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We hear a great deal about recycling these days - du Vin recycles attractive but sometimes un-loved buildings to restore real gems in the best tradition of British understated style.

Complement that with all that is best in the French bistro ethos, bars that reach out to please, and you have a setting that provides an inspirational background for people to meet, do business, get married, provide a base for golf or fishing, somewhere you can call your own for a private celebration, a spa or - most engagingly - a wine school that breaks the mould.

In Edinburgh, du Vin has taken on the site of a former lunatic asylum, squirrelled away deep in the Old Town of Edinburgh, only a short walk from the historic Royal Mile. Next door to the well-known Bedlam Theatre, this striking luxury boutique hotel has 47 timelessly furnished rooms and stunning suites offering monsoon showers, luxurious Egyptian cotton linen, and air conditioning. Plasma TVs and DVDs are also standard. As a comfortable base from which to explore the fascinating city of Edinburgh, with its great historic and cultural heritage, as well enjoy the nightlife and entertainment scene, the hotel could hardly be bettered.

In the trademark classy bistro the choice of starters could include shell on prawns with garlic mayonnaise, an Isle of Mull soufflé, pig terrine with homemade pickle, or duck rillette with crusty bread. How often the simple things in life are the best, and it applies here to the classic dishes on offer, amongst which the devilled lamb's kidneys, or the choux farci a l'alsacienne, are notable.

Head Chef Matt Powell leaves no recipe book unread in his quest for new dishes, including those of his own, and main courses demonstrate his success. Natural smoked haddock cassoulet with Montgomery's cheddar crust, char-grilled squid, fennel, leeks and a warm chorizo dressing and chicken Cordon Bleu with potato salad all demonstrate an independence of approach that is mirrored throughout the menus, which change daily.

Whilst one might argue that the whole point of being in a du Vin is to snuggle up to the wine list, this list is designed to march with the food and can only be described as superb. With a team of two sommeliers, headed here by Romain Audrerie, there is no room for anything but the best. Service is telepathic in the best possible sense.

Click on their Website for full information and rates. Hotel du Vin, with fourteen options throughout Britain, awaits your call.

The Forth Floor Restaurant, Brasserie and Bar offer guests a stylish, striking venue for lunch, dinner or drinks; floor to ceiling windows run the length of the restaurant and brasserie giving spectacular views over the Edinburgh skyline from the Castle to The Firth of Forth, making it an ideal venue for entertaining. A thirty two metre Terrace poised high over St Andrew Square provides the opportunity to dine in the fresh air and sunshine for which the capital is renowned.

Whether dining in the more formal Restaurant, meeting friends for a casual supper in the Brasserie or starting the night with a cocktail or glass of champagne in the Bar the Forth Floor provides the very best in contemporary entertaining.

The Restaurant opens for lunch every day and dinner from Tuesday to Saturday. The Brasserie serves breakfast every day; lunch and an afternoon menu from Monday to Saturday - as well as brunch on a Sunday and dinner from Tuesday to Saturday. In the evening, diners enter the restaurants via a dedicated express lift situated at the side of the store off Multrees Walk.

Stuart Muir, Scottish born and bred Executive Chef, has been at the Forth Floor since day one and is passionate about the excellent Scottish produce he has available to him and the ever-growing restaurant scene. Whether using hand dived scallops from Tarbert or Loch Etive oysters, Stuart is proud to feature Scottish produce on the menu. The restaurant serves modern British cooking with a twist, while the Brasserie serves classic British and European food for more casual dining.

Lunch in the restaurant might include beetroot cured salmon with lemon salted cucumber and poached Loch Etive oyster with pickled ginger, or milk poached loin of rabbit with roast black fig, grapefruit jelly and homemade citrus cream cheese. Main courses of roast halibut with camembert fritter have smoked garlic, chive potato duchess and cauliflower puree on the side, and roast loin of pork with ginger bread Melba combines wonderfully with cinnamon apple puree, trompette mushrooms, honey comb and thyme jus. Pear bread and butter pudding with rum and raisin ice cream or a selection of Scottish cheeses with heather honeycomb and homemade crackers make a blissful end to a perfect meal with a skyline view.

