With his latest venture, Dean Banks has his finger on the Dulse
20.10.2022 - 11:39
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
Six or more course menus have become the default offering from our most ambitious and talented chefs and I understand why - they want to use the best of stuff to create a coherent meal where every element is in harmony.
I get that - and I'm not complaining about having to eat multiple exquisite dishes for a living. It's just that long, fancy, spendy dinners do not fit easily into most of our lives.
When we are not celebrating a birthday with a zero at the end or asking someone to marry us, we don't have the time or budget to allow a chef to let off all the fireworks.
What I - and I suspect lots of other folk - do want is the same level of skill and dedication but in a cheaper, quicker, more flexible format.
Thankfully, some of the most skilled operators in the business are getting the message. Tom Kitchin's new spot, Kora, is a good example.
Now Dean Banks, a finalist on MasterChef The Professionals in 2018, has opened Dulse in Edinburgh's Queensferry Street. This is practically across the road from his Pompadour restaurant which is amazing but a whole evening of serious financial and calorific commitment.
Dulse dials it down several notches. The menu still relies on his signature fish and seafood but can be mixed and matched as small plates or constructed into individual courses.
There are also enticing cocktails - Banks makes the wonderful Lunan gin, which features in many of them. And oysters, which seemed the perfect way to start a Tuesday tea time.
The oysters were premium specimens, sumptuous and tasting of the sea. You are, I said to my best friend as we tipped them back with the salty gin, only old once.
The drinks even came with a spoonful of caviar - you don't need to have four different appetisers and petit fours