Skipper’s Bistro is located at 1(a) Dock Place in Edinburgh’s Leith area and, unsurprisingly, specialises in seafood. It’s round the corner at the end of a cobbled cul-de-sac – very quaint but all too easy to miss unless you know where you’re going.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, there are a number of other excellent restaurants which are, quite literally, no more than a stone’s throw away. Leith is full of good restaurants these days, so the competition is fierce. Nevertheless, thanks to a winning combination of consistently high standards and good value for money, many people make the effort to seek Skipper’s out.
The restaurant is fairly small and seems smaller due to the way it’s divided up into sections. The décor is an eclectic mix of nautical nostalgia which appears to be loosely based upon artefacts salvaged from a port office and nautical maps. There’s also a fairly heavy French theme running through some of the maps and signage, possibly to reflect the heavy trade link which used to exist between the Port of Leith and the other half of the Auld Alliance.
The serving staff are young, friendly, attentive and seem able to advise on what’s especially good on the menu – useful with seafood.
Starters (£3 - £6ish) include oysters from Loch Etive, mussels from the Shetland Isles, gravadlax, king prawns and soups which will vary. We tried the Skippers fish cakes which are a speciality. They were delicious and, even with such a wide selection to choose from are well worth a try.
The selection of main courses (£13 - £18ish) is equally impressive and come with perfectly cooked vegetables. The Shetland Isles are in there again (twice) first with langoustines and then again with a scallop and king prawn risotto. Turbot, monkfish and cod are other options as are chicken and duck if you’ve don’t like seafood but have been dragged along by an aficionado. On this visit, my wife had the lemon sole, which went down a treat whereas I had the Aberdeen Angus fillet - equally appreciated.
The wine list is impressive and offers a good selection ranging from good value for money to some more extravagant offerings if you’re feeling flush.
Personally, I was most impressed by the fact that you can get a nice 18 year old malt for only £4 – I doubt if you’ll manage that in many Edinburgh restaurants of this quality. Our friendly waitress persuaded my other half to a previously resisted dessert. I decided to forego this and headed off down the glen of tranquillity.
I've been there twice in the last few weeks and enjoyed it on both occasions. You might have a bit of a job to finding it but, if you enjoy seafood, you'll be glad you took the trouble.
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