At dinner dishes are more elaborate and could start with ceviche of North Atlantic monkfish with spiced candied pumpkin seeds, chilli, Thai fish bon bon and soya sauce, or tarragon and mushroom gnocchi with crispy shallots and caramelized hazelnut, before moving on to braised shin of Scottish beef with spiced aubergine puree, roast provençal vegetables, truffle potato crisp and confit garlic, or maybe smoked cheddar and thyme risotto with honey glazed beets, carrots and navets. Desserts tend to have a wow factor with chocolate assiette, saffron poached pears with honey cream and lemon sweet pastry.

The Sommelier at the Forth Floor is on hand and happy to help you negotiate your way around an extensive selection of wines, and champagnes, from all over world, with many bottles exclusive to Harvey Nichols in Scotland. The list is full of treats for every pocket from £18.50 to £2,500. Should wine not be your particular tipple, they also have a full range of spirits from small batch bourbons to unusual malts to fine cognacs.

The Brasserie offers stylish casual dining for lunch and dinner and the menu might include favourites such as Scottish rib-eye steak frites, pan-fried fillets and marinated lamb gigot. Desserts include a flourless chocolate mousse cake with berry sorbet and ice creams from S. Luca of Musselburgh.

The Bar features comfy leather banquettes, low leather stools and an unexpected view of Leith and the sea. Most importantly the extensive back bar accommodates numerous unusual spirits that help the bar team conjure up the freshest and most exciting cocktails.

In addition to Forth Floor Restaurant, Bar and Brasserie, the fourth floor also has a 3000 sq ft Foodmarket with Wineshop that sells fresh foods with a strong emphasis on local sourcing and grocery products from across the world - often sold exclusively to Harvey Nichols - as well as their award-winning own-label range. The Wineshop stocks a wide variety of interesting spirits and over 300 hand picked wines and Champagnes.

For more details please visit the Website.

Photographs - Copyright Chris Gascoigne.

The first Browns opened at Brighton in 1973 with one simple guiding belief, that classic food, well delivered in a stylish environment, would be a recipe for success. The only thing that has changed since then is the number of Browns, now running at fourteen, of which six are in London, all prospering with the same theme.

Some of their buildings are particularly legendary in style, sometimes listed and always interesting. The premises at Edinburgh are located in George Street, the street that runs parallel with Princes Street and is, in a Sassenach view, far more Scottish.

The main menu, available throughout the day, starts with appetisers, designed for sharing, with antipasti of Italian meat, vegetarian or seafood. Try also the flatbreads with a range of interesting toppings. In amongst the thirteen starters expect to come across smoked duck, crisp noodle and cashew nut salad with red peppers, tumeric cauliflower, spring onions and a sherry vinaigrette. The fish and salad choices include fish and chips tempura battered cod with minted mushy peas and tartar sauce and seared beef fillet salad with chilli, garlic, soy and spring onions.

The same theme of comfortable food, well-cooked and presented, continues throughout the mains course with roast chicken breast in sour dough bread with baby spinach, tomato and mayonnaise, served with seasoned chips, and steak frites 6oz prime sirloin, served with a lemon, parsley and peppercorn butter.

Desserts include some indulgent Browns cheesecake with a selection of baked vanilla, chocolate, lemon, strawberry, banoffee or rum and raisin. By the way their breakfast and brunch menu is just one of the best as is the lunch and early menu. Little ones have their own dedicated menu where they can choose between tomato penne pasta and smoked fishcake with a hollandaise sauce and green salad.

