Fife Restaurant Guide

“The food is old-school class and the wine list a bit of a joy…”, indeed “all aspects of the experience are superb” at Geoffrey & Katherine Smeddle’s tastefully revamped old inn, which sits a few miles’ drive from the coast and golf courses of nearby St Andrews. Its culinary renown has lasted for many decades now – initially under David & Patricia Wilson and under the Smeddles since 2006. You are not prisoner to a tasting menu here, with a sensibly priced à la carte, although one is available (six courses for £125 per person). Between the various options, numerous diners in our annual poll acclaim it for their best meal of the year.

Chef James Ferguson and partner Alethea Palmer relaunched this country pub about five years ago and it’s acquired quite a reputation (and received a glowing review from The Scotsman’s Rosalind Erskine in November 2023). Our feedback is also good if slightly more mixed: fans say it’s “simply fantastic” with “a relaxed atmosphere, plenty of space between tables and a sunny garden; not to mention excellent cooking with robust, delicious flavours using much local produce including seafood”. One critic, though, found the menu “hit ’n’ miss” and another reported some friction having “dared to criticise” a dish.

It’s “worth a ride on the tram” (to the terminus of the Edinburgh line, which is a short walk away) to get to this dockside outfit in a Victorian building, which was launched in 2018 by fancy seafood haunt Ondine, of the nearby capital, and Welch Fishmongers, who supply it. It’s a “very busy” place with “limited tables” in the tiled dining room and on the outdoor terrace: one diner for whom “the takeaway was the only possibility” reports that “it was worth the long queue” for the “excellent fish and chips” (as against the fancier fare in the dining room) even in the winter chill.

This “absolute stalwart”, in a 17th-century watchtower by the Water of Leith, delivers “great fresh fish, beautifully cooked in a kitchen the size of a 50p piece” – “lovely staff, all very hectic, but it just works”. The flagship of a small group established more than 20 years ago, some reporters find it “slightly more relaxed than the city branch”. Top Menu Tip – “the prawn cocktail is to die for”.

Tom & Michaela Kitchin’s Leith HQ occupies a converted warehouse and has shown amazing longevity since it opened in 2006 as one of the Scottish capital’s most commented-on destinations in our annual diners’ poll. There are gripes here in the feedback we receive, almost entirely to do with those who feel the experience is “good but overpriced”. On balance, though, positivity is still the order of the day and the vast majority of reports acclaim it as somewhere that “never disappoints, with always something really interesting and fabulous on the menu”. Choose from either a three-course à la carte (for £125 per person); or there is a tasting option (at £155 per person) – “the theatre of the service is extraordinary, with front of house staff who are attentive but not overly so, carefully choreographing the emergence of food from the kitchen. Behind the glass screen, the chefs and kitchen staff beaver away in an organised and calm manner and the ambience is lovely. Yes, it was on the expensive side, but as a theatrical gastronomic experience it was worth every penny… it‘s just a shame that we live nearly 500 miles away”.