Vintners Rooms, The

How fortunate Edinburgh is in the quality of so many of its eating houses, not only the quality of the food but the perfection of the surroundings and many of the buildings in which they are located. A prime example is The Vintners Rooms with its long associations with the wine trade. It is said that the fungus from Gascony which contaminated the barrels still lingers on the walls, a direct link with the trade which was already established when the Abbey of Holyrood was founded in 1143.

So we are seated in these splendidly historic rooms - what to eat? Let's start with half a dozen West Coast oysters. They may - or may not - be farmed but there have been such improvements made that many of the past criticisms thrown at the seafood rearing industry, even if not unfair at the time are certainly unfounded now. In fact the more I think of it I might even double the order.

The Barbary duck breast with honey and lime sauce would follow, even if only for the wholly illogical reason that honey and lime are two of my favourite commodities, though the notion of duck on oysters does strike a pleasantly opulent note. If the hot banana soufflé is half as good as the version produced by Laurie Black at Fouters in the 80's then I'm your man.

As you may well imagine the 200 or so wines on offer are a stellar collection. With decent house wine starting at £12 many on the list are well within reach.