The wine list is masterful and not over long, sometimes a great relief to those who find it difficult to navigate their way through a lengthier list, however interesting. Many bottles are available by the glass and helpfully each group of wines is classified under headings such as white, red and rose with house recommendations, New and Old World wines under them.

Browns in Edinburgh are well able to deal with groups, and have special menus to look after their particular interests. Click on their excellent Website for further details and menu changes.

The Malmaison group of hotels has established throughout Britain a collection of centres of excellence where nothing but the best will do. As a concept alone this is exciting, but the reality is brilliant, so that at last there is a hotel group where uniformity of standards is of the same high calibre. Perched on the banks of the Forth in Leith, it is within walking distance of the great restaurants and bars in Leith and only minutes from the hustle and bustle of the city centre.

Inside the décor is stylish with marked French overtones, matching the general buzz factor that makes this one of the more popular places not only to stay in Scotland's capital city, but also to eat in comfort surrounded by good taste. As you walk in, you'll be met with grand staircases, slinky sofas in the lobby and the doorways to the brasserie and Bar Nirvana.

The bedrooms are all that one would expect from a hotel that has genuine regard for its guests and is concerned with every aspect of their wellbeing and they are uniquely designed in either vibrant colours or muted shades. Room 121 deserves a special mention - a four poster bed with regal fabrics, a stunning high ceiling and views of the cobbled courtyard to the River Leith - it's pure decadence.

Amidst elegant surroundings, with spotless gleaming glassware and shining cutlery, an essentially brasserie menu is offered from which lovers of seafood will be delighted to note that their particular needs are well heeded, starting with a delightful mussel and saffron chowder or devilled whitebait. That very brasserie dish, eggs Florentine with fat cut chips, has staged a comeback, and can be taken here as a starter or main course. Smoked ham hock seldom fails to please, and the Tamworth pork cutlet is served with apple compote, red cabbage and prunes.

An inspired choice is the beef bourguignon for those seeking by this time a slightly more carnivorous - approach. Which leads us neatly to the, wait for it - Mal burger, a 250 gram burger made from ground beef tucked into a floured bap to join bacon and gruyere, served with homemade relish and some fries. Vegetarians are well looked after - the pumpkin and gorgonzola filled gnocchi sound appealing.

Over the years the number of outriders surrounding a good honest steak on the plate has grown to unacceptable dimensions. At Malmaison the thought and care is centred on the 35 day aged rump steak frites and that's it - except for the chips. If you want all the rest go for the side dishes, but steak and chips on its own takes some beating.

Heading the puddings is the sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch sauce, a triumph of timing and co-ordination, supported by other choices amongst which expect to find rhubarb and apple crumble. Their homemade ice creams and sorbets are dreamy.

The wine list is a symphony of its kind, clearly compiled by an enthusiast who knows his wines well enough not to disappear into a world of hyperbole when describing them.

Their Website is a wealth of information that will, I predict, only serve to increase your resolve to make Malmaison your next stop in Edinburgh. It is worth noting that you can also make reservations Online on their Website.

There's one thing about Maison Bleue, absolutely no chance of missing it. Quite how they managed it I know not, but blue it is, very prettily done up with plenty of flowers on the outside in season, right in the heart of Edinburgh's atmospheric Old Town. Not for the first time do Scottish and Gallic influences join happily together.

Inside the historic origins of the building are enhanced by impressive stone arches, a spiral wooden staircase and unique interior design scheme. In the kitchens a comfortable blend of French, North Africa and Scottish cuisine creates memorable meals that linger on the palate and in the memory.

The a la carte is the main source of business, and it quickly becomes apparent that diners are faced with la mission impossible as one dish after another sets the tastebuds tapping, starting with bleue-abaisse soup, Bleue's signature version of the Marseilles fish soup, whole fish chunks served with a crouton and spicy rouille sauce. Haggis balls fried in beer batter, served with clapshot potatoes and whisky sauce make the point for Scotland, whilst Moroccan breewats rely upon spinach and goat's cheese wrapped in filo pastry and served with a light salad are simply delicious.

