The latest new restaurant in Edinburgh is Ishka.
Billed as a restaurant and cocktail bar, the venture is in the Morrison Street premises formerly occupied by Les Amis.
The food is billed as the ‘best in Modern Scottish cuisine with nods to the Mediterranean’.
On the plate this means pan-fried hake with a quinoa and parsley risotto, cockles and capers or the rump of lamb with haggis bon bons, aubergine and zhoug – the Yemeni chilli paste.
The menus are certainly intriguing to read. Even the veggie options look exciting. And that is not always the case.
Innovative veggie options
You don’t want to get between me and a plate of roast pork but I would happily tuck into Ishka’s broccoli fritters with spelt, char grilled king oyster mushrooms, caramelised shallots and spinach.
The desserts look just as finessed. At Ishka, cranachan is not a simple mix of cream, oats, raspberries and whisky.
Instead, it is vanilla panna cotta with honey flapjack, whisky jelly and raspberries.
On the a la carte, starters range from £6.50 to £9 while main courses come in between £14 and £25 for a rib-eye steak.
On the market menu, two courses are £14 or you can have three for £18 along with tea or coffee.
Ishka cocktails
the new business also looks pretty strong on the cocktail front. And if you should get peckish after a couple of Corsairs, the bar snack menu is extensive.
Just don’t go asking for a pack of porky scratchings. Ishka’s bar snacks are rather more upmarket.
For example, you won’t find a cheese toastie around these parts. However, you can order thyme paneer which is served on rye toast with sunflower seeds, local honey and truffle.
Or you could try the smoked sea trout pâté with seaweed salad, keta caviar and toasted soda bread.
As you might have guessed, Ishka doesn’t do chips. But they do serve sweet potato fries with togarashi mayonnaise.
The restaurant will be open to the public from Thursday. Although we are told that they have some private events running so you may want to check in with them before pitching up.
As with every new restaurant in Edinburgh, the 5pm Dining blog wishes them every success.