Restaurant review: Sweet Melindas

Published on Friday 6 March 2009 13:13

I WONDER whether the ambiguity is deliberate, whether fresh-faced owner-chef Kevin O'Connor had a whole strata of baby-boomer music fanatics in his commercial crosshairs when he named his restaurant Sweet Melindas ten years ago. Even though I doubt it, the theory surely has legs enough to spawn some robust conspiracy theories.

Exhibit A is a friend who is such a Bruce Springsteen fanatic – he goes to every concert, and his recent 50th birthday party was fancy dress with a Boss theme – that he would undoubtedly zip over to Marchmont if he thought the restaurant was named as a tribute to the Boss's ultimate good-time girl ("Ah, Sweet, sweet Melinda/Ah, if the Pope knew you were such a sinner/He'd be on his way").

I'm still searching for Exhibit B, although I suspect Edinburgh is hiding legions of John Denver groupies who would descend on the place if they thought its name referred to his tale of a downhearted Texan trucker contemplating another meal of pills on the road instead of cuddling up to his sweet new bride, Melinda.

Exhibit C is the real McCoy, the genuine reason for the name-check. It's a paeon to self-destructive romantic longing from Bob Dylan, wrapped up in a rasping tune called 'Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues'. This Sweet Melinda, says Dylan, is a "goddess of gloom (who] leaves you howling at the moon".

Anyway, that's enough mid-life Top of the Pops, especially as there's no other sign of American crooners or gratuitous musical references at O'Connor's exceptional little Marchmont eatery, not even a hint of softened canned music. What there is, however, is the epitome of a bustling local restaurant that is being sustained through the hard times by a customer base so loyal that you often have to rely on cancellations to get a table at short notice.

O'Connor has even been able to stop the retaurant's headline-grabbing USP, in which diners were allowed to decide what they thought the meal was worth every Tuesday (happily, Tuesdays remain BYOB night). The pay-what-you-want policy recently bit the dust after eight years – not because too many cash-strapped students were taking advantage, more because regulars, worried they weren't paying enough, had started to avoid Tuesdays.

Sweet Melindas will survive happily without the gimmicks. It has, after all, O'Connor's passionate commitment to top-quality ingredients, allied to the happy geographical coincidence of his seafood restaurant being next door to the legendary Eddie's Seafood Market, which he visits each morning. Throw in cheery and efficient service, a good wine list, neat white-washed tongue-and-groove walls studded with folksy paintings, which make for supremely comfortable surroundings, and it's not difficult to see why this understated little restaurant remains so popular with Marchmont's 30-something crowd.

Since the place specialises in seafood, I decided to start with steamed mussels with shallots, garlic, white wine and parsley, and was soon tucking into a huge bowl. Neither Diana nor her daughter Isabella fancied any of the fish options on the starters list, however, so Diana chose fresh beetroot and Nigella-seed soup while Isabella plumped for the slow-roasted pork belly with pak choi, ginger and soy.

The soup was surprisingly bland: the beetroot flavour was almost completely muted while the Nigella seeds (fennel flower, nutmeg flower, Roman coriander, blackseed, black caraway, black onion seed, onion seed or black sesame, among others) had none of the pungent taste they are supposed to impart. Thankfully, the pork belly was a different proposition: the meat so tender it fell away under the knife, and the combination of a light soy sauce and fresh ginger gave the jus a real kick.

The main courses were more polished. My grilled sea bass, expertly cooked in cumin, coriander and ginger, and served with a carrot and spring onion fritter, was a huge step-up, while Isabella's large plate of pan-fried scallops with sweet chilli sauce proved that, despite their ubiquity, scallops perfectly produced are still a thing of joy.

The same wasn't so true of Diana's tuna steak with artichoke and herb salad. Given that the rest of the fish dishes had been cooked to perfection, and that she had been asked how she would like her fish, the arrival of a well-done steak with not a hint of pink flesh was a genuine surprise.

That was soon forgotten when the puddings turned up. Isabella's densely packed chocolate torte was gloriously rich while Diana's nicely tart lemon posset came with cinnamon poached fruits and shortbread. As for me, while I could take or leave the rather bland gingerbread, there wasn't anywhere near enough of the conspicuously homemade rum and raisin ice-cream on my plate, which says all you need to know about my appetite and how delicious the dish was.

So our meal rounded off with three hits, which brings me back to Springsteen, Denver and Dylan. But while there may be three Sweet Melindas across the Pond, we can give thanks that the only one on this side of the Atlantic is in Edinburgh.

Vital Statistics

Sweet Melindas

11 Roseneath Street, Edinburgh

(0131 229 7953, www.sweetmelindas.co.uk)

Two-course dinner 22.50 Puddings 5.50-5.95 Cheese 6.95

Rating 8/10