Four varieties of brochette all place equal strain upon the decision making process, but salvation is at hand with a mix of all four. There are few more rousing dishes than a seafood gumbo, a hearty fish and seafood stew from the Bayou with chorizo for extra zest and a Creole shrimp sauce. A tagine centres round a whole lamb shank with exciting spices, nor does Bleue pass up on the fish and chips, over baked chips and a nod to France with garlic mushie peas.

Steaks are in a class of their own, Aberdeen Angus guaranteed, and though the accompaniments vary my guess is that those who like their steaks with chips only could be accommodated. This is not one of those establishments where staff sulk when clients express a preference.

This being quality Edinburgh it would be unlikely that a cheeseboard from the excellent Ian Mellis would be missing, supplemented by market additions that might have escaped even his eagle eye.

Le Banquet Bleu offers three courses at £25 with a vegetarian option at £19.90. Be sure not to miss the surprise calamari, medallion of venison and the saffron risotto. A lunch and pre-theatre menu more than amply prepares equally for the rigours of the day or enjoyments to come from Edinburgh's packed cultural life. Special occasions are honoured, and haggis 'Vietnamese style with a whisky sweet and sour dip' can hardly fail to rouse interest.

A supple and masterly wine list covers a well selected range from £14 to special treats around the £50 mark and bears all the evidence of having been well discussed with the chefs. Nor are they miserly with their recipes which they share with customers, one free recipe each month sent by email.

Their Website is well organised and will fill in all the gaps about this delightful and friendly place, a wonderful place to visit and allow good food and wine to work its magic on your day.

Oloroso, which translates as aromatic, the brainchild of Tony Singh and the late James Sankey, opened its doors in 2001 and from the outset its meteoric rise to the top in this city of fine restaurants was never in doubt. Now that James is no longer with us, Tony has ensured that maintaining and improving their joint legacy continues with undimmed fervour, and Oloroso is the place to be.

Whilst the majestic views from their rooftop deck are a major feature of the restaurant, never let it be thought than anything takes precedence over the quality of the food, and the essentially Scottish contemporary cuisine that Tony has established.

He has been well-equipped to do this by means of a star-studded career that includes periods with The Royal Scotsman Train, The Balmoral Hotel, Martin's Restaurant and the Royal Yacht Britannia. In 2000 he was awarded the prestigious title of ITV Chef of the Year.

A subdued approach to the elegant décor is seasoned by the background music and the voices of the Edinburgh professional classes and intelligentsia in full cry. Three menus embrace a grill, à la carte and bar. Tony Singh categorises his food as 'global comfort food' and items such as seared Marlin, Irvine of Perthshire sirloin steak sourced with all the precision of a surgeon's scalpel combine with truffled potato mash and mushroom purée, braised beef shin and wild mushrooms to keep the customers guessing. Well marbled cuts, the sources of which are well known to the restaurant, are aged according to the size of the joint.

The grill menu also features 16oz T-bone veal steaks, and the tuna loin comes from some of the cleanest waters in the world, often at temperatures which help to produce fish that are well structured and with good flavour.

The bar food is also wildly popular, served every day with a simple easy-to-choose menu featuring culinary delights of Tony Singh's favourites. It is somehow refreshing to find the same degree of care being applied to this robust fare as to the more sophisticated cuisine in the restaurant - as it should be.

By contrast the fact that the wine list tops out at £575 for a bottle of 1964 Dom Perignon should not be allowed to worry you overmuch since there are options at under £20, though the great majority of this majestic List is above that mark.

In these days of increasing awareness by those who are particularly selective in their choice of places to go, the elegant Cocktail Bar is one of the 'must-be' locations. The views from the Rooftop Terrace of Edinburgh Castle and the Kingdom of Fife as you sip a hot cocktail devised by their resident award-winning mixologist must be some of the best in this outstandingly beautiful city, as well as being ideal for a pre theatre supper, quick lunch or somewhere to hang out with friends.

