Edinburgh, Scottish Restaurant Guide

Taking over the site of Martin Wishart's The Honour is local restaurateur Stefano Pieraccini of The Rocca Group, which also includes The Broughton and The Seafood Ristorante in St Andrews. Italian dishes are made with locally-sourced Scottish ingredients.

Opening in July 2021 after five years of development, the largest food hall in Scotland (and the first in Edinburgh) will feature independent Scottish food and drink producers; restaurants signed up so far include Erpingham House and Glasgow's The Gannet. Bonnie & Wild is the brainchild of Mac & Wild

MasterChef: The Professionals winner Gary Maclean opened his first restaurant in June 2021 inside the Bonnie & Wild Marketplace, Edinburgh's first food hall in St James Quarter. Unsurprisingly, given the name, the menu champions Scottish seafood.

“Still the best in Edinburgh” – Martin Wishart delivers “a glorious celebration of Scottish fare” at this “slightly formal” operation. “This is serious no-nonsense cooking from the canapés, to the amuse bouche, and you can opt for the tasting menu, à la carte, vegetarian tasting menu and fish tasting menu; plus a fantastic selection of wine and wine flights”. Stylewise, it’s “a classic modern dining room” in “a nice location by the water in Leith”, and “with a level of service akin to that of a top London hotel”. “The only quibble is the very limited choice at lunchtime” although the set deal is “overall very good value for the price”.

“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”.

“I would travel a LONG way for these exceptional, innovative flavours” says a London-based reporter about this Fountainbridge fixture, opened in 2012 in the “charismatic” space of a converted Victorian warehouse, and serving a selection of Ben Radford’s Scandi-influenced tasting menus (from four-courses to eight-courses), offset by a “long” wine list of exclusively natural wines from small European producers.

“Lives up to the hype, year after year” – fans of Tom Kitchin’s Stockbridge gastroboozer insist it serves “hands-down the best pub grub in Edinburgh”. “The menu has a Scottish focus and the décor is fairly tartan-heavy, so it’s a perfect place to introduce visitors to Scottish pub food”. “Charming staff” and “a nice choice of kids’ options” add further to the appeal. Even some fans, though, acknowledge that it’s “not cheap”.