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April 3, 2009

It is never wise to big a place up without eating there first but I’m intrigued by the menu plans at Bond No 9, a new bar and restaurant in Leith. The bar opened in one of the port’s old bonded warehouses back in December but it has taken until this weekend for the kitchen to be ready to rock.

I had a chat with the chef a few days back and it sounds as though he is doing something a bit different from many other restaurants. He’s called Ian Jolly and, though he was born in Newcastle, he trained as a chef in the States and worked in the super deluxe Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs.

Some of those American culinary habits have been translated into Bond No9’s menu. The most obvious influence is in the Grill section with its inclusion of New York strip loins but more adventurous are items like his smoked salmon cannelloni, aubergine rolls and venison carpaccio.

Even his bar snacks sound appealing with the herb crusted monkfish scampi being partnered with a wasabi pea puree. It certainly makes a cheese toastie look a little limp.

Abstract is the only other Edinburgh restaurant which springs to mind as being quite so bold with its flavour combinations. As I said, I don’t know if Jolly’s food tastes as good as it sounds but I can’t wait to try it.