Oloroso is, in the view of many, the pick of the bunch in Edinburgh and one can only endorse that by saying what a pity it is there are not a few more like it. Check out their Website for menu changes and news of any fresh developments. Please note that they describe their dress code as 'casual elagance', which sounds perfect to me.

If there's one thing you can get the British hooked on, it's seafood, pun predictable. So up in Scotland, which can usually be relied upon to show us the way in quite a lot of things, they are surprisingly a bit behind the times on the fishy thing, which is extraordinary when you think they have so much of the stuff around them. Not only lots of it, but real quality as well.

But both the Edinburgh and Glasgow Mussel Inns are doing their best to make sure that Scotland catches up and tells the world that Scottish seafood is streets ahead of the rest.

In Rose Street to be precise, that well-loved Edinburgh thoroughfare that offers a parallel pedestrian alternative to much of Princes Street, is friendly and well-used, and has rather sadly tended to shake off its formerly slightly louche flavour. Unlike its sibling in Glasgow the Rose Street Mussel Inn has not won any awards, but the food is every bit as good.

Creamy seafood chowder and the soup of the day both come with fresh crusty bread, or there's crab salad, which comes with claw meat and crayfish tails in a lime mayonnaise with cherry tomatoes on a toasted foccacia and drizzled with basil oil. The grilled platters give an option between starters or light meals, and oysters are either chilled natural, or grilled with gruyere cheese and bacon. Goat's cheese makes an excellent foil for seafood flavours, none more so than when grilled and served on toasted baguette slices topped with bell pepper and caper relish, as here.

Plump, juicy King scallops are a weakness for many, and at Mussel you can have them char grilled, on a skewer, or seared. Their small cousins, mussels, come in kilo pots, again with choices, this time natural, shallot, roasted pepper, leek, Moroccan, blue cheese, or corona, of which the Moroccan, with chillies, garlic, ginger, coriander and cumin sounds highly toothsome. But you would have been diverted well before then by thoughts of the hot seafood platter with its mix of fish and assorted shellfish poached in their own seafood sauce topped with grilled sea bass fillet and chive cream fraîche.

Round off with a chocolate crème brûlée, and then shuffle off into a dark corner to rest until it's time to come back. The wine list is predictably mostly white, though with some concession to heathens who occasionally like to have some wiry red with their shellfish. Their Cuvee Bouchard lives up to its claim of being excellent taste and value.

The Scottish passion for deep-fried Mars Bars is well catalogued, but not available at the Mussels, where lime cheesecake served with mango and passion fruit sauce may challenge the odds just as much, but do it with more grace.

Both Mussels are doing a first class job for their public and the cause of seafood in general. Any differences or preferences are purely personal and slight and do not affect the excellence of either.

For far more information - including their full menu - try a visit to their fun-packed Website, from which I was delighted to have authoritative evidence for what my instincts have been telling me ever since my first mussel, that seafood is seriously good for you.

Situated in the heart of Edinburgh is the gorgeous Balmoral that oozes with luxury, synonymous with the reputation of the Rocco Forte Collection. Even the location can't be bettered, with the famous sites of Edinburgh such as Arthur's Seat, The Royal Mile and Edinburgh Castle, just a step away.

The interiors of the individually designed bedrooms and suites are beguiling and themed around natural colour tones and fabrics reflecting their Scottish heritage. Step into the Royal Suite and you will soon realise you don't want to go anywhere, with a fireplace, well stocked in-room bar, double walk-in shower and breathtaking views over the historic old town of Edinburgh, all are sure to evoke a wowed response.

Michelin-starred Chef Jeff Bland, awarded the honour of being named as Drambuie Scottish Chef of the Year in 2003, ensures that number one lives up to its name. It's currently the only hotel restaurant in Edinburgh to have gained a Michelin Star, first awarded in January 2003, which it has retained to this day, a fine tribute to Chef Bland and his brigade.

