Dusit - Restaurant Review

Dusit.
Thistle Street.
Twice in March.


My first visit to Dusit was with my mother. The conversation and the company was painful, but thankully the food made up for it. Dusit is tucked down Thistle Street, an odd little alley in Edinburgh's new town which seems to be a burgeoning gastronimic road - it's also home to Cafe Marlayne and Cafe St Honore as well as the new premises of Plaisir du Chocolat. The brisk service (which borders on so abrupt its rude) means this place runs very efficiently. Sadly, it's still doing that annoying thing of having 2 sittings in order to milk it for all its worth as Dusit is very popular. But never mind, as I say - the food makes up for a lot here. My second time to Dusit was for a freinds birthday where 8 of us squeezed into their private dining room in the basement. The one complaint I would have here, was that every time we ordered a bottle of wine, they automatically brought two without me asking for two and we weren't actually left alone by the staff, so it felt like we were being watched a lot.

Anyway, the food - the starters offer a huge variety of flavours, meats and intensity of heat. Koo Saneha - scallops and king prawns with garlic and chilli sounds basic, but the sear on the scallops was so beautifully done (and the scallops were rather large) that the quality of the fish did most of the talking. Gai Haw Bai-Toey, my other favourite, was chicken marinated in whisky and sesame and bound in a large leaf. There is also the usual selection of dumpling style starters and spring rolls, but if you're adventurous you are centrainly rewarded.
Main courses range from the standard Thai dishes (Pad Thai, Pad Krapaow, Panag curry etc) to the more strange and elaborate. Gaeng Luk Gua Ong Yang - Venison with artichoke anyone? This sounded postively European, until you encounter the delicate and fragrant spices. Pla Si-iew - the crispy sea bass was probably my favourite however, with shaosing, soy and ginger as a beautifully balanced and delicate dressing.

As is the case with the minefield of flavours that asian food is, we went for Alsatian Gewurztraminer. Thankfully whoever put the Dusit wine list together has had some experience of asian dining with wine pairings. The range of aromatic wines were good whilst the usual suspects were there as crowd pleasers.

Dusit isn't cheap - on both occasions I forked out between £25-35, but I'd certainly rather go here than to any other Thai in the city.


(Though you might me able to tempt me with a RickShaws.)