eating alone

Solid · Restaurant · Leith · $$$

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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.

Solid · Whisky bar · Edinburgh · $$

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Colin Hinds cooked for thirty years, then stage 4 throat and neck cancer took the job away, and he planned this bar from a chemotherapy chair.

Solid · Restaurant · Leith · $$

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Roberta Hall-McCarron's second Leith room cooks fourteen hours a day, seven days a week, which almost nothing at Bib Gourmand level does.

Solid · Restaurant · Abbeyhill · $$$

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Wine by the glass here comes out of a bag-in-box, and the staff decant it into its own small carafe at the table, so a six-pound pour arrives with the ritual normally kept for a bottle.

Solid · Asian-influenced small plates · Leith · $$

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This kitchen ran a broth for over sixty hours a batch, and then stopped, because the guide says the watching "eventually took its toll."

Solid · Restaurant · New Town · $$$

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It opened on Howe Street in November 2024 from a partnership including Stuart McCluskey of the Bon Vivant group, and within a year The Scotsman's critic had it among her picks of forty-three new rooms.

Solid · Restaurant · New Town · $$

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One dessert, miso and chocolate, has been singled out by a critic in 2019, by the Michelin Inspector in 2025 and by a reviewer again in 2025, which is six years of a kitchen repeating itself on purpose.

Solid · Bar · Leith · $$

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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.

Listed · Restaurant · New Town · $$

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Michelin added this room in an April 2026 monthly round rather than at the ceremony, so it is in the 2026 guide without appearing in the guide's February roster.