Having had really enjoyable visits to both Alright Treacle and the Holyrood Kitchen in recent weeks, I was pleased to see my calendar click round to a long-overdue trip to regular saloneer Felicia Hjertman’s Smoked Duck supper club.
I was accompanied on this adventure by Eleanor, who’d joined at the Holyrood Kitchen. And in one of those fairly typical Edinburgh occurences, regular salon pal Amy (from Union of Genius), and Slaine, who has just started writing for Edinburgh Foody, were also part of our fun little bunch of diners.
Once we’d got over the initial remarks about how lovely Felicia’s flat was, then introduced ourselves to our effusively friendly company for the evening, it was on with the show. With the theme of the evening Japan, it was sake to launch, then the feast of delights began.First up was salmon sashimi and panko prawns, both of which were first rate. The freshness of the fish, sourced from Armstrong’s in Stockbridge, was really pleasing.
The starter plate of smoked beef tataki, with radishes, smoked garlic and ponzu, was a very pretty plate. It tasted as good as it looked, too, with the beef, from George Bower, outstanding.Felicia, who was running both the stove and front of house, did a diffident job of “interrupting” our chatter to bring out the main course, which featured halibut and white miso as the central element. Accompaniments of sticky rice, mixed greens and shiitake mushrooms made this a substantial offering.
With elegant presentation again to the fore, this was highly accomplished stuff.With the evening in full flow, a palette cleanser of yuzu sorbet was superbly judged and refreshingly zingy.
This was the prelude to a multi-textural, cherry dessert that was just splendid. We had a little Japanese whisky to accompany it. Dainty petit fours brought the curtain down on what had been an exceptionally good evening.
You should go and visit The Smoked Duck at your earliest convenience. This is precisely what supper club dining is all about: high quality, imaginative food from local producers cooked to a brilliant standard. It made me very happy indeed.
Catch Felicia’s cooking alongside that of Sarah-Jane from the Fireside Collective and Anna from Alright Treacle at the upcoming Signature Supper, on 29 May.