Edinburgh’s history has always been heavily influenced by fishing, especially in the Leith neighbourhood, which was among the first British ports to accept spices from Asia centuries ago.
In the early 1700s, Leith’s industrial streets were lined with cobblestones and smelt strongly of brine and sea salt. The aroma of both fresh and not-so-fresh fish resting in ice buckets and barrels was also strongly present, along with the bustle of traders and consumers making purchases and deals.
This atmosphere is still present in some parts of the city, such Newhaven, where Welch Fishmongers welcomes dayboats into the harbour on a daily basis, and The Fishmarket (which is actually a restaurant) here, which embraces modern cuisines while preserving old traditions. Their menu, which so aptly captures the setting and period described in the opening paragraph, features curried monkfish with battered haddock and chips. Or should I say, “fins”?
Together with the tradition of Scottish freshwater salmon, which is harvested from one of the nearly 400 rivers that cross the nation like a tartan print, this city’s history makes sense when you consider that Edinburgh has developed into a haven of excellent seafood restaurants over the years, acting as gastronomic reminders of the city’s maritime past.
In an effort to save you time, we’ve taken the time to pinbon and shuck every mackerel and oyster in Auld Reekie. This is our list of the top seafood eateries in Edinburgh.
Oyster Bar White Horse
The Royal Mile in Edinburgh is a well-known thoroughfare that was once used as a parade path for former royal members to march down. It is flanked at one end by Edinburgh Castle and at the other by Holyrood Palace.
A seafood feast fit for a king is also hidden away in what used to be the neighbourhood’s oldest tavern. However, be advised that you won’t be met with a herald’s trumpet blast as soon as you walk into White Horse Oyster Bar. Instead, a gigantic lobster tank that slowly bubbles away while inconspicuous crustaceans scurry around greets you. We are aware of our preference.
The remainder of the space is cosy and small, skilfully fusing contemporary accents with vintage charm. The sleek, jet-black leather seating contrasts sharply with an exposed brick wall, echoing the city’s soul and the seafood served there.
Rolling up your sleeves and displaying your elbows is encouraged at the White Horse, as the meal is meant to be shared and involve all guests.
Allow yourself to get messy fingers as you dive into their legendary sharing platters, which are piled high with flavor-enhancing items like pickled mussels, scotch bonnet salmon (a fruity, spicy kick without overpowering the delicate flavour of the fish), delicate tuna tartare, and octopus marinated for hours in a sauce made with sea herbs to lock in flavour. After all, what grows together, stays together?
You can also enjoy a single dish of oysters, which are brought right to your seat at the pub’s wooden-panelled bar, if you’re more of a lone diner who enjoys taking in the atmosphere without being interrupted. If you’re bringing them in, mine is a Radical Road Pale.
In addition to the required oysters, the crab straw fries—thin, crispy potato batons topped with heaps of sweet crab flesh and dollops of brown crab mayo—are an absolute must-order. Simply beautiful.
All of the seafood served at the restaurant is personally sourced from inside Scotland by a line of specialised suppliers, including Fish Brothers, Mara Seaweed and the previously mentioned Welch Fishmongers, who deliver boxes right to the White Horse door every morning. This guarantees that the produce is perfectly fresh and has the distinct flavour of the sea that all piscivores love.
Ondine
Even though seafood has a long tradition in Edinburgh, Ondine looks farther afield for inspiration.
Although the fish used in this restaurant comes from the historic, centuries-old fishing locations off the coast of Scotland, the cooking methods and flavour profiles of the food defy convention and embrace international influences, giving Ondine a nomadic identity that is in step with the city’s growing multiculturalism.
Head chef Roy Brett, who started his career at The Savoy and later gained experience in prestigious Rick Stein restaurants in Padstow, Cornwall, is the creative force behind Ondine. Now that he’s settled in Edinburgh, he offers diners a seafood-based gastronomic journey throughout the globe.
One example of this is the menu’s blandly labelled “fish and shellfish soup,” a simple meal that uses orange and saffron to embrace the aromas of Marseilles via North Africa. The restaurant’s salt and pepper squid also gets a boost from a Vietnamese-inspired dipping sauce of lime, ginger, and chilli.
