Leith
36 rooms on the Edinburgh list
Three of the six kitchens in this city holding a MICHELIN star for 2026 stand within a few streets of each other down here. Restaurant Martin Wishart has been on the Shore since 2001, The Kitchin took a converted whisky warehouse on Commercial Street in 2006, and Heron opened on the Water of Leith in 2021 and won its star in 2023. Around them is a working port that kept its own habits. Dreadnought Leith took CAMRA's Edinburgh Pub of the Year in 2022 and again in 2026, cooks nothing at all, and stays shut until four on weekdays. The Mother Superior buys Islay at cask strength and won the Whisky Guru Rising Star award in 2025. The Port of Leith Distillery put a whisky bar on the eighth floor of a vertical distillery on Whisky Quay. One family tree explains a lot of the eating: Roberta Hall-McCarron runs The Little Chartroom and opened Ardfern next door to it, and her first premises now hold her wine bar Eleanore. Up on Leith Walk, Valvona & Crolla has sold Italian groceries since 1934 with a caffe behind the deli, and Spry Wines took a Silver Star from the Star Wine List of the Year UK in 2026. Bring an appetite and low expectations of a short walk, because this is a long, flat district and the good rooms are spread along it.
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Here, for
Known for, here
The cheap pint in an old room2 here
- Dreadnought Leith — Four cask lines carry zero regulars and ran GBP 4.20 to GBP 5 a pint, every one from an independent brewery.
- Malt & Hops — A single room on Leith Shore dates from 1747, hop bines hang in the ceiling each harvest, and the cask list goes on the mirror.
Whisky bars4 here
- The Port of Leith Distillery — The whisky bar is the eighth floor of nine behind full-height glass, pouring the house Table Whisky and the distillery's own sherry.
- The Mother Superior — Shortlisted for Whisky Bar of the Year in 2025, and the shelf is bought cask strength off Islay.
- Nauticus — The menu is arranged by Leith's trading history, and the whisky chapter is the one to read first.
- The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, The Vaults — The building the Society bought in 1983 and still pours from, open to members and three guests each, which is the local's door rather than the New Town one.
One set menu, built on Scottish produce4 here
- Heron — Michelin credits the chefs' handling of fine Scottish produce, and Time Out says the room spotlights farm to table cooking.
- Restaurant Martin Wishart — The Good Food Guide describes a loyalty to Scottish seasonal produce running through Dornoch lamb, Borders mallard and Gigha halibut.
- The Kitchin — The set lunch is the meal the Good Food Guide rated the kitchen on, and Harden's diners say the game season menu is unbeatable.
- Dùthchas — The Gaelic name means the bond between people, animals, land and sea, and every plate is set down with the farm or the boat it came from said aloud.
Shellfish, and the boats that land it5 here
- Heron — Two of the canapes the Good Food Guide calls flawless are a nori cup of langoustine and an Arbroath smokie croustade.
- The Fishmarket — The scampi is built on creeled Tobermory langoustine tails, and the scallops are hand dived off Mull.
- Restaurant Martin Wishart — The Good Food Guide singles out the Gigha halibut with a caviar sauce and calls the cooking genuinely inspired.
- Barry Fish — The kitchen cures its own trout into pastrami and smokes the haddock for the kedgeree in house.
- Dulse Edinburgh — The Michelin inspector names Shetland mussels and Skye langoustines, on a menu whose stated premise is buying Scottish seafood direct.
Haggis, past the Burns supper2 here
- Dùthchas — The bon-bon is quilted in a tattie scone jacket under brown sauce and pickled neep, which Gaby Soutar called a single bite of comfort.
- Pizza Geeks — The Braveheart puts crumbled haggis and Stornoway black pudding on a pizza, which is the one that makes this a Scottish pizzeria.
Specialty coffee2 here
- Artisan Roast Leith Walk — The roaster that started Scottish specialty in 2007 rests coffee in a whisky cask for a month before selling it, and this Leith Walk door is the one The Skinny and Time Out both pick.
- Williams & Johnson Coffee Co. — The Leith roastery sells its own coffee across the counter it roasts behind.
