Restaurant review: Koyama, 20 Forrest Road, Edinburgh

First of all, I wanted to check that it was OK if my dining partner brought a well-behaved baby along at lunchtime, as some places don’t have the appropriate facilities.

“I’m afraid that many people say that babies shouldn’t eat raw fish,” was the understandably worried reply.

Once I’d explained that she’s only four months old, and hasn’t got a yen for nigiri yet, I was asked when I wanted the table.

1pm, Saturday please.

“OK, that’s fine, but we don’t take bookings during the Festival. It’s so busy you see.”

Since I’d already been on the phone for about six minutes, they did, however, make an exception, and pencilled me under the name of Sanderson (don’t ask), with a random phone number that I was too weak to repeat.

However, when we arrived, they’d reserved us the nicest booth in their spacious eatery, where I was ominously positioned in front of a print of Hokusai’s Great Wave off Kanagawa.

The menu features all the usual Japanese suspects – sushi, sashimi, ramen, tempura, yakimono, etc. We went for six options, all slightly hit or miss.

I’ll start with the good news, and work my way down. The sushi, which, I’d imagine, most people will visit this place for, was fab. We ordered the rainbow rolls (£10.50 for eight pieces), with salmon, tuna, sea bass, cucumber, avocado and crab egg.

Unfortunately, someone had forgotten to add the sea bass ingredient but no matter, as these delicate-looking fishy wheels were tightly packed beauties, with starchy rice and sapphire-coloured wasabi tobiko hats.

I would have been happy to have these, and nothing else. The seaweed salad (£3.75), chosen from the list of starters, was good too, with slippery leaves of iodine-rich wakame that were dotted with orange tobiko. It was vibrant on its own, but we would have liked more of the rather sparse sprinkling of sesame seeds, and some additional seasoning.

Next up were the prawn gyoza (£5.50 for five), also from the list of starters. These were savoury and meaty potstickers, with a zippy rice wine vinegar dip. The only negative element was pointed out by my dining partner.

“There’s a ‘greasy pop’ when you bite into them, just like when you eat a Greggs sausage roll,” she said, thus revealing her expert knowledge of this bakery’s wares.

Not that this is an entirely unpleasant sensation.

Continuing the fast food theme, the karaage squid (£6.90), was rather like Kentucky fried chicken. There were eight pieces of hot gummy squid, with a crunchy, fox-coloured breadcrumb coating and a thick chilli-spiked dip.

The slices of pale sashimi octopus (£3.95), tipped with lavender-coloured tentacle stumps looked bonnie, but tasted lacklustre. There were supposed to be three pieces, but we only got two, which was just as well really, as they had a papery texture that reminded me of a wasp’s bike.

However, our greatest sadness was the state of the soft shell crab tempura (£8.90), because usually we can’t get enough of the stuff. The batter was fine – light and crisp – but the meat inside was flavourless and spongy wet, as if it was suffering from extreme freezer fatigue. Yuck.

Stick to the staple items on the menu and you’ll probably have a better meal. Thus, when the youngest of our group grows up, I would advise her to visit Koyama, but make sure to order from the sushi list, or maybe try the gyoza.

Also, as an addendum, I noticed we’d been charged an extra 40p for our rainbow rolls and £2 extra for the salad and the crab (the costs, above, are the prices as quoted on the menu, without the additions). Plus, take note that a 10 per cent service charge is included. I didn’t. Grr.

Lunch for two, excluding drinks, £39.50