Leith Restaurant Guide

Roberta Hall-McCarron’s Leith operation opened in 2018 and relocated to this larger location in late 2021 (the original premises now housing her other venture, Eleanore, see also) and its style is “much more ‘grown-up’ in its new home”. It delivers “amazing food and great value” from a short and enticing menu. Locals note it’s “bonkers popular… admittedly, it’s exactly the kind of restaurant you want near your house…”. (To reserve, you must leave credit card details with a £45 cancellation fee if you cancel within 24 hours of the booking).

“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”.

“Loved it! Everything is just right” at Martin Wishart’s harbourside flagship: one of the city’s most accoladed culinary destinations, where his menus of “Frenchified Scottish ingredients” offer “decadent luxury” in “the cool, gentrified environs” of the Leith waterfront. “Every bit as good as the first time I came nearly 20 years ago”, it’s held a “Michelin star for 20 years for a reason”. It might be “slightly hushed and reverential for my (London!) tastes, but it totally deserves its accolades!”

“If you want to eat fish in Edinburgh, this is the place to go” – “a great spot at a lovely quiet location down on the dockside in Leith, and just delicious”. Set in a seventeenth-century watchtower, the “characterful restaurant” serves “really good fresh fish, simply and yet imaginatively”. The owners also run The Shore next door, and Fishers in the City.

Akin to a posh chippy, this tiled, two-year-old collab between the same backers as Ondine and fish suppliers Welche’s again gets the thumbs-up – “a fab place at Newhaven Harbour that’s busy and exciting, with great fresh Scottish seafood”.

2021 Review: In Leith Walk, this “family-orientated” staple can be relied upon for “superb” wood-fired pizzas, pastas and so forth in a “buzzing atmosphere”.

2021 Review: This “real gem” on the road to Leith – “family-run with flair and passion” – “uses unusual cuts of locally sourced meats and seasonal produce to keep the cost of lunch to £10”. It’s “intimate and cosy, but on a hot summer’s day, sitting outside sipping wine and eating the amazing fresh food the kitchen sends out is a real treat”.

“A good choice of light dishes and excellent wine list” are key features of this straightforward café. It’s famous in Auld Reekie due to the esteemed and marvellously stocked deli and wine merchants (est. 1934) that it’s part of, and which provide the victuals for a meal, served from breakfast onwards. Wine lovers: you can choose any of the hundreds of retail wines for only £6 corkage… “from super value to super Tuscans”.

2022 Review: “Still knocking out great burgers with a retro feel – the relish selection harks back to the 1970s”. This “great local burger joint” in Stockbridge which celebrates its half-centenary this year is “always reliable and never changes”. “The staff are rushed off their feet, but they’re always really professional and smiley”.

“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.

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.

2022 Review: In 2021, Gordon Craig and wife Lucy moved their well-rated operation of five years’ standing from Raeburn Place to this new address in the New Town, on the site of Le Roi Fou (RIP). Our feedback remains enthusiastic for its innovative use of British ingredients. “There’s a market menu, which is a steal, and full tasting options if you’re feeling hungrier. Highly recommended”.

Paul Kitching’s “wonderfully exciting food” has been a highlight of Edinburgh’s dining scene for almost 15 years, served in the signature ‘formation’ of his restaurant’s name: a choice of 2 starters followed by 1 soup, a choice of 2 mains, 1 cheese and 2 desserts, the line-up changing every week. There’s a “beautifully decorated and elegant drawing room for pre- and post-dinner drinks”.

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.