Chennai's Marina
Peter Simpson of The Skinny read the menu's chilli marking as a warning, and when this kitchen says two chillies it means two chillies.
Why go
It is South Indian and Sri Lankan cooking at takeaway prices in a sit-down room, and the man who runs it says where the spices come from. Company director Sannah Aron's own account: I use spices and ingredients from south India and Sri Lanka, where some of my family are from, to make it more authentic.
2 The Clerk Street premises opened in August 2023, three years into a business that began on Dalry Road, and the specialities the kitchen lists for itself run to kothu parotta, chicken 65, crab curry, prawn gassi and lamb ularthiyathu.4 Most of the menu sits under £15.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the kothu parotta. Shredded griddled flatbread worked with curry and egg is the dish that marks this kitchen as Sri Lankan rather than generically south Indian, and it is on the venue's own shortlist of what it does.
- Order: a dosa, or the crab curry when it is on.
- Avoid: treating the chilli marks as decoration. Peter Simpson's line is the whole caveat:
When Chennai's Marina say 'two chillies', trust and believe them.
1 - Avoid: carrying another branch's reputation to this door. Four Edinburgh premises use versions of this name and their hygiene ratings differ.
What locals & experts say
- Peter Simpson, Deputy Editor, The Skinny (2026): in a 60-venue city guide published in July 2026,
The Sri Lankan restaurant bring the heat to their curries, along with mountains of flavour.
His entry prints both the Clerk Street and Dalry Road addresses, so it covers this room explicitly.1 - Nation's Curry Awards (2025): South Indian Restaurant of the Year, reported by the Edinburgh Evening News in February 2026, naming Dalry Road, Clerk Street and Montagu Terrace. This is the award that covers this address. The organising body could not be identified in any source read here, so the win is reported and its standing is open.6
- Asian Catering Federation, Asian Curry Awards (2022): Takeaway of the Year, decided by public vote, and won in November 2022 when the business traded from Dalry Road and Jocks Lodge. This room did not exist yet, and the award is recorded as the business's rather than this premises'.
- A checked negative on the criticism: exactly one independent judgment on this food exists, the one quoted above. Gaby Soutar has not reviewed it.
Good to know
- Hygiene, and it is current: the premises holds a Food Hygiene Information Scheme rating of Improvement Required, which is the failing grade of the Scottish scheme, from a City of Edinburgh inspection on 9 June 2026. No re-rating was pending as at 3 August 2026, so that is the rating in force and it is under two months old. The other three premises this business trades from hold different ratings, and none of them changes this one.
- Timing: open through the day, closing around 22:30 Sunday to Thursday and 23:30 on Friday and Saturday. Clerk Street trades on Mondays; it is the Montagu Terrace branch that does not.
- Booking: no policy is published anywhere, so walk in. Collection and delivery both run.
- Price: roughly £3.99 to £19 across the menu, with most of it under £15.
- Getting there: 54 Clerk Street, in the Southside. Summerhall is the nearest landmark at about 340 metres, and George Square is about 490.
Jeff's take (his words)
The case for it is one line from Peter Simpson at The Skinny and prices no comparable Edinburgh kitchen matches, set against the June 2026 hygiene inspection above.
Verdict
could-visit — A cheap South Indian and Sri Lankan kitchen sits on Clerk Street, and the heat marking there means what it says. The Skinny's deputy editor put it plainly, that when this restaurant says two chillies you should believe them, and credited the curries with mountains of flavor alongside the heat, which is the one independent judgment on this food anywhere. The provenance is stated by the operator: spices and ingredients from south India and Sri Lanka, where some of his family are from. Against that sit two things a reader needs. The premises currently holds Improvement Required, the failing tier of the Scottish hygiene scheme, from an inspection eight weeks old, and the awards this business carries mostly belong to other branches or to years before this room existed. It is a could-visit: good value, real regional cooking, and a caveat that has to travel with it.