A culinary voyage on Fingal
Dinner onboard the luxury floating hotel in Leith is an experience to be savored.
To walk through the doors of Fingal is to step into another world. Once a ship for taking essential supplies and staff to lighthouses, today it is a luxury floating hotel of nautically inspired, caramel toned interiors, and home to the award winning Lighthouse Restaurant & Bar.
Circling up the narrow spiral stairway to the restaurant, with its low, shimmering ceiling of hammered amber steel - redolent of a dappled sea - the atmosphere is imbued with luxury, relaxation and privacy. Menus showcase the finest Scottish seasonal produce, from Peterhead cod and Morangie brie to Wester Ross salmon. These masterful dishes are created from the minds of Fingal's Head Chef Pedro Barreira and Restaurant Chef Andrea Sendon Alonso. Both originating from Galicia in north-west Spain, the pair draw on their heritage, and 36 years of experience, to build on Fingal's reputation for culinary excellence.
Fingal's Head Chef Pedro Barreira and Restaurant Chef Andrea Sendon Alonso
The starter placed in front of me was something to behold. Jewels of hazelnut, dill apple, mandarin and avocado arranged on a perfectly circular magenta crisp, atop a bed of fine, fresh Eyemouth crab. It looked beautiful yet, remarkably, the flavours surpassed its presentation! Another seafood starter on the menu, the hot-smoked Wester Ross salmon, delicately fell apart on the fork, its saltiness cut through by the freshness of wafer-thin cucumber, herbed cream cheese and sharp lemon. The restaurant's expert Sommelier Team selects wines to perfectly match each course for an additional £30 - and it's a very worthwhile enhancement to really appreciate the dishes.
Like Galicia, Scotland shares a reputation for the finest quality meat and seafood and so chefs Pedro and Andrea are in their element at Fingal, serving up a magnificent main course of velvety Strathdon red deer with savoy cabbage, jammy port-roasted fig, and creamy and sweet pommes dauphine - all pooled in a rich mahogany Sauce Grand Veneur.
I mourned the last mouthful! And the Black Isle beef picanha, with trimmings of tomato fondue and crispy mushroom croquettes, was equally rich and just as superb. Strathdon red deer, savoy cabbage, port-roasted fig, pommes dauphine and sauce Grand Veneur.
Finally, the dessert of delicate mouneyrac pear éclair, laced with cloud-like Pedro Ximénez sherry & cinnamon cream, was a fitting finale to a memorable meal - as was every spoon of the spectacular iced Valrhona chocolate financier.
There is a great feeling of ease in the Lighthouse Restaurant, with diners encouraged to take their time exploring the menu, and the ship.
Such a peaceful antidote to the buzz of the city.
In short, this is a culinary voyage of taste, texture and quality, and an experience to be quietly savoured.
Three courses cost £80 with paired wines an extra £30.
Fingal, Alexandra Dock, Leith. EH6 7DX.
Tel: 0131 357 5000
www.fingal.co.uk