The Palmerston
The Good Food Guide:
Lloyd Morse's kitchen takes a resolutely nose-to-tail approach, showcasing his deep love of Italian and French cuisine.1
Why go
In practice that means Guinness-battered Gigha oysters with chilli mayo, braised leg of wild rabbit cooked Spanish-style with pancetta, manzanilla, artichokes and almonds, and a weekend special of chicken combs, gizzards and hearts skewered and grilled over charcoal with a parfait crostini. The room is a former bank with original marble, soaring ceilings and huge slender windows, and the guide calls it upbeat and run with personal charm.1 The Good Food Guide also ranked it 36th in Britain's 100 Best Local Restaurants for 2026, one of four Edinburgh entries.2 Jake Missing scored it 8.5 for The Infatuation and put the credit on the bakery and the European cooking; Time Out ranked it third in the city in February 2026 after eating mackerel with artichokes and a pork and prune terrine.43 It opened in 2021.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the pain suisse. Conde Nast Traveller called it the perennial favourite at the counter in 2024,
with its intricate layers of dough that crisp on the outside and go soft in the centre.
5 - Order: the offal if it is on. The guide names the charcoal-grilled chicken combs, gizzards and hearts as the weekend special that shows what the kitchen is for.1
- Order: three courses. The Times names the full-course format as the thing that sets this room apart in Edinburgh.6
- Avoid: rolling up after 11am hoping to sit in with a coffee and a pastry. Conde Nast Traveller reported the bakery counter goes takeaway-only at that point.5
What locals & experts say
- The Good Food Guide, on the bakery: it
produces exceptional bread, as well as pastries,
with desserts including apricot and almond tart and elderflower panna cottahighly praised.
It also notes the baris usually the only place you'll get a seat without a booking.
1 - Jake Missing, The Infatuation (November 2025), 8.5:
The Palmerston in West End is one of Edinburgh's most-loved restaurants thanks to its in-house bakery and moreish European cooking.
4 - The Times, via the Edinburgh Evening News (April 2025), best for seasonal Scottish ingredients, and on the format:
a destination restaurant where one can have three heartily portioned courses instead of ten tiny ones.
6 - Stuart Ralston, MICHELIN Guide (August 2025):
Then we'd head for some incredible food. Somewhere like The Palmerston or Heron.
7 - The Good Food Guide (July 2026): 36th in Britain's 100 Best Local Restaurants.2
- MICHELIN Guide, 2026: selected, no distinction.8
Good to know
- Hours: Time Out had it open Tuesday to Friday 9am to 2.30pm and 6 to 9.45pm, Saturday to 9.30pm, Sunday 9am to 3.30pm, closed Mondays, at its February 2026 update.3
- Booking: recommended. The guide says the bar is where the walk-in seats are.
- Drinks: local Newbarns beers, a whisky shelf, a signature coffee Negroni, and an Old World-leaning wine list with about a dozen by the glass.1
- Price: nobody publishes a band.
- Hygiene: Food Hygiene Information Scheme Pass, inspected 31 March 2026, FHRSID 1394577. Four months old, and the only food business registered at the address.9
- Getting there: 1 Palmerston Place is at the West End end of Palmerston Place, five minutes' walk from Haymarket.
Verdict
must-visit — Lloyd Morse cooks a resolutely nose-to-tail carte in a converted West End bank, and the Good Food Guide's inspector describes it running from Guinness-battered Gigha oysters with chilli mayo to a weekend special of chicken combs, gizzards and hearts skewered over charcoal. Five separate juries agree on the place: the guide ranked it 36th in Britain's 100 Best Local Restaurants for 2026, Time Out puts it third in the city, the Infatuation scores it 8.5, MICHELIN has it selected for 2026, and Stuart Ralston names it as where he would take an out-of-towner. The in-house bakery is not a sideline, and the pain suisse is the thing to get. No published price band is the one real gap. It is a Go-to class at the top rung, which is deliberate: this is not a starred room, and that is exactly why the recommendation is worth making.