Cullen skink4 here
- The Ship on the Shore — Tom Kitchin sends people here for the cullen skink and says they nail it every single time, which is a starred chef naming somebody else's version of a soup he cooks at home.
- MIRIN — Sharif Gergis takes the soup apart and rebuilds it as a dumpling, and the Good Food Guide describes fat, chewy parcels of smoky fish in a puddle of chilli-infused coconut cream.
- Teuchters Landing — The List sends you here for a warming mug of Cullen skink or stovies when the weather turns, with a dram off a range of over 100 whiskies.
- Roseleaf bar cafe — The chunky Cullen skink is GBP 10.95 on the Summer 2026 menu, and it is the bowl Phil Rosenthal ate on camera here.
The fish supper2 here
- The Fishmarket — Gaby Soutar's review is headed get along here for the best fish and chips in Edinburgh, and Tom Kitchin picks the same counter.
- Pierinos — The List files this shop under Best Batter, thick without being heavy and full of crunchy extrusions, and it has reached four award finals since 2024.
Restaurants22
Heron★
Destination · Restaurant · Leith · $$$$
booking essential
The Good Food Guide calls the canapes flawless: a nori cup of langoustine with tart plum and pressed cucumber, and a croustade of gribiche with Arbroath smokie.
DogstarMichelinnew
Solid · Restaurant · Leith · $$$
book ahead
James Murray earned a Michelin star working at Timberyard, then took a pub that had stood empty five years and put twenty-six seats in it.
ArdfernBib
Solid · Restaurant · Leith · $$
book ahead
Roberta Hall-McCarron's second Leith room cooks fourteen hours a day, seven days a week, which almost nothing at Bib Gourmand level does.
The Fishmarket
Solid · Restaurant · Leith · $$
book ahead
The fishmonger who supplies this kitchen trades out of the unit next door on the same pier, and the same firm sells to The Kitchin.
The Ship on the Shore?
Solid · Seafood · Leith · $$$
book ahead
Tom Kitchin sends people here for one bowl: cullen skink, smoked haddock, and his own kitchen at home cannot match it.
MIRIN
Solid · Asian-influenced small plates · Leith · $$
booking essential
This kitchen ran a broth for over sixty hours a batch, and then stopped, because the guide says the watching "eventually took its toll."
Restaurant Martin Wishart★
Solid · Restaurant · Leith · $$$$
booking essential
Gigha halibut arrives with kohlrabi remoulade, compressed cucumber and a caviar sauce, and the Good Food Guide's inspector called that dish "genuinely inspired".
The Kitchin★
Solid · Restaurant · Leith · $$$$
booking essential
The Good Food Guide had begun to find the cooking "somewhat predictable (if not complacent)" and reports that a recent lunch showed "a renewed sense of energy and vitality."
Nauticus
Solid · Bar · Leith · $$
book ahead
Kyle and Iain built the drinks list around Scottish producers and then arranged it by what Leith actually shipped, so tea and spice, gin, sherry and whisky each get a chapter of the menu.
Barry FishMichelin
Solid · Restaurant · Leith · $$
book ahead
Barry Bryson cooked Edinburgh pop-ups for years, so the menu here is the shortlist of everything that worked.
Dulse EdinburghMichelin
Solid · Restaurant · Leith · $$$
book ahead
Two rooms, one name, and the Michelin listing belongs to this one.
The Little ChartroomMichelin
Solid · Restaurant · Leith · $$$
booking essential
A chef with two MICHELIN stars eats here and gives one ordering instruction: get the game.
Bittersweet leith
Solid · Bar · Leith · $$
walk-in
Two of its bartenders have placed in national competitions in three years, and the bar ferments its own mead and kombucha for the drinks.
EleanoreMichelin
Solid · Restaurant · Leith · $$$
book ahead
It sits in the 2026 MICHELIN guide at selected standing, and Time Out puts a meal here at around GBP 75 a head.
Valvona & Crolla
Solid · Provisions · Leith · $$
walk-in
Scotland's oldest wine merchant has been open in the same Elm Row building since 1934, and it holds a Royal Warrant from the late Queen.
