The Times
Jay Rayner was entertained and at times delighted by a performative meal from Henry Dobson, a Ballymaloe and Noma-trained chef whose restaurant sources “almost everything: not just meat and veg but also the wood from the tables, the ash for the paint on the walls” and the clay for the “rough-hewn crockery” (made by his Japanese ceramicist wife) from his family’s farm near Dundee.
“The food is clearly the product of obsession, but never loses sight of the imperative to feed,” Jay said. “Dish of the night is a wonderfully gamey smoked pigeon breast, served rare with a crisply roasted leg, complete with claw… Over the top is a cage of a dizzyingly delicate coal-black tuille made with potato and cuttlefish ink. Salted fermented rhubarb and blackberries bring acidity.” Smoked venison on a caramelised cream sauce with white carrot puree was almost as good.
Both dessert and the meagre and pricey list of low-intervention wines were disappointing, but “the highs at Moss are so very high – oh, that pigeon dish; gosh, the venison – that near misses can be forgiven.”
Jay Rayner - 2025-07-20The Times
Chitra Ramaswamy fell in love with a “Scandiminimalist” restaurant in Stockbridge serving a “compact, inventive, rigorously sourced menu” from chef-patron Henry Dobson; her only complaint was that the homemade seating was uneven and uncomfortable.
Highlights of the meal included Atlantic bluefin tuna from Shetland – Chitra was told it was one of only three from the species caught in Scottish waters to make it on to the open market in the past three years – served sashimi-style and anointed with flecks of arsesmart – “Yes, arsesmart, a green so peppery it induces a mild sting. Feel free to titter softly. We did.”
Her main course was “one of the best venison dishes I have eaten”: “from the Stobo estate, the loin is boldy flavoured, delicately smoked, flawlessly cooked… the taste of the Borders – its green hills, wooded valleys and sparkling rivers – in every exquisite mouthful.”
“I love almost everything about Moss – there’s nowhere quite like it in Scotland,” she concluded. “What a beautiful, game-changing addition to Edinburgh’s ever more thrilling dining scene.”
Chitra Ramaswamy - 2025-09-07
Drinks
Extras