Using only the finest Scottish ingredients, Bland creates outstanding à la carte dishes using favourites such as French rabbit niçoise, halibut, beef fillet and West Coast scallops. It is easy to see why number one was given the Fine Dining Experience Award at the inaugural Scottish Restaurant Awards 2008, when the panel delivered their verdict that number one restaurant offers its customers 'the ultimate sophisticated dining experience'.

With that sort of accolade it might seem slightly superfluous to proceed any further, but a little detail might not come amiss. The success of number one revolves round the wonderful dishes on offer on the à la carte, with a Chef's tasting menu that is recommended for the whole table, to which we will return.

A stunning starter is provided by the mushroom soup with girolles, chicken boudin and parmentier potato, and Scottish lobster with leek purée, asparagus and shellfish foam, quite one of the best dishes out the five choices on offer. It has close competition from the roulade of foie gras with oxtail beignet, pistachio and pickled cherries, traditional but beautifully prepared.

Seafood is fast becoming one of life's great treats, and here it is lemon sole with langoustine, Israeli cous cous, confit fennel and choron sauce to make an outstanding main dish, though you may find it a hard choice between that and the loin of Cornish lamb, confit breast, black olive with carrot and apricot purée. Fillet of Borders beef again has that magic touch, this time with shallot purée, sweetbread and Bordelaise sauce.

Scottish cooking has, with one or two notable exceptions, to make do with more widely spread attributions when it comes to desserts, which makes them no less tempting. Terrine of milk chocolate with apricot, basil, melon sorbet and malt crisps is a work of art, and the slow cooked cherries with goat cheese sorbet, honey and fennel mousse seldom fails to please wherever it goes.

A pre-theatre dinner offer of three courses is available if ordered before 7pm. Whilst, as previously mentioned, the Chef's tasting menu is an seven course affair, each with its own wine pairing. At £62.50 a head, or an extra £50 with wine pairings, this is not for the faint hearted, but should you wish to travel along this most wonderful of gourmet roads you would be hard pushed to find anywhere better to do it than number one at The Balmoral.

Click on the Website for more information about number one, particularly about private dining and gifts.

This delightful and informal bistro is located at the corner of Broughton Street and Broughton Place. With its large windows and relaxed atmosphere it is the ideal place to sit and watch Edinburgh go by.

Olive Branch Company owners, husband and wife team, Stuart and Kerry, have set up the Olive Branch Bistro to present a new element to eating out in Edinburgh, bringing into play Stuart's experience gained at some of Edinburgh's top restaurants, such as Witchery, Tower and Zinc.

You could catch up with friends after work over their Mediterranean influenced menus, possibly set up a romantic tête-à-tête with that special someone helped by a bottle from the cellar, perhaps linger over the Sunday papers for brunch or drop in to top up your batteries when out for a spot of retail therapy. Whatever the occasion the atmosphere is warm and welcoming, the food composed from local produce that guarantees freshness and quality.

The days start at 10am with breakfast until 11.45am, none of the big spreads that seem an inevitable part of the meal, but a series of more modest dishes leaving room for some combinations for the mega-hungry.

Lunch kicks in at 11.45am with some particularly attractive dishes, some more often seen as main courses, and served with a generosity that would suggest they are. So keep a lookout for grilled trout fillet with mixed bean salad, slow roasted tomato relish, or char-grilled spatch-cock poussin with tabouleh, chilli jam, or maybe the apple and cheese crusted pork chop with colconnan mash and cider jus.

A sturdy soup of the day to help combat a soggy Edinburgh soaker with the wind coming straight off the North Sea can be a real life saver, but for less arduous conditions take a look at the Olive Branch breakfast with smoked bacon, free range eggs, pork sausages, mushrooms, tomato and toast.

