Nishiki, Edinburgh

If 20 years of this magazine have taught us one thing, it’s that ‘mixing it up a bit’ can produce very interesting results. Sometimes on purpose and occasionally by accident, combining disparate elements together into a new whole is in a sense what this whole magazine is about. In another, more accurate sense, it is just very interesting to smoosh two things together and see what the new third thing looks like, and that’s especially true in the food world. Do these crossovers always work? No! Will we give them a go anyway? Generally speaking, yes! It’s with that spirit that we’re off to Haymarket bright and early for the promise of exciting new developments in the sphere of ‘breakfast’.

From the folk behind Edinburgh sushi bars Yamato and Kanpai, Nishiki styles itself after a Japanese izakaya – somewhere between a tapas bar and a gastropub – with small plates and plenty of sake. But we’re here at 10 o’clock on a Sunday morning, so that sake will have to wait. Inside, Nishiki is a gloriously minimal space that will please fans of Japanese and Nordic interior design, as well as anyone who enjoys a nice, clean geometric shape. It’s a split level with low seating by the bar, a huge sharing table on the lower level that looks straight out of the trendiest library you’ve ever seen in your life, and some enormous sash windows. It’s grey, it’s white, it’s light wood; it’s the morning sun beaming in, and our minds wondering as to what this will all look like at the darker end of the day.

But, as discussed, we’re here in the morning, and some Japanese riffs on some western breakfast classics. We should say at this point that there are a good few classic Japanese options on the menu – fish plays a prominent role, and there’s a very solid selection of teas to choose from – but we’re drawn in by a couple of morning staples, each with a new spin.

First up is a Nori Avocado Toast (£13), which isn’t the largest dish in the world but it makes up for it with some very interesting flourishes. There’s a sweet zinginess from the yuzu that’s folded through the avocado; the seaweed in the butter gives a faintly nautical air to proceedings; a jammy-yolked ramen egg on top is flecked with a good amount of togarashi chilli that balances it all out quite well. It’s nice but it is on the small side, and while it does combine its different influences in a tasteful way, it is maybe in need of a little extra oomph.

That ‘oomph’ is not a problem at the other end of the table. The Japanese-inspired English Breakfast (£15) is a whirlwind run through the the standard reviewer’s list of adjectives. Take the miso-glazed bacon as an example: it’s fatty but it’s also sweet, but it’s also extremely savoury in both a deep umami sense and a salty, immediate, ‘close your eyes while this burns off your hangover’ sense. And that’s just the bacon – there’s a subtly sweet Japanese sausage with an extremely satisfying snap, earthy shimeji mushrooms that help keep things grounded, and some excellent bread from down the road at The Palmerston to be topped with more of that nori butter from earlier. The onsen egg is very faintly poached in a bowl of broth; work your way through it with a tiny little spoon, or just dip the various components of the breakfast into said egg and add another layer of flavour onto the pile.

It’s a real success, and steps well beyond any concerns of coming across as a stunt or gimmick. It’s refined, it’s interesting, and it’s served on a delightfully minimal bit of crockery. We’re not sure how it works as an introduction to a sake-forward izakaya, but it doesn’t feel like that’s the point. As a new thing entirely, something to slap you awake with a miso-coated hand after a big night out, Nishiki’s breakfast is a hit.

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Nishiki, 151-155 Morrison St, Edinburgh, EH3 8AG
Fri-Mon, 9am-9pm
@nishiki_edinburgh