City Of Edinburgh, Scottish Restaurant Guide

“Consistently fresh, bold, interesting food – forthright but beautifully balanced and absolutely delicious, and a decent wine list too” inspire nothing but high enthusiasm for this emerging star of Edinburgh’s dining scene – a ‘Restaurant & Bakery’ from Lloyd Morse and James Snowdon with traditional looks but a forward-looking menu of “simple seasonal food” delivering “outstanding” flavours. Top Menu Tip – “crispy lamb belly and sausage on mustard lentils”.

“Well deserving of its Michelin Star!” – the Radford family’s converted Victorian warehouse (originally built as a props and costume store) has built a strong culinary reputation since it opened 11 years ago and was finally recognised by the Tyre Men in their 2023 awards. A five-course menu for £115 per person is the entry-level option (although there is a more extensive tasting menu available for £145 per head).

“What a joy!” – Tom & Michaela Kitchin’s selfconsciously Scottish gastroboozer (‘Oor menu; Yer starters’) is a “buzzy” and “enjoyable experience” serving “upmarket and well done pub grub” as well as “wine by the useful 500ml carafe”. Top Menu Tips – the S&S fish or steak pies.

2023 Review: “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).

Dine amid the ghosts of Auld Reekie at Scotland’s most romantic hotel and restaurant, set in a collection of dramatic buildings dating back to 1595, and right at the gates of the castle. Lit by candlelight, the wood-panelled dining room is a swoonsome location to enjoy fittingly traditional dishes ranging from the Omelette Arnold Bennett to local haggis. Yes, it’s been some time now that the venue has been “resting on its (ancient) laurels”, with a growing army of critics that “just don’t get the hype” (especially since it’s “as expensive as ever!”), but for a special occasion for which expense be damned it takes some beating – as does the 600-bin-strong cellar, winner of many an accolade.

2021 Review: Owned by the Crolla family (who started Valvona & Crolla, Scotland’s oldest deli and Italian wine merchant – see also), this sixteenth century fine dining spot is a beacon on the otherwise touristy Royal Mile owing to its “well-cooked and well-seasoned” Scottish fare and “good value Sunday lunch”; for a truly intimate dining experience, try ‘Halo’, upstairs, which seats just four.

“You’d have to travel a long way to find another dining room as grand” as this sumptuous cupola-topped venue – the eye-catching old Bank of Scotland above Waverley station – which is now part of the first city hotel spin-off from the storied Perthshire hotel (replete with “beautiful” bedrooms, rooftop bar and members’ club). Some 98 years younger than that grand icon, which celebrated its centenary in 2024, the all-day restaurant, which turns out upscale brasserie fare from sharing dishes to a decadent dessert trolley, failed this year to elicit huge amounts of feedback: brunch, previously a highlight, is now once-monthly only, while the other victuals can seem “good but not exciting”, thus “not up to the elevated surroundings”.

2021 Review: “Making other fine dining establishments in town look somewhat staid, out of touch and overpriced” – this April 2018 newcomer is “superb”, and some would say “the best restaurant to have opened in Edinburgh in recent times”. “A charismatic space” with “splendid service” – “the reference on its website to ‘progressive Italian dining’ is accurate” and the modern cuisine is “outstanding” – “go downstairs to see the kitchen in action”. To match the fine cooking there’s “an exceptional, mostly Italian, wine list”.

“The food is of the highest standard” at chef Maciej Szymik’s modern European spot, tucked away in the New Town – “we were lucky to stumble on it”. There’s “only a handful of tables in each room, which gives the feel of quasi-private dining”. “My only real criticism is the portion sizes are too large – it just wasn’t possible to leave room for dessert”.

Tom Kitchin‘s two-year-old is a “lovely, relaxing place” where the “really delicious” food revolves (as per the rest of his mini-empire) around ‘nature-to-plate’ Scottish cooking (and also includes a “great selection of bar snacks”). At the pass, James Chapman, formerly of Kora’s Stockbridge gastroboozer sibling The Scran & Scallie (the other links in the chain being restaurant-with-rooms The Bonnie Badger, in East Lothian, and acclaimed Leith flagship The Kitchin).

“Such a fabulous experience” – chef Brian Grigor and sommelier Glen Montgomery man this tiny (12 covers) Stockbridge yearling which provides a single chef’s table experience each night; diners say it’s “great being able to engage with the sommelier and chef” in this manner. Feedback is not vast, but couldn’t rate the outstanding mix of food and wine any higher: a seven-course selection for £95 per person. It’s also had a string of adulatory press reviews: most recently from William Sitwell in The Telegraph, who in his January 2024 piece said it was “like the best experimental works of theatre” and “a bold and exciting glimpse of a delicious future”.

Aizle chef-patron Stuart Ralston’s third Edinburgh restaurant (he’s since launched fine-diner Lyla) is a bright and airy first-floor New Town spot with striking pale wood décor and “great Italian food” by absolutely all accounts. Conjuring up worrying visions, William Sitwell in The Telegraph’s January 2024 review praised the venue for “snacks I’d run naked through a howling gale for”, but their small plates also attract plenty of attention (and are rounded out by seriously good homemade pasta).