Restaurant review: The Shore

MY AFFAIR with the Shore in Leith started more than 15 years ago, and it was love at first sight. It had good beer, a great atmosphere and live music to boot. Throw in an eclectic clientele, crimson Dracula-meets-Rebus décor and views over the harbour, and it was little wonder the place soon earned a reputation as one of the best pubs in this city of great bars.

Then there was the restaurant: a habitually packed and frenetic little place that was staffed by waiters and waitresses dressed as if they had been teleported from the fourth arrondissement. The food tasted as though someone with a bit of Gallic flair was at work behind the scenes too, even if it was more likely to be an ambitious young Scot toiling over a hot stove.

While the Shore bar remained the happily unpretentious boozer of old, its restaurant had undergone something of a sad decline. It has been a slow death, rather like watching an elderly relative fade before your eyes: first the quality of the food dipped, and as it continued to wane, so the number of visitors dropped off until the place was crying out for the end to come.

The last time I ate there was two years ago, on a Thursday night in early summer, and the place was as empty when I arrived as it was when I left. No wonder, because the food was terrible.

So it was no surprise when I heard that the place had been taken over. But it was something of a disappointment to hear that the new owner is Fishers, whose restaurant of the same name is next door. Fishers and its sister restaurant, Fishers in the City, in Thistle Street, are two of my least favourite restaurants, places I try to avoid when friends from out of town suggest eating there.

But I needn't have worried. Even as I walked past the window, I could see the place was full, and full of life. It had the hubbub you only get when customers are truly happy, and it soon became clear why.

The menu offered a big hint. It's always a great start when you fancy virtually every option, especially on a menu that is out of the ordinary: duck rillettes with gherkin relish lit up the starters; artichoke polenta cake with wilted spinach and almond chilli syrup sparkled among the mains.

I was intrigued and excited – this was going to be an interesting meal. And thankfully the food lived up to my advanced billing. This was the Shore returned to form, right back to where it was when I first fell for the place. It was a wondrously welcome revival.

I managed to see past the baked oysters and ham hash cakes, and instead started with the linguine with king prawns in a sauce of sun-blushed tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and pine nuts, and I wasn't disappointed by a huge, steaming bowl of pasta packed with enormous, super-succulent prawns.

Across the table, Trish purred with satisfaction as she finished off an exquisitely moist fillet of sea bass.

If our meal started well, it got even better when the main courses arrived. My fillet of salmon stuffed with Stornoway black pudding and cream cheese, served with a cauliflower purée and persillade dressing, was the most memorable dish of the year so far. The tender fish was so perfectly offset by the creamy mix that I could have carried on eating all night.

Trish had opted for a far heftier dish, a shin of beef braised in red wine and served with truffle mash and mushroom ragout. While it didn't come close to eclipsing my salmon, it was a juicy piece of meat nicely complemented by light and airy mash and the strong flavours of the mushrooms.

We rounded off with a run-of-the-mill treacle tart with clotted cream ice-cream and a cheese board that presented a couple of new experiences in Cornish yarg and calvados camembert. But despite the exotic names, the cheese board was otherwise unexceptional.

That, though, was the only part of the experience that wasn't remarkably good. Some old, familiar faces were running the front of house with a cheery confidence and delivering food that was good value and, well, just good. The buzz in the place was palpable.

This was the Shore as I once knew it, and it was good to welcome back an old friend.

Vital statistics

The Shore

3 Shore, Leith, Edinburgh (0131 553 5080, www.theshore.biz)

Out of pocket

Starters £4-£7 Mains £9.50-£14; Puddings £4.75 Cheese £6.95. Two-course set lunch £8.95

Rating 8.5/10

HIDDEN TREASURE

SCATTERED around the capital and beyond are Peckham's delicatessens – a family-owned Scottish company offering the finest produce. Beside the continental meats, cheeses, pastries and pastas, it stocks fresh sandwiches. And for night owls, the stores don't close until midnight on week days.

Peckham's in Edinburgh: 48 Raeburn Place (0131 332 8844); 155 Bruntsfield Place (0131 229 7054); 49 South Clerk Street (0131 668 3737); and Glasgow: 61-65 Glassford Street (0141 553 0666); 100 Byres Road (0141 357 1454); 43 Clarence Drive (0141 357 2909); 21 Clarence Drive (0141 334 4312); 139 Hyndland Road (0141 357 0398); 275 Mearns Road (0141 639 3782)

Know of a hidden treasure to tempt our tastebuds? Send details to Katy Ross, deputy editor, Spectrum, Scotland on Sunday, 108 Holyrood Road, Edinburgh EH8 8AS ([e-mail])