fondant, pickled red cabbage and rich port jus (£16.95). The rabbit was firm yet succulent – it did not die in vain. The port jus was as rich as promised.

I also had the seared Barbary duck breast with Stornoway black pudding and goats cheese gratin, and rowanberry glaze (£18.95). Black pudding has now marched across the nation's menus and conquered them. When I was young, black pudding was a cheap breakfast food eaten by poor carnivores. I am surprised by its new middle class status. The trouble is, it does not actually go with many other ingredients, given its strong taste. In this case, the combination with the duck worked quite well, helped by the particular smoothness of the black pudding. Isle of Lewis black pudding is the gourmet version of this traditional dish, often made with lamb's blood rather than pig's blood.

For dessert, we had Orkney fudge ice-cream with white chocolate sauce and vanilla tuille (£4.95) and warm apple and sultana sponge with cardamom custard and almond praline (£5.25). Custard has a deservedly bad reputation in Britain but this one was so good I had an extra dollop.

In its heyday the old Waterfront was a serious wine place. In A Room in Leith, the wine list (called the "bevy" list) is short and uninspiring. We had a Chilean Pinot Noir by William Fevre (£20.95). Happily, this proved remarkably elegant despite the fact that Chile is not a good place to grow Pinot Noir.

Here is the lesson of Teuchters Landing and A Room in Leith: eating out is a total theatrical performance. The experience is everything – food, atmosphere, service and the company you are in. The old Waterfront Wine Bar was adequate in food, good on wine but dripping with atmosphere. You knew you were somewhere and it was definitely not straight-laced Edinburgh. Turn up at Teuchters Landing these days and you won't find any ambience, never mind an apostrophe.