I think I've discovered Edinburgh's best new restaurant

It’s about nine months until my next birthday and I don’t want to wish my life away.

Still, I’m always thinking about it, in the restaurant context. You know a place is good, if you think, THIS is where I’d want to go to celebrate another circuit round the sun.

And Vinette - the new venture from Stuart Ralston, plus Jade Johnston and the rest of the Aizle Hospitality Group who are behind the Capital’s foodie bangers, Lyla, Noto, Tipo and their eponymous restaurant, which closed a couple of months ago - is that very venue.

This Parisian-style bistro, with a neon lit downstairs cocktail bar named Vivien, has taken over the former premises of chef Scott Smith’s Broughton Street restaurant, Fhior.

Anyway, to make my special b’day shortlist a venue has to be a bit chi-chi inside, since I’ll want to dress up. Tick, as this place is all blush-stippled walls and pretty light fittings. They should also serve a menu and cocktails that make you feel pampered - tick - and not be too pricey, for those of us who’re being garroted by the cost-of-living. Tick.

That’s full marks, and we visited at lunchtime, where there’s an a-la-carte but they also offer a reasonable set menu that’s three courses for £36, two for £32.

I opted for that, while my other half went freestyle. We also added a pair of cocktails. I chose the aniseedy and ice cold Corpse Reviver No 2 (£14), which contained Pickering's gin, cointreau and cocchi Americano, while he went for a herby take on a classic Paloma (£14), except with Tapatio tequila, grapefruit, thyme and lime.

His first course to jump start his appetite, was the duck hearts (£14), with about a dozen dense and gamey pumper slices, all hidden under a twirl of pea shoots and served in a very peppery tarragon-injected jus that was saturating a tile of porous brioche. While this was rich and buttery, my smoked trout rillette was light and bright, simple and fresh, with ribbons of pickled and dilly cucumber, and a baby pink fishy mush to spread on a slice of sourdough.

The mains were really what got me thinking about a future bonne anniversaire.

Mind you, perhaps a perfect flat iron steak frites should be more of a regular mood booster, as it seems a bit cruel to make me wait so long for round two. The velvety meat was served with a side of perfectly copper-coloured and crunchy chips, and a bowl of a fluffily aerated choron sauce - a take on Bearnaise, with a touch of tomato. As part of the lunch deal, this came with a large glass of the dry Sebastian Reuilles, Pouilly Fume, Sauvignon Blanc 2024.

His main course was another perfect treat, in the form of the cod schnitzel (£20), which was a coaster-sized and soft puck in a russet sea-salted crumb, with a moat of warm, caper and gherkin-threaded tartare sauce around the edges of the plate.

And since it didn’t come with any further accessories, he’d chosen a cockle-warming side of potato and celeriac tariflette (£5), which was topped with a generous handful of lardons. This really got him in the zone. The lights were on, with nobody home. Well, just a man and his tartiflette beau. He went from saying “I’ll never finish all this,” to scraping the inside of the cocotte as if he was an archaeologist at a Roman burial site.

My third course, as part of the lunch deal, was the marjolaine cake (£8). I don’t think I’ve ever, in years of restaurant reviewing, seen this on a menu.

It’s made of compact, nutty and meringuey dacquoise layers, for a chewy but light experience, and is rather lovely served with a dollop of salted milk ice-cream and biscuit spills.

While I worked on this, he’d gone for one of his favourites - Basque cheesecake (£8). This was more tart-like in height than the usual, but dense and lovely, with a ruby-hued plum compote on the side.

It’s really going to be an awfully long nine months if I have to wait until my next birthday to go back to Vinette. Still, I have not forgotten that it’s my other half’s big day next month.

I don’t think it’s going to take much persuasion.

We’re both on the same page, when it comes to where we’ll celebrate.

Vinette, 36 Broughton Street, Edinburgh (0131-259 0974, Instagram @vinette_edinburgh)

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