In Edinburgh, a metropolis the place the echoes of clinking glasses resonate by cobbled streets and the 14th century Sheep Heid Inn – older than some international locations – nonetheless serves ales as soon as supped on by kings and commoners, there lies a curious anomaly.
Shish, an audacious upstart, dares to defy centuries of fermented knowledge within the Scottish capital. This is not any atypical Turkish restaurant – it’s an alcohol-free enclave in a metropolis synonymous with the water of life.
Take the Cosmopolitan, a traditional reimagined, the place cranberry tang waltzes with lime’s zestiness, muddled with a vodka different so cunningly genuine, you’d swear it winked at you.
The Passion-Star Martini is an unique escape, mixing ardour fruit’s tang with candy pineapple, all completed off with a Peach Prosecco Alternative for a drink that’s as visually placing as it’s scrumptious.
But the star of the present is the Raspberry Gin Fizz. It’s a pleasant mix of candy and sharp flavours, with soda including a touch of sparkle.
Elegantly introduced, the drink provides a up to date tackle a timeless favorite, that includes a gin different that’s intriguing and refreshing.
But the drinks are only the start. The kitchen seems culinary classics from the center of Anatolia with a finesse that might make sultans swoon.
Start off with an order of balloon breads – billowing clouds of dough, scorching from the oven, bursting on the slightest contact to launch aromatic steam.
Patlican sogurme enters subsequent, a dish that sings of the earth and smoke. Aubergines are torched to a char and married with garlic and olive oil that’s mellowed by a mild swirl of yogurt.
The pièce de résistance of the menu is undoubtedly the large combined grill. A feast match for the ravenous, it encompasses a carnivorous carnival of meats, from rooster cubes to lamb cubes, lamb ribs, rooster thighs, butcher meatballs, adana kebab, rooster wings and lamb chops.
It’s a luxurious unfold that marries the abundance of the Ottoman banquet with the conviviality of a Scottish feast, creating an expertise so plentiful that you just’ll be pleased about the doggy baggage to savour it another time at dwelling.
Yet vegetarians needn’t fear. The sebzeli pilav takes plump baldo rice and adorns it with the jewels of the backyard – carrots, leeks, backyard peas, and fried courgette.
It’s all accompanied by kuru cacik (cucumber yoghurt), acili ezme (spicy tomato salad), and extra of that soul-stirring patlican sogurme, providing flavours that showcase the wealthy range of Turkish delicacies.
The grand finale is the Künefe. Cheese-filled kadayif pastry, its threads golden and crisp, is lovingly doused in sugar syrup.
Topped with a scattering of chopped pistachios, it’s a dish that’s each decadent and the divine – and a fittingly filling finish to a hearty meal.
The one factor Shish may do with extra of is clients, and the energetic ambiance they carry, however that can certainly come.
That’s as a result of, in a metropolis the place the pub and whisky have reigned supreme for hundreds of years, Shish stands as an emblem of change.
It provides a brand new sort of evening out – one which’s simply as joyous and communal, however maybe a bit clearer the following morning.