What the critics say about …

THE WINE PRESS Shore Terrace, Dundee (01382 204444)

As the name suggests, there is an impressive selection of wines with plenty available by the glass. The menu isn’t huge but it’s well chosen and well executed, with the emphasis on local and freshly cooked. A selection of small-scale “pica” offerings features olives, breads and two nice salady dishes, one of sun-dried tomato and mozzarella and one featuring grilled halloumi. There was also a delicious, coarse-textured hog roast pâté with apple which came over as more of a terrine, full of flavour and juicy, with a nice tomato chutney. There are three sharing boards – charcuterie, cheese and veggie. Other mains included a chicken, bacon and leek pie, again with the house salad. Dundee Courier

TAISTEAL Raeburn Place, Edinburgh (0131 332 9977)

Taisteal is the former Field Grill in Edinburgh’s Stockbridge. The steak set has been coldshouldered by a menu that reflects the chef’s travels, and possibly boredom with grilling slabs of meat. It’s a radical idea to serve sweetbreads in a sweet and sour sauce, the nuggets of meat like slightly milky chicken with a faint offal under taste – bathed in a spirited sauce, not gloopy, nor too sweet, but vinegary and piquant. The same Asia-meets-Italy riff was at play in the Singapore squid with squid ink risotto, juicy curls of char-grilled squid, tender tentacles given a Chinese-style salt and pepper treatment, and the rice, which would have been textbook Italian had it not been spiked with fresh ginger. Joanna Blythman, Sunday Herald

DISHOOM 3a St Andrew Square, Edinburgh (0131 202 6406)

Inspired by Bombay’s old Irani cafes with a huge choice of dishes that come as smaller helpings for sharing, or larger options for solo eating. We went for a couple of small plates – the Dishoom calamari and the prawn koliwada. From the Grills list, the trio of pomegranate seed-topped spicy lamb chops were thick with spice and fatty chargrilled crust, but still pink inside. We also had chicken tikka made using a marinade of sweet vinegar rather than yogurt. They were decent, with a light ginger and garlic hit and the satisfyingly granular texture of marinated chook breast. The Scotsman

PHOTOGRAPH: GORDON TERRIS Miso glazed aubergine with roast lotus root and grilled halloumi at Taisteal in Edinburgh