Pierinos
Listed · Fish and chips · Leith · $
walk-in
Perino and Lucia Crolla opened this counter in 1983 as The Tally Tower Fish & Chicken Bar, named for the Martello tower in Leith Docks, and renamed it after the first refit in the early nineties.
La Cimejust added
Listed · Restaurant · Leith · $$
book ahead
Anne Quintin's family in the Lozère butcher a whole pig every January, and the pâté on her counter comes off the recipe in their notebook.
DùthchasMichelin?
Listed · Modern Scottish tasting menu · Leith · $$$$
booking essential
Six tables on Great Junction Street, and the Gaelic name means the bond between people, animals, land and sea.
Pizza Geeks?
Listed · Pizza · Leith · $
book ahead
The founders call this room The Tardis, because their first one had no space and this one seats about forty.
Alby's Leith
Listed · Restaurant · Leith · $
walk-in
Every sandwich comes on focaccia and the fillings change week to week, so order what is on the board today rather than what you read about.
Cilantro
Listed · Restaurant · Leith · $$
walk-in
Named Best Bangladeshi in Scotland, on a roster that gave Best Indian to Ignite.
The Walnut
Listed · Restaurant · Leith · $$
book ahead
This one-room Leith Walk bistro lets you bring your own bottle.
Craft beer1
Lost in Leith
Listed · Craft beer bar and barrel-ageing room · Leith · $$
walk-in
Three ten-hectolitre oak foeders stand at the back of the archway, bought new from a cooperage near Cognac because the second-hand ones were the wrong size and came with a waiting list.
Pubs & cask6
Dreadnought Leith
Solid · Cask ale and cider pub · Leith · $
walk-in
Four cask lines, and the branch that surveyed the bar in February 2026 found no regular beer on any of them.
Malt & Hops?
Solid · Cask ale pub · Leith · $
walk-in
Fresh hop bines go up in the ceiling every harvest, and the cask list is written on the mirror behind the bar.
Teuchters Landing
Solid · Pub · Leith · $$
walk-in
The Scottish Bar & Pub Awards named it 2024's Best Drinks Offering, and SLTN gave it Best Outdoor Area the same year.
Brass Monkey Leith
Listed · Pub · Leith · $$
book ahead
A pint of Cross Borders Heavy off the regular pump, and the bar runs to one in the morning.
The King's Wark
Listed · Pub · Leith · $$
book ahead
The building went up as a storehouse and armoury for James I, and it has been a plague house and a wine merchant since.
Port O' Leithjust added
Temp closed · Pub · Leith · $
Shut on 3 May 2026, and the lease was still being advertised three months later.
Whisky2
The Mother Superiorjust added
Solid · Whisky bar · Leith · $$
walk-in
In 2025 this bar was one of four shortlisted for Scotland's Whisky Bar of the Year, and it lost to a pub that has been open since 1897.
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, The Vaults
Listed · Members whisky bar · Leith · $$$
book ahead
The Society's founding syndicate paid GBP 50,000 for this old J&G Thomson bonded wine warehouse in 1983, and the door has taken members and their guests ever since.
Cocktails2
Roseleaf bar cafe
Listed · All-day bar food and cocktails · Leith · $$
book ahead
The bar that serves cocktails out of teapots got its Netflix moment for a bowl of Cullen skink.
Mara?
Listed · Wine bar and small plates · Leith · $$
book ahead
The crew behind a nearby sports bar wrote this room a wine list that runs to orange and natural.
Coffee2
Artisan Roast Leith Walk?
Listed · Specialty coffee · Leith · $
walk-in
The roaster that started Scottish specialty in 2007 now rests coffee in a whisky cask for a month before it sells it.
Williams & Johnson Coffee Co.
Listed · Coffee · Leith · $
walk-in
Zack Williams and Todd Johnson roast on a single roaster beside the Leith waterfront, in the same building they serve from.
Producers1
The Port of Leith Distillery?
Solid · Single malt distillery, tours and a top-floor whisky bar · Leith · $$
book ahead
Nine storeys and forty metres of distillery, because the plot they could get was too small to lay one out flat.
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