Outsider Restaurant, The

A sibling of The Apartment this unusual restaurant on the George IV bridge is located in a former Bauermeister's shop which has been given the full strip job to within an ace of its life, a mezzanine floor inserted (phew! that must have been a relief) and a real cool refurb applied, all to good effect. The views across to the Castle are stunning. Nor has innovation and change stopped at the door. The menu is devoid of starters and many of the main courses are for sharing.

Happily, for those like myself who tend to feel quite personal about their chow, there are a good number of dishes to which one can retain exclusivity. Perhaps I might have felt differently some years ago. Two dishes that seem to be hitting the high spots are a soupy stew of chorizo and morcilla with chickpeas and waxy potatoes, also some belly pork and savoy cabbage, and char-grilled baby squid in fresh chilli oil, dusted in flat parsley. One 'sharing' dish comprises two skewers of swordfish, scallops and king prawns that have been char-grilled and doused with a pungent sweet chilli dressing. Sweetcorn fritters come with roasted tomato, parmesan shavings and toasted sunflower seeds.

The wine list tends to take a bit of a swipe at the rituals of dining with wine, but it's all fairly harmless. Pricing is light on the purse and given current trends (12/04) it seems likely that The Outsider will soon be inside.