The Times
Chitra Ramaswamy purred over an “indulgent and deeply pleasurable” meal at the latest venue from Stuart Ralston, currently “the most influential chef-restaurateur in Edinburgh”. On the former site of Fhior (RIP), Vinette is a candlelit Parisian bar à vin with a cocktail bar downstairs named after a belle époque lesbian poet, and an upmarket bistro menu of “recherché classics like foie gras parfait and duck hearts au poivre”.
“This is not a restaurant for vegans, teetotallers or the lactose intolerant. If none of these apply, you will have a ball”, dining on the like of “devilishly good” crumpets smothered with Baron Bigod; a “faultless” barbecued monkfish tail with a brown shrimp sauce; and “the best tartare you’ll ever encounter”, made with venison – “delicate, herbal, earthy and smoky like a Perthshire forest in midwinter, packed with cranberries, beetroot and capers, tracked with forensically neat lines of tarragon”.
Head sommelier Stuart Skea “is nothing short of a genius”, and his selection of old world wines by the glass “may be the feather in Vinette’s chapeau. Each one we tried was sublime”.
Chitra Ramaswamy - 2026-01-25
