Hey Palu
Alex and Rachel Palumbo opened this Bread Street room in 2019 around amaro and aperitivo, and two of the city's best-known bartenders now send people here when the Old Town gets too loud.
Why go
The bar sits at the western end of the Old Town, off the West Port a few minutes' walk up from the Grassmarket. Alex Palumbo's Italian upbringing sets the format: aperitivo first, then modern classics, with a bitter shelf the house builds the list around. It runs to 1am seven nights.
Order this / avoid
- Order: a Negroni. Michele Mariotti, who runs the bars at Gleneagles, orders it here by name and calls the place
perfect for a Negroni (or two)
.1 If you want the house showing off, he also flagsa Nutella Old Fashioned that's pure decadence.
1 - Avoid: turning up late on an August night with no table. The people who told the Scotsman to come here are the same people telling everyone else.
What locals & experts say
- Michele Mariotti, head of bars at Gleneagles (The Scotsman, 2025):
Hey Palu is one of my favourite places. It's still central but just far enough from the chaos.
1 - Mike McGinty, Aberfeldy brand home ambassador and former world champion bartender (The Scotsman, 2025):
If you want to escape the hustle and bustle of the Fringe, Hey Palu is the perfect spot,
ablissful sanctuary
withsome of the best cocktails in town and delicious snacks to keep you going.
1 - Two people in the same trade were asked the same question and named the same bar without conferring, which is the strongest evidence on this page.
Good to know
- Timing: 4pm to 1am, seven days. Check the venue site for exact hours.
- Booking: taken online, and every August it is worth doing well ahead.
- Getting there: roughly ten minutes on foot from the Grassmarket venues, fifteen from Bristo Square.
- Hygiene: Food Hygiene Information Scheme Pass, inspected 29 March 2026.
Jeff's take (his words)
The case for it is Michele Mariotti and Mike McGinty, who both send drinkers here.
Verdict
should-visit — Two of Edinburgh's drinks trade named this bar independently in the same piece, and both framed it the same way: central enough to reach between shows, far enough off the Royal Mile that you can hear yourself. That is a specific and testable claim about a specific problem, and it is worth more in August than a star. The bar is a husband-and-wife room built around aperitivo and amaro, so the cooking is snacks and the drinks are the craft. It does not reach must-visit because the depth is asserted by the house rather than measured by anyone independent, and no critic has scored it in a source this registry accepts.