The Fishmarket.

The Fishmarket

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.

Why go

Roy Brett was Rick Stein's head chef before he opened Ondine, and in May 2018 he and Gary Welch put a fish restaurant into a building raised from scratch on the ground of the 19th-century fish market at Newhaven Pier.5 Boats have landed here for 500 years and the market still works, which is what Welch's access is built on: local lobster and crab boats, creeled langoustines out of Tobermory, hand-dived scallops from Mull, and cockles, clams and razors gathered along the east coast, filleted in house by people who do it for a living.6 The kitchen names the late Alastair Little's keep-it-simple cookbook as its working brief and cooks everything to order, at the counter or at the table. The room splits in two: a tiled dining room with well-spaced tables, oysters and a la plancha section, and a traditional fish and chip counter running alongside it.3

Order this / avoid

• Order: haddock and chips. Andy Hayler scored it 14 out of 20, calling the haddock nicely cooked and having crisp batter, with reasonably crisp chips.3 It is also the specific thing Tom Kitchin comes for, and Gaby Soutar finished hers down to the finest scrap of batter and the runtiest of chips.2
• Order: the breaded scampi, which Hayler rated at least as highly as the haddock because the kitchen uses much larger langoustine tails than you would encounter in regular pub scampi.3 Those are the Tobermory creel tails arriving through the shop next door.
• Order: the half-shell diver scallop under wild garlic butter. Soutar had it as a huge clodhopping beast... with a coral the size of a child's clog, and half a native east coast lobster alongside it.2
• Order: the lemon posset with the lemon madeleines, served warm. Hayler went in expecting nothing and wrote I was genuinely shocked by how good this dessert was, scoring it 15 out of 20, higher than anything savory he ate.3
• Avoid: the vegetable sides and the cold starters. On the same 2022 meal the hispi cabbage was wildly overcooked with just a little green cabbage left in the centre; it was basically inedible and should never have left the kitchen, and the prawn cocktail came in at barely 11 out of 20 with a bland Marie Rose.3

What locals & experts say

• Tom Kitchin, chef-patron of The Kitchin (February 2025): asked by the Sky News Money blog where a chef eats well for under GBP 40, he named this one. I really enjoy The Fishmarket, down by the Newhaven harbour in Edinburgh. They offer classic fish and chips, done incredibly well, which you can either enjoy in the restaurant or to take away. He buys from the fishmonger next door, which is worth knowing when reading the recommendation.1
• Tom Kitchin again (The Relisher, August 2026), and this time he explains the mechanism rather than just naming the shop. The genius of it is that you can sit in. You can have oysters, langoustine and chips, lobster and chips, all sorts of crazy fish things, in this really nice rustic environment where it's all about the joy of food. He points past the haddock to turbot, halibut, cod and scampi, notes you can order a glass of champagne with any of it, and calls the result A champagne fish-and-chip shop: it's completely broken the mold.7
• Gaby Soutar, The Scotsman (June 2018): her verdict ran as the standfirst, Get along to The Fishmarket for the best fish and chips in Edinburgh. On the battered Peterhead starters, a rust-coloured cladding that was crunchy and well seasoned, with the monkfish perfectly silky, unblemished by a frazzling in oil.2
• Andy Hayler (October 2022), the dissent, and it is worth reading: the fullest published account of a meal here, scored dish by dish, and the summary is split. This was an erratic meal, with good fish and chips and a genuinely good posset, but some really poor elements alongside those dishes. If you come here then stick to the fish and chips and save room for the posset, based on this meal.3 He noted the kitchen's own honesty too, since the failed cabbage came off the bill without anyone asking.
• Harden's (2025): diners call it worth a ride on the tram, say the place is very busy with limited tables, and one who found the takeaway was the only possibility reports that it was worth the long queue for the excellent fish and chips even in the winter chill.4
• Lonely Planet, Best in Travel 2019: named one of the ten Best New Food Experiences in the world, in the first edition of that guidebook to carry restaurant listings at all, alongside Noma in Copenhagen.5
• Local rec: Jeff saved this one as a chef recommendation for seafood. The chef is Tom Kitchin, quoted above.

Good to know

• Two ways in, one door. The dining room takes bookings and serves the oysters, the plancha and the champagne; the fish and chip counter alongside runs its own queue. Decide which one you are doing before you set off, because the queue belongs to the other one.
• Booking: worth it for the dining room. Harden's diners keep hitting the limited-tables problem and ending up at the counter.
• Timing: Harden's records it trading through the day, seven days a week. Confirm the current hours with the restaurant.
• Price: a fish supper ran GBP 10 to 12 across three sizes in 2018, with GBP 1 for extra sauces. In 2022 Andy Hayler put three courses with a modest bottle at around GBP 50 a head, and his own bill at GBP 69 with champagne between two.
• Drinking: a short list of 23 wines, GBP 20 to 70, median GBP 28, at an average 2.5 times high-street retail. For a seafood restaurant that is a mild markup. Harden's puts a current bottle at GBP 26.50 and service at 10 percent.
• Outside: picnic seating on the wooden boardwalk and a terrace, which is the reason to come on a clear day. Soutar noted in 2018 that the gulls had not found it yet.
• Hygiene: Food Hygiene Information Scheme Pass, inspected 11 May 2026. About three months old, so the register is genuinely current about these premises.
• Getting there: Newhaven harbor, on Pier Place, out past Leith at the far end of the tram line and a short walk from the terminus. This is the furthest venue in this Edinburgh guide from the city center, and the harbor is part of what you are going for.

Jeff's take (his words)

• Note: "Chef rec for seafood"
• Which chef: he did not write the name down. The match is Tom Kitchin, who named this exact counter as his own cheap eat in February 2025. That identification is ours, not Jeff's.

Verdict

should-visit — A fishmonger opened a restaurant beside his own shop, and the shop supplies The Kitchin. That is the argument, and the supply line is about four meters long. Behind it sits a working harbour: 500 years of landings at Newhaven, creeled langoustines from Tobermory, hand-dived scallops off Mull, cockles and razors gathered along the east coast, and Roy Brett, Rick Stein's former head chef, cooking it to order at the counter. Tom Kitchin, who buys from the same firm, names this as where he goes for a cheap meal on a night off, which is a starred chef pointing at a fryer. Gaby Soutar's Scotsman review said the fish and chips were the best in the city, and Andy Hayler's scored visit puts the haddock and the langoustine scampi at 14 out of 20 each with a surprised 15 for the posset. It stops short of the top rung because the same meal produced an inedible cabbage and an under-seasoned prawn cocktail, and because nothing scored has been published since 2022. Order narrowly and it is very good. Order widely and it is erratic.