Ever since Scott Smith opened Fhior in 2018 with the express aim of championing Scottish produce, it’s been one of those restaurants which has established a really solid reputation without quite making the step up from Michelin guide to Michelin-starred status. With his astonishingly complex new ten course tasting menu, the Aberdonian is clearly making a determined effort to change that. His place is classic pared-back chic, all white walls, sandblasted wooden floors and clean lines.
It was also pretty full, which is quite an achievement on a midweek evening in June in Edinburgh just now, especially given that the ten course tasting menu comes in at £130, with another £110 for the paired wines (the seven course menu is £105 with £80 for paired wines). It feels like there are a whole gaggle of new or newish Edinburgh restaurants, such as Lyla, Eorna, Montrose, Eleanore, Avery and Cardinal, who are making a charge for a star. With the scope and price of its new menu, if not its newness, Fhior – which basically means ‘true’ in Gaelic – certainly fits into that category.
We started with two canapes, one a hash brown topped with Japanese radish and kohlrabi, and the other containing trout, crab roe, cucumber, apple, elderflower and a slew of other ingredients. Right from the off, it was clear that each dish was going to be: a) quite small, b) have multiple ingredients, and c) would combine a dizzyingly diverse range of sometimes competing flavours. Each dish conforme.