Edinburgh, Scottish Restaurant Guide

With 33 bedrooms, the first-ever spin-off from the world famous sporting estate finally opened in June 2022 (it was originally scheduled for 2021) in the former HQ of the Bank of Scotland, complete with an all-day restaurant under the cupola of the former banking hall that’s relatively casual for this grand address. In July 2022, Gaby Soutar of the Scotsman paid it a visit, declaring the food offering as “casual, but with luxurious tweaks. Birthday food”. All seemed generally very satisfactory, although the review stops short of being an out-and-out rave.

This “fun, stylish and super-friendly restaurant” from chef Scott Smith and his wife Laura has a very serious mission – to showcase ultra-seasonal Scottish ingredients, many of them grown in their own kitchen garden. The cooking is of “superb quality”, and “the tasting menu beautifully thought through, so each course feels as though it belongs after the previous one”. Fhior, meaning ‘true’ in Gaelic, is the Smiths’ follow-up to their highly regarded debut Norn, in Leith.

“Like a Gallic hug”, chef-patron Fred Berkmiller’s “properly sourced old-school French cuisine” comes packaged with “Gallic good humour, impeccable service and quirky decoration in this wonderfully authentic restaurant”, “now with new wine bar underneath”. Sadly, its nearby sibling L’Escargot Blanc closed down last year after 18 years.

“Definitely an experience” – James Thomson’s “glorious” 40-year restoration of a 1595 merchant’s house next to the castle makes a “totally unique and intimate location” for a candle-lit meal, either in the wood-panelled dining room, filled with leather furnishings and hung with tapestries, or in the ‘Secret Garden’. The “atmospheric setting” is “perfect for a romantic dinner” so long as you “don’t expect too much gastronomically” from the traditional menu – and there is a “killer wine list – sorry, Wine Bible”.

“Amazing Italian cooking using Scottish produce – impeccable – and with outstanding service” inspires excellent feedback on this stylish and moodily decorated New Town site. It was opened in mid 2021 by Stefano Pieraccini of the Rocca Group in premises vacated by Martin Wishart’s The Honour (RIP).

This “popular” local from chef Maciej Szymik gives seasonal Scottish produce a modern European twist, earning general all-round approval. There’s also a spin-off brasserie in the West End: Otro.

The Radford family’s Victorian warehouse conversion remains “relentlessly inventive and delicious”, a decade after they were among the first to bring the lessons of ‘new Nordic’ cuisine to Scotland, with foraged or pickled ingredients presented in industrial-style premises. Head chef James Murray (ex-Lyles, Le Manoir & Nur in Hong Kong) joined the team last year. Natural and low-intervention wines are also an important part of the experience. Even a diner who felt “the food is overhyped” said “what an amazing place!”

This year-old venture in a converted bank – restaurant, bar, bakery, coffee shop and butchery – “has taken Edinburgh by storm” with its “very unfussy and robust cooking, relaxed atmosphere” – and its excellent in-house baked goods. The “shabby-chic premises belie stunning prep and cooking” from ex-Spring chef Lloyd Morse, who has teamed up with ex-Harwood Arms GM James Snowdon. Top Tip – “on no account depart without buying one of their loaves”.

“Everything is spot-on” at this “lively” and “inventive” gastropub from a top-class chef – “we love it, and it’s great to take international visitors as it showcases Scottish produce”. With its “good pies and loads of local beers”, the place “doesn’t forget it’s a pub” – but the “wonderful, skilled cooking” makes it “more than just that”. He might not like to hear this, but “we enjoyed this far more than Tom Kitchin’s main restaurant”.

“A truly a fantastic experience from start to finish” – Tom & Michaela’s flagship venue occupies a “buzzy” warehouse in Leith and was again Edinburgh’s most commented-on destination in our annual diners’ poll. Criticism is impressively absent: there is nothing but reams of praise for “excellent fine dining”, produced from a glass-walled kitchen whose chefs create an “amazing food journey” (with “Tom and his senior team also coming out into the dining room to talk about the dishes”). There are tasting menus for either £130 or £180, with a more conventional evening à la carte menu priced at £110 (the best bargain being the set lunch, which is half this price). “An expensive experience, but well worth it and a real treat”. “Despite a lot of competition in Edinburgh now, Kitchin holds its head up high”.

Chef Stuart Ralston of highly rated Aizle opens his new seafood restaurant in October 2023 in the stylish Royal Terrace premises of the late Paul Kitching’s 21212. The 10-course set menu, for just 28 guests per sitting, is billed as 'an ode to produce from the Scottish Isles'.

This distinctive late-Victorian pub in Abbeyhill is due to open in autumn 2023 as a wine bar with upstairs dining room from the Radford family, who are behind Timberyard in Fountainbridge. European-inspired small plates are promised alongside a list of natural and biodynamic wines.

Tom Kitchen created this new gastropub to replace his bistro Southside Scran, which closed down in 2020 after barely a year’s operation: a victim of both flooding and the pandemic. It opened in August 2022, too late for our annual diners’ poll – reports please!

This “smart little place with elegant food and bespoke cocktails” overlooking the Water of Leith is a year-old continuation of a lockdown project from two twentysomething chefs, Tomas Gormley (ex-Andrew Fairlie) and Sam Yorke (ex-Dominic Jack’s Castle Terrace). Their “lovely food” “lives up to (high) expectations” – “the whipped miso/crab butter which comes with the bread sets the tone”. Top Menu Tip – “excellent venison and guinea fowl mains are high spots”.