Restaurants, Fish & seafood, "Edinburgh"

Sushiya is Edinburgh’s bite-sized taste of Tokyo, as tiny, bright and inviting as the futo maki sushi. With only 25 covers it is undeniably small, but the stylish, minimalist interior keeps the feel spacious even when it’s busy and there’s a steady…

Mussels are the good guys of the fishies-on-dishies world, being cheap, plentiful, sustainable (and fun to eat with the pinchy shell-grabby thing). The Mussel Inn makes the most of this, with a casual wallet-and-stomach pleasing experience. Dive…

Named after a mythological maiden who died of heartache on the Bay of Naples, La Partenope offers a taste of Napoli on Dalry Road. This family restaurant is operated by a sibling trio: chef Paolo creates magnificent dishes, brother Renato is the…

The Loch Fyne Restaurants – a separately owned business from the operation at Cairndow in Argyll that famously began in 1988 as a roadside oyster shack – now operates 42 sites across the UK. The Edinburgh branch, the only member of the chain based in…

Edinburgh still has its tucked-away places, the neighbourhood joints quietly making loyal locals’ tummies happy week after week. Sweet Melindas is one such place. It’s the front room of a tenement so it feels like you’re stepping into someone’s home.

Fish just tastes better when you eat it by water – a fact The Shore’s branch of Fishers has made the most of for over 20 years. This is a classic bistro: busy, buzzy, not particularly trend-led (and all the better for it). It’s hard to think of an…

If you want to make a night of the Cameo, head here first or – probably better – afterwards for good chat fuelled by good food. The bright Eastern-inspired décor is a talking point in itself, but the comprehensive and colourful Japanese menu will soon…

Popular with tourists, shoppers and business people, the ‘up the toon’ branch of Fishers aims to offer something for everyone and mostly succeeds. The menu is a game of two halves: Fishers classics focus on comfort food like fish-cakes, fish and chips…

Nothing can make you feel more cheated than a bad chippy. All it takes is fresh cooking, clean oil, a crisp chip and a grown-up attitude to sourcing: all boxes the Newington Fish Bar ticks. Cod and haddock still slip into the fryer, but Fish of the Week…

If you are a lover of both wine and jazz, then Whighams has pretty much got it covered. Their Sunday-night jams and monthly wine-tasting events are in with the West End bricks, occasions suitably enhanced by the bar’s candlelit cellar atmosphere. The…

The original Edinburgh posh chippie, opened by a partner in the famed Anstruther Fish Bar, the Tailend coined a format that is gathering pace across the country. Don’t expect silver cutlery and napkin-flicking – the takeaway box of haddock, chips and…

Bonsai Bar Bistro provides a clear rebuttal to the notion that Japanese cuisine in the UK is expensive and exclusive. The small but perfectly formed restaurant is known for its welcoming atmosphere and has a wide-ranging menu that offers something for…

An up-to-date review of Maxies will appear here shortly …

Opened in 1863 with the contemporary style of elegant Parisian hostelries in mind, and formerly housed in a forty-years-older building (now demolished) across the way, the Cafe Royal Circle Bar's aesthetic of murals, marble, wood panelling and long…

For a Ship that's firmly anchored to the Shore, albeit just a clam shell's lob from the Water of Leith, this is a properly nautical experience. Admiralty charts serve as wallpaper, oars hang from the ceiling and blackboards at every turn list the…

Iggy Campos pioneered Spanish fine dining in Edinburgh with the eponymous Iggs back in 1989, and though its heyday may have come and gone, it remains a stalwart on Jeffrey Street. That’s not to say Iggs is stuck in the past: a 2012 visit from Channel…