Edinburgh, French Restaurant Guide

The No 2 restaurant in this “fantastic hotel” – “isn’t ground-breaking but it is useful, as a hotel restaurant should be”. Fans say its classic French cooking is “better than normally found with a captive audience… perhaps because it has to be with so many other options close by”.

2024 Review: Jean-Michel Gauffre is the mastermind behind this “pleasing, modest French establishment”, in the Old Town; a firm fixture since its launch in 2001, it turns out hearty Gallic cooking with a particular focus on the Languedoc, alongside an excellent value lunchtime ‘Menu du Jour’.

“Good solid restaurants like this deserve our support” – a “small but friendly” New Town bistro, overseen by Marcelline Levicky, that has been around forever and turns out pitch-perfect Gallic cooking (onion soup, rabbit pies, moules) that also comes at a “great price”. While that price has crept up slowly over the years, it remains a steal: the two-course lunch is £20.90, the two-course dinner £34.50.

2023 Review: “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.

“You could be in Montmartre” rather than a cobbled alleyway in the New Town as you stumble across this evergreen stalwart – “a firm favourite over many years” providing an “interesting Scottish-produce-oriented menu, together with very good service in a traditional French-bistro-style setting”.

Virginie Brouard’s smart outfit in a mock-Tudor building in the West End has established itself as one of Edinburgh’s most reliable Gallic restaurants as it noses into its third decade, with “reasonable prices” part of the draw, whether you opt for the à la carte menu or the two-course set lunch for £29. If you’re in the mood for a pre-dinner drink, her adjoining wine bar ‘Le Di-Vin’ occupies a dramatic former church (and has formerly featured as one of the best of its kind in the land in a Sunday Times national survey).

2024 Review: “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”.

2022 Review: “Good all round” – this popular and well-priced Marchmont venue keeps a local crowd happy with the French-accented dishes sent out by its owner-chefs, a Sicilian/Canadian couple who live nearby. A proper two-course lunch costs under £20, which adds to the appeal.