Prestonpans Restaurant Guide

This “lovely restaurant by the Water of Leith” is “just the perfect place for a business lunch”, with “lovely staff, simple fish dishes and rock-solid wines”. Set in a seventeenth-century watchtower, it has been running for more than 20 years and is the flagship of a small group with a branch in the city as well as The Shore next door.

“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!”

“The food is good… really good” at Roberta Hall-McCarron’s popular operation, where “the queue to get in has dropped from a five-month wait to a couple of weeks” following a move to larger premises a couple of years back (the original is now open as Eleanore, see also). It offers “very friendly service and a great location” – and “happily it’s a place you can go for a three-course meal, not a ten-course tasting menu” (although there is also a five-course option available).

2023 Review: 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”.

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”.

“Really enjoyable experience (apart from the walk in the dark on icy paths to reach the place from the Royal Terrace!”) – few restaurants can match the location of this dramatically cantilevered structure, whose floor-to-ceiling windows ensure superb views over the city from Calton Hill. On limited feedback this year, some “outstanding” results were reported from a no-choice, four-course menu for £85 (shorter and cheaper at lunch). On the downside, in March 2023, Chitra Ramaswamy in The Times had an up-and-down trip: it “ha[d] everything going for it: fabulous taste, music, service and ingredients in a world-class setting” but was “simply too expensive for what you get”.

Conor Toomey’s “outstanding food continues to surprise and delight” all who experience his “excellent” three-hour no-choice tasting menus (at £150 per person), while there is “good interactive service” and the “wine pairings are the best ever”. The only criticism is directed at the dining room, which is “a little sparse” – with diners saying that cuisine of this monumental quality “deserves a better setting than a glorified shop”.

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.

“The best choice of wine anywhere” is the main reason to visit the Caffè Bar at the rear of this famous deli and wine merchants (est. 1934) where any of the “extensive range of bottles from the shop” is available to accompany a meal for super-modest (£6) corkage. By comparison, the food is very straightforward, but provides dependable sustenance from breakfast onwards.

Just off the Royal Mile, this aubergine-hued stalwart café (est. 2002) is one of Scotland’s best known veggie/vegan haunts, owing to its “imaginative dishes” that deftly incorporate influences from the Mediterranean to the Pacific and subcontinent; “pleasant service” adds to its appeal.

2021 Review: The oldest trad boozer on the Royal Mile (est 1742) has now been reincarnated as an oyster and seafood bar – the name switching connotation from the equine to the maritime. It has won immediate high ratings for its “outstanding” crustacea.

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’.

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.

This spin-off from the famous Glasgow original “never fails to hit the spot” with its “terrific” Indian cooking, served in tapas-sized portions to taste and share. It’s “great for lunch after a visit to the Dovecot Studios”, a contemporary tapestry gallery next door in Edinburgh’s Old Town.

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”.