Edinburgh restaurant review: 'A proper bright and cheery restaurant' awaits at Ada

Around the time I visit Ada, I dine at another restaurant where we’re talked into ordering a vast spread we can’t possibly finish – and then told they’re getting rid of doggy bags for health and safety reasons.

No doggy bag?! My campaign to save them starts here. I can’t stand food waste, am more than happy to get at least two meals for the price of one – and who doesn’t love extending their dining experience into the next day?

Turkish restaurant Ada (more or less rhyming with “adder” rather than “aider”, I’m told) thankfully has no such policy when I visit – and the following lunchtime I enjoy a condensed, harmonious medley of the meal.

Ada opened in 2015, located among a gaggle of restaurants near Edinburgh’s Playhouse – and I had been past many a time but assumed from the prominent counter visible just inside its blue and white exterior that it was a takeaway.

I see the light thanks to my colleague, Hannah. Within lies a proper bright and cheery restaurant – with the décor including traditional artwork, some ceramics and glass mosaic lamps in varying bright jewel colours.

Ada says food is “a philosophy for us, a philosophy containing joy, happiness and good moments which we strive to share with you”. As an example of this dedication, its meat dishes, are marinated and then chargrilled in the open kitchen using traditional recipes.

It also fuses traditional Turkish cuisine and Mediterranean flavours – tapping into a complex, diverse range of influences.

The starter options make for an embarrassment of riches, so we decide to cover all bases with a mixed cold meze. The plate with its components are displayed “wheel-style” – a central mound of couscous surrounded by various dips each separated by “spokes” comprising stuffed vine leaves or slices of cucumber.

Zero points for identifying the hummus, or the cacik (diced cucumber with yogurt, mint and garlic), but we have to get a bit more like Holmes and Watson with the others. They include baba ghanoush – made in part with tomato paste, a combination I’ve not had before – and make for a complementary, tasty spread of rich and mild flavours.

There is also bread… and what bread! A very happy halfway house between flat and fluffy.

And we’ve added a sneaky order of grilled halloumi – although I prefer its menu name of hellim peyniri – and it’s exemplary, the chargrilling adding a wonderful lightly smoky taste to the cheese.

All in all, from my (admittedly omnivore) perspective there’s a pretty good selection of vegetarian dishes – and Hannah opts for the meat-free moussaka from this section.

As for my own choice, having always subscribed to the philosophy “why have abs when you can have kebabs?”, I order a chicken shish from among the rows of very fresh-looking pre-spiked specimens seen en route to our table.

Hannah’s verdict on her moussaka is that it’s ultra moreish “and almost impossible to distinguish between the melt-in-your-mouth aubergine and light and fluffy béchamel – two thumbs up”.

My kebab comprises perfectly spiced chunks of meat, cooked through but not dry, accompanied by two types of rice and a grated carrot salad. Ada was last year voted the best kebab house in Scotland and on this evidence I can see why.

Heading into the third and final round, who can resist baklava – layers of filo pastry filled with nuts and laden with syrup.

Hannah orders this – a dish we agree we have thought about making but decided is best outsourced given the complexity and time involved. In the interests of research I order the kadayif, which is based on the same concept but made with angel-hair pastry.

The baklava has the edge, its texture lighter and crispier than the denser competition – which is none the less a great partner to my Turkish coffee, which arrives in a wonderful, intricately patterned silver cup and saucer with matching lid.

The service has been great and very friendly (although if I’m nitpicking, it was rather slow when it came to delivering the bill).

My only other small quibble would be that my doggy bag container was one of those polystyrene boxes that will outlive me by some distance.

But we’ve had an excellent meal at an establishment that has astutely remembered what many, often more expensive, restaurants forget – that people above all else want good, fresh food, served on proper plates, in a nice environment with good service and offering value for money…

…and second helpings “to go”.

Ada Restaurant

9a Antigua Street

Edinburgh EH1 3NH

0131-556 8896

www.adarestaurant.co.ukFor the latest restaurant reviews, openings and recommendations, join our new Best in Edinburgh Facebook group here.