Capital enterprise

Despite the fact that Scotland has more Michelin-starred restaurants per capita than any other country in the UK, its capital has only just acquired a star of its own. So you would imagine that the chef responsible for achieving such an accolade would be marching around his restaurant with a chest puffed full of pride. Think again.

Martin Wishart (right) is unassuming and reluctant to be drawn on his recent success. In fact, he went so far as to say that it "didn't mean a lot" to him in an interview in Scotland on Sunday. "It won't enable me to cook or work any better," he said. So it may be a surprise to learn that Wishart clearly sought out Michelin-starred kitchens in which to do his training.

His career began to take shape in 1990 when he did a year as a chef de partie at Cameron House on Loch Lomond, followed by a year working with Nick Nairn at Braeval in Aberfoyle, which he describes as the turning point of his career. Nairn made a big impact on Wishart; Nairn was equally proud to have Wishart as an employee.

In 1992 Wishart went to London to work as a commis at Le Gavroche under Michel Roux, but it was not just cooking skills he learned. "Michel showed me how to organise a kitchen to discipline yourself," he says. "That's so important if you are going to run a restaurant of your own."

Another important influence on his early career was a two-year stint as a chef de partie with John Burton-Race at L'Ortolan in Shinfield, Berkshire. "He taught me how to utilise things, never to waste ingredients, but still make interesting food," Wishart says. "We used to make a tortellini of venison with shoulder trimmings, or slow-braise pork cheeks for three hours, but serve them with langoustines."

That attention to ingredients is evident today on Wishart's menus at his eponymous restaurant in Leith, with starters such as a ravioli of lobster with buttered Savoy cabbage and creamed celeriac. He shows how careful cooking of a cheap ingredient can still win praise from customers, as in his dish of skate roasted au poivre and served in a red wine jus, paysanne of leeks and pommes Parisienne.

After L'Ortolan, Wishart moved to the position of sous chef at the Restaurant Marco Pierre White at London's Hyde Park hotel (now the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park), then went back to working for the Roux empire as sous chef at the Grand hotel in Amsterdam. But in 1999 he decided to move back to Edinburgh, where he joined the Balmoral hotel as sous chef in its restaurant, Hadrian's.

The decision to strike out on his own had been in his mind for the past few years. "I wanted to get away from working for other people," says Wishart, but he was determined not to get away from the style of cooking he had been trained in.

He admits that it is a temptation to think "midmarket" when opening a restaurant for the first time, just to get some quick cash-flow, and that his choice of a relatively expensive 30-cover restaurant serving classical food in a city centre is not many chefs' idea of the way to make money. But he says: "I knew there was still a market for that kind of food in Edinburgh. I had faith it would work. You have to have faith in what you're doing or else it's bound to fail."

Neither did Restaurant Martin Wishart (left) open after a lavish conversion and launch. "It cost me £7,000 to buy the things I needed, and I did a lot of the conversion work myself," he says. "I had to. I couldn't afford to do anything else."

Opening a restaurant on such a tight budget suggests a slavish attention to menu costing to ensure that selling prices meet desired profit margins, and a keen eye on the weekly accounts. Not so, says Wishart. "I put my time in on the stove, not on the books," he says. "The restaurant will succeed if what comes out of the kitchen is right. That's a mistake too many restaurants make. They just want to think about the bottom line, what a dish will cost, and not whether it will eat well."

The restaurant works with three in the kitchen, where, in another twist of self-discipline, there is no kitchen porter to wash pans, so the chefs have to do it themselves. "It makes you work a lot cleaner when you've got to clean up your own mess," says Wishart.

Wishart is a man of few words and his menu is one of few choices. His conversation comes from the stove - in fact, it is clear that he would rather let his food do the talking - and the stove produces a menu of just four, five and three dishes.

Two of the four starters are regularly fish-based (a recent menu featured warm tartlet of lightly salted cod served with a shellfish sauce and a squid ink risotto with roast scallops and chervil butter) and, similarly, two of the five main courses are usually fish-based. "Edinburgh loves fish," says Wishart, "you can't take it off the menu here." Where meat does appear on the menu, there is clear evidence of Wishart's classical training, with a roast fillet of veal served with a foie gras mousse, caramelised salsify and gratin of chard. Chicken can appear as an intense pot au feu with Savoy cabbage dumplings and pommes fondant.

There is a fixed-price lunch menu of £13.50 for two courses, £15.50 for three. The choices at lunchtime are even more restricted than at dinner, with just two options for each of the three courses. The lunch menu shows Wishart's skill in being able to combine low-cost ingredients with just a hint of luxury to remind customers this is a Michelin-starred restaurant where flavour is paramount.

A typical table d'hôte starter is confit of salmon with a cauliflower cream and an oyster beignet. Roast hake comes with Savoy cabbage and new potatoes, but spiked with the punch of a tomato and anchovy beurre blanc.

With a food spend averaging £35 per head, an opening schedule of five nights and five lunchtimes a week, and just 30 seats in the restaurant, there is never going to be a bulging till, but Wishart's cooking has captivated the fine-dining palates of Edinburgh, starved all these years of a Michelin-starred place to eat. Every evening is busy and there is a six-week wait for a table towards the weekend.

Winning the star has undoubtedly lifted the profile of Restaurant Martin Wishart, but it has not seen any lifting of prices. "You couldn't do that up here," Wishart says. "This is Edinburgh. The customers would soon spot that."

Wishart (right) with his brigade (from left) -

Craig Wood, Ross Bryans and Paul Tamburrini

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 10-16 May 2001