Kuzina, Edinburgh Greek Fine Dining Restaurant

A fusion of traditional Greek dishes served in a fresh new way

We love Greek food, or what we know of it, as there is an issue when it comes to restaurants dedicated to cuisines from overseas, in that they can be discouraged to be truly authentic, and this applies to all countries. If a Sicilian cafe opens in Scotland people still want lasagne, carbonara and garlic bread. If someone from Asturias opens a restaurant, people expect paella and sherry, not black pudding and cider. And the same is true of Greece, where we may think that every Hellenic eateries dishes up Gyros and moussaka, but what if we told you that there’s a fine dining Greek restaurant called Kuzina in Edinburgh’s New Town that does things differently?

Kuzina, meaning ‘kitchen’ in Greek, opened in April 2023 and as you can see inside, Kuzina is a million miles away from your usual taverna. Welcoming, yet something special with luxurious teal banquette seating and comfortable chairs that you could sit in all day.

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Menu at Kuzina

What we ate and drank

Head Chef, Konstantinos Sakellariou, recommended the £68pp tasting menu, which comprises items from the a la carte, which he talked us through and we are glad he did as hearing the stories behind the menu development and ingredients is part of what makes eating out fun for us.

As we awaited our starters, some slices of sourdough, made in two different ways arrived. Both take around 40 hours to make.

The first is flavoured with oregano, thyme and uses trahanas. What the heck is trahanas I hear you ask? As we both did when looking at the menu.

Trahana is made with either semolina, bulgur or cracked wheat to which milk or yoghurt is mixed into to form a paste which is used as a way of preserving milk. The other sourdough was made in the way most would recognise. Both were served with specially selected salt and olive oil from Greece.

We had a couple of drinks to start the lunch with The Blender Brut, which had a pale lemon colour, lemon aroma and taste and was mildly sparkling. Then on the right, Sixth Sense, which was pale gold coloured with a sweet grape aroma like Moscato d’Asti (it’s made using Muscat of Alexandria) however it was quite dry tasting.

Our first food course was: Artichokes, simply put on the menu. Artichokes from Crete with a herb pesto, Cretan graveria cheese, mild almond skordalia, almond gel and grapes. Cheesy (in a Gruyere type way) with layers of almond and garlic. A punchy garlic taste smoothed over with the delicate grapes.

Prawn dolmades, a seafood version of the popular Greek classic. Fresh sea lettuce, prawn, black rice, citrus bisque sauces, oyster leaf and sea rosemary.

Light and so very easy to eat, not that dense, heavy way dolmades can be.

Trahanas pasta with Siglino. Yellow pepper and cherry tomato glazed trahanas, roast siglino, manouri cheese, basil and thyme.

Like an autumnal risotto with a hint of summer zing. Creamy, tart and a gazillion flavours on the tongue here. Seemingly Trahanas is an acquired taste with its sour and cheesy flavours. We are converted.

Lamb giouvetsi – braised lamb shoulder and leg, tomato and wild fennel orzo, sun dried tomato paste and lamb jus.

A mixture of succulent and crispy lamb pieces alongside creamy and flavourful orzo.

We finished with Ekmek Katafi which is a pistachio ganache, caramelised pistachio, forest berry compote and kaimaki ice cream.

Surrounded with angel hair filo this not only looks stunning, it delivers with flavour.

This nest is filled with mastic-flavoured ice cream…don’t panic it doesn’t taste like it sounds. The mastic resin gives it a unique taste and consistency – chewy and pine-like. This works extremely well with the creamy ganache and caremelised pistachios.

Verdict

What a meal! The care of ingredient selection shone throughout, from even the simple things like the salt and olive oil.

Each dish showcased the ingredients and demanded your full attention.

We really enjoyed our experience and if like us you love Greek cuisine and are looking for something different, then Kuzina could be for you. It is not the archetypical Greek restaurant to be found in Scotland so we hope that people who come in expecting the more typical dishes give it a chance.