Beer battered Coley fillet with pea purée, homemade tartare sauce and chips present a never failing reminder of our country's staple dish, whilst char grilled rib-eye steak is served with hand cut chips and pepper sauce.

For more informal eating there is the OB club sandwich, chicken, bacon, tomato, lettuce and mayo, or a steak sandwich with mustard mayo and rocket. Add a mug of soup to your sandwich for a further £1 - what a bargain!

Puddings carry on the same robust pattern, and the Olive Branch chocolate cake with fruit compote and lemon tart with lime sorbet will sit comfortably with virtually anything from the previous courses. A list of tempting puddings recalls the auld alliance which is about the nearest you'll get in this friendly restaurant for all sorts and conditions of people.

Their Website should be consulted for menu changes and details of their restaurant siblings in other parts of Edinburgh.

The wonderful city of Edinburgh has the capacity to retain its sense of history, antiquity even, yet at the same time to respond to the times. The result is a vibrant city which manages to have it all without losing dignity and certainly not its credibility. Glaswegians, who have other fish to fry, tend not to acknowledge or even appreciate this special quality and make dour jokes about weddings and funerals.

In many ways The Rutland underlines this quality with precision having won the Boutique Hotel of the Year 2010 prize given by the Scottish Hotel Awards. With twelve individually designed guestrooms, the very epitome of tasteful glamour, each room offers all the latest technology and home comforts including real filter coffee and homemade muffins. But for many the ultimate stunner is the majestic views of Edinburgh Castle as you wake to a new day.

In the restaurant, described as 'a feast for the senses', head chef David Haetzman and his team work from a menu that embraces much of what is good about the best Scottish produce from which traditional dishes, some with a twirl of the glens and the lochs about them, are all impeccably prepared and served. The start of the day combines delicate and diet-conscious plates with the more hearty offerings that touch upon such treats as Crombie's pork sausages, Stornaway black pudding and McAllister's Loch Fyne kippers.

Being where it is the restaurant is a natural haven for those who lunch, whatever their reason, and to be able to order an excellent lunch of quality at their prices is perhaps a tribute to the impact of a competitive market as well as a tour de force for the hotel. Theatre goers welcome a similar approach to pre-event suppers, again at prices and quality which will not molest the digestion.

Some restaurants may respond to the special quality of evening or the mood of their guests, but yet again this restaurant reacts like litmus to an indefinable something and as you tuck into a dinner starter of ravioli of slowly cooked beef shin or a terrine of Ayrshire pheasant, partridge and rabbit, the magic enfolds. Do try the grilled Fraserburgh mackerel with a salad of pickled vegetables and mustard dressing, a nice tribute to this much under-rated but very sustainable fish.

A natural progression to roasted Highland venison haunch seems like a good idea, both at the time and afterwards, or perhaps a simply wonderful spinach, chickpea and aubergine tagine, with preserved lemon and mint ricotta and couscous fritter. Always popular is the whole baked sea bass with Sicilian roasted vegetables and basil vinaigrette. Dishes from the grill are predictably superb, employing nothing but Scotch Black Gold beef, matured on the bone for a minimum of 28 days, from the much respected Mathers in Aberdeenshire.

The canapé and finger food menu affords an opportunity to those who want something simple and quick to avail themselves of such delights as mini pork, apple, black pudding and mustard sausages, tapenade and anchovy crostini and lamb kofta skewers with harissa, a wonderful way to eat informally but comfortably in every sense. Nobody mentions the word tapas, but it does sort of spring to mind.

A wine list drawn from well over one hundred bins tours the world with an impish delight that blends with the skills of a keen nose to produce a list that is comprehensive enough without being inscrutable. Beginners to the pleasures of combining fine food with equally fine wines could do well to become regular visitors to the Restaurant at The Rutland.

Their Website is beautifully done, a pleasure to visit and agreeably informative.