To conclude our stay in Edinburgh, Tegan and I had decided to visit Paul Kitching’s Michelin starred restaurant 21212 for lunch. When we first had a look at 21212’s online menu we were left feeling a little baffled. Did all those ingredients really make up just one dish? The answer was yes! And boy was I excited to try them! How often do you get to try combinations like beef and egg mayonnaise and chicken with crispy marmite mayonnaise? I had a feeling this would be an unforgettable culinary experience. My instincts served me well!
21212 is situated on Royal Terrace in a listed Georgian townhouse. It has had four and a half million pounds spent on renovating it. The restaurant at 21212 is small, seating a maximum of thirty eight, yet elegant. It possesses a simultaneous feeling of luxuriousness and cosiness. A huge chandelier hangs from the middle of the ceiling, the carpet is covered with a large butterfly print and I particularly loved the ‘sofa-style’ seating in the windows at the far end of the restaurant. The tables are laid with funky shaped cutlery, the kind I think a lot of women would like to discretely sweep into their handbags and take home for use at their dinner parties. The kitchen is open, a wall of glass being all that separates diners and chefs. I found the quietness of the kitchen somewhat eerie. I think this may be due to the fact that I’ve worked with some ‘noisy’ chefs during my eight years in catering. I remember one in particular who used to hammer pans against the kitchen floor or throw them across the kitchen at the sink, narrowly skimming a kitchen porters head.
The menu at 21212 changes on a daily basis and is based on modern French cooking. A dish will only ever appear once in its full entirety. I found this fact fascinating. A chef has to have a big imagination (and maybe be a little eccentric) to keep thinking up such ‘off the wall’ but delicious dishes. The menu at 21212 works as follows; you choose between two starters, two mains and two puddings. You can opt for a soup course in-between starter and main (a little backwards some may say, however, 21212 is all about breaking the conventional rules) and a cheese course in-between main and pudding. Some may find this limiting. However, for Tegan and I this was our perfect menu. I ordered one dish, she ordered the other. We left having tasted the whole menu. At lunch time three courses is £27, four courses is £37 and five courses is £47. Taking into consideration the quality and thoughtfulness of the food and the overall ‘theatrical’ experience, I’d say that’s an absolute bargain.
Paul Kitching is considered to be the ‘Heston’ of the North. His food displays his playful yet creative nature. Each dish is presented as if it is a piece of artwork on a plate. Tegan’s starter and both our mains, in-particular, were bursting with colour. You can see Kitching’s enthusiasm when each course is put in front of you and it’s an enthusiasm that is contagious. You find yourself chewing your food incredibly slowly in order to find and savour all of the wonderful flavours he cleverly combines.
Our first taste of 21212 was the divine cumin and currant bread. This was closely followed by our starters:
Gourmet Fish Quartet with Pimento and Walnuts - Tender Nugget of Smoked Salmon, Spicy Quarters of Jumbo Scallops, Brown Crab Meat Sauce, Smoked Kipper Mayonnaise, Celeriac and Walnuts, Butter Beans and Pimento, White Crab - Claw - Slaw (this was the tastiest of the two starters).
Chicken Barley Pudding - Tender Breast of French Corn Fed Chicken with Barley, Exotic Vegetables, Kohlrabi, Breakfast Radish, Chantenay Carrots and Almonds, Sage and Onion Sauce, White Pudding, Chervil, Crispy Marmite Mayonnaise (I've never eaten such moist chicken).
Our mains:
Beef with Horseradish, Beetroot and Egg Shell Pasta - Slow Cooked Fillet of Beef with Pak Choi, Sweetcorn and Chestnuts, Shimeji Mushrooms, Giant Pasta Shells, Egg Mayonnaise, Piccalilli, Beetroot and Yeast Cream Sauce, "Omelette" (this was the better main, the beef was unbelievable and the flavours of the dish just blew us away).
Trout Verte Deux Pomme Frite - Baked Fillet of Young Pink Trout, Romanesco Cauliflower, Mangetout, Courgette Wafers and Dill Mayonnaise, Asparagus Tips, Spring Greens, Leeks, Spinach, Watercress, Couscous and Broccoli (sounds like a shopping list for your vegetables doesn't it?).
I opted for the cheese course in-between main and dessert. It may be French tradition to have cheese before dessert but I’ve never followed this. Therefore, this was a first for me. The plate of cheese that arrived in front of me was phenomenal! It was, hands down, the biggest selection of cheese I have ever been served in a restaurant, something I definitely would not have expected from a Michelin starred restaurant. I worked my way, with a little help from Tegan, through ten generous slices of a variety of cheeses, all of which were expertly explained, served with dried pear and broken biscuits which included HobNobs and Mcvitie’s
Digestives.
The pre-dessert caused us a bit of a giggle. Coconut and porridge milk served out of a cow-shaped jug named Daisy. It was poured into tiny pots that were a little ‘thimble’ looking (the sort that you pump your ketchup into in McDonalds). It’s very silly, even the way in which the waitress introduced Daisy suggested so, but it’s different, fun and its part of the experience.
Our desserts:
Turkish "Delightful" - Glazed Baked Egg Custard with Fresh Turkish Delight, Honey Dew Melon, Natural Yoghurt and Vanilla, Pumpkin Seeds, Milk Chocolate Buttons and Kahlua Coffee Anglaise (the plate and the egg cup just made this dish).
Blueberries, Pecans and Grannies - Layered Spring Trifle with Blueberries, Granny Smith Puree, Pecan and Honeycomb Praline, Shortbread, Sliced Bananas, Bees Pollen, Holicks and Vanilla Anglaise, Fruity Flapjack Biscuits.
Just as I thought the unconventional surprises had come to an end I was served coffee in a paper cup, like those you’re given on trains and aeroplanes, with canteen style plastic stirrers. It’s bizarre but brilliant. With the coffee came a selection of home-made chocolates, my favourite of which was a white chocolate and mincemeat fudge.
As we left 21212 Tegan picked up a review written by Melanie Reid for the Times Online. She described Paul Kitching as ‘one of those little boys who liked to make potions in the bath’. I’d consider that to be a spot on analogy. His ‘concoctions’ can only be described as magical. He may be big on flavours but his food certainly doesn’t lack quality.
21212 was in a different ‘Michelin stared world’ compared to the conventional Martin Wishart’s, the restaurant we had eaten at the night before. The atmosphere was so different at 21212, we felt relaxed and the service was far more informal which we both enjoyed. Personally, this was my favourite out of the two and I wouldn’t have to think twice about returning.
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