Something excellent has happened to Edinburgh in the form of Ondine, Roy Brett’s new restaurant. Before Ondine, the capital lacked a restaurant in the spirit of the great seafood brasseries of Paris such as Bofinger, where you can get stuck into a towering platter of fruits de mer or feast on lobster thermidor. So Ondine plugs a gap, but Brett’s contribution goes further still. His ongoing love affair with seafood found only partial expression when he headed up Dakota at the Forth Bridge. Remember, this is the man who oversaw Rick Stein’s piscine empire in Padstow -- but now that he has set up his own restaurant next to the new Hotel Missoni, his passionate, intelligent interest in fish and crustacea has been fully unlocked.

I use the word intelligent deliberately. Brett seems to be living proof of the ­observation that eating fish, with all its omega-3s, zinc and iron, makes you brainy. So while many restaurateurs have jumped, or been pushed, onto the sustainable fish bandwagon, claiming that their produce has been responsibly sourced from ­teeming fisheries on the basis of only the ­vaguest reassurance from their suppliers, Brett has thought through his supplies so well that his is the first independent restaurant in Scotland to be certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). This means you can sink your teeth into anything at Ondine knowing you aren’t consuming one of the last of a fished-out species, or some miserable farmed specimen whose diseases and effluents are killing off wild stocks.

The refreshing thing about Ondine is that Brett serves only MSC-accredited seafood, so you won’t be seeing “ranched” tuna from the Med or flabby farmed Scottish salmon on the menu. His stunningly good treacle-cured salmon is the wild MSC sockeye type from Alaska. When you notice sea bass on the menu, you know it is line-caught from an MSC fishery (in Yorkshire at the minute), rather than being that identikit, year-round farmed stuff from Turkey and Greece. If you plump for the langoustines -- and heavens, who wouldn’t when you see them? -- they will most likely have come from Loch Torridon, from enlightened fishermen who have gone to the bother and expense of getting their precious stocks certified.

Don’t think for one minute that this right-on, ethical sourcing diverts Brett’s attention from the cooking. With much of his old Dakota team around him, he is cooking with a measured, quiet confidence that shows respect for the integrity of his raw materials but does all the right things to show them off to best advantage. The results are wonderful.

I will be back like a shot for another ­serving of his hot roasted shellfish with aioli. I’m guessing he had taken half a large lobster, three massive meaty crab claws plus a pile of langoustines, scallops, mussels and Venus and razor clams, daubed them with a deep-green herb and shellfish butter, then slammed them into a fiercely hot oven. The results were stupendous: the extreme heat brought out the intense flavour while all the textures -- fleshy, bouncy, slippy -- were there to be savoured and contrasted, lubricated with a good-humoured, gentle aioli.

This dish costs £28 and would serve two. It felt like a glorious bargain. Dreamy, slate-grey risotto nero, flavoured with squid ink and topped with gorgeously tender grilled chilli-dusted squid, represented further good value at £13.50. A thoughtful selection of six oysters allows you to ponder the ­fascinating differences between rock oysters from Cumbrae, natives from Maldon in Essex and French Fines de Claires.

It’s not all seafood at Ondine. Brett’s succulent, rich grouse terrine served with Poîlane bread and warm fig compote was a rounded delight, while his unctuous, velvety creamed spinach is what I want to be fed when I’m feeling poorly. The pudding proposition feels fresh and original: a humid, lemony treacle tart with clotted cream was devoured in seconds. Freshly fried beignets (doughnuts) are special. And here’s a restaurant that has returned to the civilised tradition of serving wine in manageable 125ml glasses. I raise mine to the chef, an ethical man who cooks like an angel.

 

Ondine, 2 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh (0131 226 1888)

Lunch £14.95-£37 Dinner £25-£37

10/10