Old Town, Scottish Restaurant Guide

With its incredible wood-paneled interior (candle-lit, with antique furnishings and tapestries) and an alternative ‘Secret Garden’ space, James Thomson’s restored old house near the castle (dating from 1595) provides a supremely romantic destination (there are also rooms), and has been one of the city’s landmark destinations for decades. It has long been accused of “resting on its reputation” foodwise and this year those fears were to the fore, with concerns about the “pretty uninspiring food and eye-watering prices for such unexciting choices”. Still, there’s always compensation in the vast wine list. And its most upbeat fans have different concerns: “It’s always nice to eat here, but it can be too dark to read the menu and you have to use the torch on your mobile phone to see it properly!”

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.

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”.

Credited with introducing the principles of ‘new Nordic’ cuisine to Scottish ingredients, the Radford family’s converted Victorian warehouse (originally built as a props & costume store) impresses all who visit with its foraged or pickled produce and low-intervention wines. Last year it celebrated its tenth anniversary and opened a spin-off wine bar/restaurant, Montrose House, in the Abbeyhill area. The entry-level option for dining here is a five-course tasting menu for £95 per person.

“A stunning setting in a former banking hall” – the former HQ of the Bank of Scotland, complete with eye-catching cupola – provides a hard-to-beat setting for this year-old spin-off from the world-famous sporting estate: the first-ever extension of the brand (a property with 33 bedrooms). The focus of the (less reviewed) à la carte is on posh brasserie fare – the dedicated brunch menu is the most commented-on feature here (“amazing crab omelette”). Prices could be much worse given the level of grandeur. It’s also tipped for a “good business venue”.

2022 Review: Launched in July 2021, Scotland’s largest food hall (and Edinburgh’s first) features a range of chef-led food stalls and restaurants. These include The Gannet East, Creel Caught, Erpingham House, El Perro Negro, east PIZZAS, Broken Clock, Joelato, Salt & Chilli Oriental and CHIX. Also houses Inverarity Morton’s boutique bottleshop.

Paul and Lisa Wedgwood’s basement on the Royal Mile again wins consistent praise this year for its “very good” cuisine, which provides a good trade off between its level of ambition and its relative affordability. There’s a seasonally changing à la carte menu, or you can opt for the ‘Wee Tour of Scotland’ tasting menu at £80 per person.

2021 Review: David Howie Scott’s flagship venue at the foot of Calton Hill celebrates its 30th anniversary last year as a purveyor of inexpensive Scottish classics. The odd reporter feels that it’s “nice enough, but not the stand-out it could be”, but that’s within the context of pretty solid ratings overall. There are two spinoffs in Edinburgh and one in Aberdeen.

2022 Review: MasterChef: The Professionals winner Gary Maclean opened his first restaurant in summer 2021 on the fourth floor of the Bonnie & Wild Marketplace: Edinburgh's first food hall in St James Quarter. The menu champions sustainable Scottish seafood, with the ‘award-winning Arbroath Smokies’ a signature dish.

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).

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”.

Scott Smith’s “intricate and exquisite cooking” and “amazing use of ingredients” produces “some pitch-perfect seafood, fish and vegetarian courses” from, in the evening, a seven-course menu for £85 per person (or a nine-course option for £105 per person) – delivered via his wife Laura’s “absolutely brilliant, knowledgeable, professional, relaxed and fun service” at their ultra-seasonal venue: a follow-up to their equally vaunted Norn in Leith. Scott grew up in rural Aberdeenshire, and grows much of the produce in his own kitchen garden.

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.

This “absolutely flawless” two-year-old has been a “wonderful surprise in Edinburgh”, both for Aussie chef Lloyd Morse’s “brilliant” food and ex-Harwood Arms GM James Snowdon’s “warmth and hospitality”. Alex Sage (formerly of East London bakery Jolene) contributes “heavenly bread baked on site”, while the “good-value prix-fixe lunch”, made with offcuts from whole animals butchered on site, is highly recommended.

“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”.

Now in its 11th year, Tom & Michaela Kitchin’s “friendly” and “sometimes hectic” Scottish gastropub wins consistently high ratings for its “clever (if rich)” and “yummy” food. “Of course we had the famous steak pie, but the rest was pretty good as well”.

“One of the stalwarts of the Edinburgh scene” – Tom & Michaela’s flagship venue opened in this converted warehouse in Leith in 2006 and was yet again the city’s most commented-on destination in our annual diners’ poll. “A real treat”, it’s “simply superb at every level” with “wonderful” cooking that “changes with the seasons”, “a beautiful setting” and “professional service”. “Even though it’s a 250-mile trip for us with a stop over it’s well worth it: our favourite eating experience in the UK by far!”