The top line: Billed as a Parisian bar à vin, Vinette is the latest opening from Stuart Ralston, the chef behind Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurants Noto and Tipo and the Michelin-starred Lyla and until recently Aizle, and his long-standing business partner Jade Johnston. Here Ralston has created what he calls an ‘indulgent’ space that puts wine on an equal footing with the food. It’s a family affair, with the kitchen headed up by Ralston’s younger brother Calum, while front of house is led by Elle Mackay, the former general manager of Aizle. Group head sommelier Stuart Skea oversees the wine programme, which has an emphasis on those from the Old World.
The food: Vinette’s food is bistro-style dishes with a Mediterranean touch. An a la carte menu is served at both lunch and dinner, kicking off with a selection of snacks, all priced at £6, that include pig’s head croquette; potato chips with cream cheese and smoked trout roe; and rarebit with marmalade. For lunch there follows a three-three-three menu that includes the likes of duck hearts and brioche; and beetroot carpaccio and goats cheese as appetisers, and a Vinette burger with bacon jam and mornay sauce (pictured); and cod schnitzel for mains; as well as a Baron Bigod crumpet for dessert. There’s also a set lunch menu with wine priced at £32 for two courses and £36 for three comprising smoked trout rillette; bavette steak frites; and marjolaine cake with praline salted milk. For dinner, the offer is more capacious with the addition of dishes such as BBQ monkfish tail with brown shrimp; scallops with octopus and nduja (pictured); pork collar with cider braised onion; and a quiche with wild mushrooms and winter truffle. Starters are priced between £12 and £16 while mains are reasonably priced at £18 to £26, with sides such as fries and potato and celeriac tartiflette all £5.
The vibe: Effort has gone into making Vinette a casual, understated space that is warm and inviting by day and transforms into something altogether more intimate and cosy as the winter evenings draw in with candlelight doing a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of ambience. The pair have gone for a neutral colour palette of beige and orange with a lot of light wood throughout to create a convivial space inside that matches its putty and orange coloured exterior.
And another thing: Next month (5 November) heralds the opening of subterranean cocktail bar Vivien, named after famed Belle Époque lesbian poet Renée Vivien, at the venue. Vivien is said to embody the rebellious and inquisitive spirit of its namesake and will provide a more naughty end to an evening, ably abetted by a bar programme headed up by well-known Edinburgh drinks expert Rebekah George. Expect some very creative cocktails served alongside a selection of drink-friendly snacks, including potato mille-feuille with beurre blanc and Ortiz anchovies with lemon butter.
36 Broughton Street, Edinburgh EH1 3SB / www.vinette.co.uk/