Review: Cherry Blossom Tuesday at Tattu Edinburgh

I’m not sure what alchemy was involved in the scheduling of Tattu restaurant’s Cherry Blossom dinner for the first warm day of the year in Edinburgh, but I’m certainly not going to question it.

This was my first visit to the modern Chinese restaurant tucked away on West Register Street, and sitting below the thousands of pink cherry blossoms that adorn the ceiling felt a fitting tribute to the change in the season and the new Spring/Summer menu that I’m here to try out. For full disclosure, the trees that bear the blossoms are real, but the flowers themselves are highly unlikely to float away on the breeze.

Kicking off proceedings at the bar, there are achingly pretty Cherry Blossom Negronis and outrageously pink and sweet Skull Candy cocktails that are served in a skull shaped flask in a dramatic haze of dry ice.

The food, much like the dry ice, comes in waves. Wave one, or the starters to you and I, are the impossibly crispy Kataifi king prawns and a sticky beef short rib perched atop a bone. The former saw sweet, fat, juicy crustaceans coated in a light shredded pastry and served with a mango and chilli dipping sauce that had a lovely kick to it. The latter was so tender that it was tricky to negotiate with chopsticks, but undeterred by such trivialities I donned my fork and dived in. The beef was accompanied by a rich soy and chilli marinade and crispy battered shallots to add a little bite.

Wave two arrived in a flurry of oohs and aahs as the mirrored lazy susan in the centre of the table filled up with a caramel soy aged beef fillet, sea bass Chinese curry, salt and pepper monkfish, pak choi and ginger and some very moreish shredded duck fried rice. The beef fillet with shiitake mushrooms and ginger, served on a trio of asparagus spears was perfectly pink and the caramel soy dipping sauce on the side was a punchy sweet and sour revelation that I’d rather like to have on tap. The sea bass was tender and the curry richly flavoured with lemongrass but not overly spicy.

Wave three, pudding, dessert, afters – however you choose to describe it, was almost too pretty to eat. Mini cherry trees with chocolate trunks and candy floss blossom rise out of an edible soil with a cheerful cherry compote. The dry ice is flowing again as the little trees await their inevitable fate.

Tattu offer a range of different dining experiences, this one is called Tattu Signatures and is £85 per person. There is also a great value set menu available early in the day at £28.50 for two courses or £33.50 for three, a la carte dining and an Imperial Sunday Roast at just £32.50 per person, which has me intrigued enough to return before we wave goodbye to the cherry blossom for another year.

Tattu, 18 West Register Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2AA. Tel: 0131 558 1922

Read more Reviews here.

Subscribe to read the latest issue of Scottish Field.