While Ondine does serve excellent British meats (the mains section does have a hint to a bone-in sirloin), what really draws customers in are their amazing seafood platters served on crunchy crushed ice. This particular diner would go into Pavlov mode at the sound of that ice slowly granulating as you glide the first shell over it (what, you don’t do that?).
The restaurant’s support columns are ornamented with grey-scale tiles that resemble fish scales glistening in the sunshine beneath the sea, while the interior of Ondine is decorated with mirrors shaped like portholes. While Heston’s “Sound of the Sea” palaver is less effective in creating a feeling of mise en scene, this one is undoubtedly more evocative.
As of 2021, Ondine has won the Best Restaurant in Scotland title at the Estrella Damm National Restaurant Awards, so you can expect a seafood restaurant that will fulfil all of your cravings. Of course, if such wants are related to dinner!
Leith Fishers
For more than twenty years, the Fishers brand has been closely associated with fresh fish in the Scottish capital. Currently, three locations provide their delicious offerings.
The best of the lot is the original location in Leith. Situated on the seaside in a 17th-century watchtower with striking harbour views, you may feast on traditional Scottish seafood specialities like the highly regarded Shetland mussels and Anstruther smoked salmon while taking in the softly shimmering water.
During the warmer months, you may even sit alfresco and take in the bustle of the port while allowing the sea wind and salty air to enhance your culinary experience. Have we mentioned Heston’s “sound of the sea” yet? You see what I mean?
Fishers takes pleasure in providing a laid-back, friendly atmosphere because it doesn’t want to frighten away the working-class customers who have constituted the bulk of its customer base over the years. The façade maintains its simplicity with a traditional colour palette that borders on parody. It uses the same mix of navy blue and white as a cartoon sailor’s blouse.
The interior is significantly more elegant and tasteful, with marble dining rooms and a quaint backboard that features the day’s offers written in a rushed hand. However, the enormous mermaid figure that hangs over the bar helps it to retain its attractiveness. If we may say so, we think she’s kind of hot.
Anyway, let’s not stray from the topic—we arrived hungry. This dish has Shetland Coley marinated in spices and cooked in a creamy coconut stew with tamarind, accompanied by king prawn bhajis. Does that sound good? Proceed and have the soothing green harissa seabass accompanied with baba ganoush and pistachio dukkah, which provides a vivid and earthy contrast to the main course. Simply beautiful.
Cadiz
The goal of Cadiz, which takes its name from a well-known Spanish fishing city that is also home to one of the largest freshwater fishing markets in Europe, is to capture the spirit of the historic market town while also honouring its robust Iberian tastes.
From the moment you are shown to your table, it becomes clear that Cadiz—both the town and the restaurant—celebrate Spanish seafood. Exposed brick walls, muted leather chairs, and whimsical paintings of lobsters contrast with the venue’s elegant, intricately carved ceiling beams.
Spanish staples, mussels and mull scallops, are strongly featured on the menu. They were naturally caught in Scottish waters, but they were given a Mediterranean touch that diners couldn’t get enough of. Making reservations in advance is highly advised.
Recently established, Cadiz has already developed a cult following because to its Cumbrae oysters, which come in two varieties: a spicy chilli, soy, and pickled ginger option that is a personal favourite of ours, or an acidic lemon, sherry vinegar, and shallot sauce.
Continue after that; the braised chorizo, chilli, saffron, and tomatoes paired with the Shetland mussels will transport your taste buds to the southwest of Spain.
Return to Scotland, where the seafood arroz—a platter of prawns, calamari, and mussels—is undoubtedly the highlight dish. It is served over hearty, flavourful braised rice. At under £18, it’s a terrific bargain; just don’t call it paella.
The chef’s table, a secret space set apart from the main restaurant, offers a more personal experience if the bustle of the bar and dining room is a little too much for you. Up to 14 customers can experience a more intimate relationship with the food here as you can see the chefs in action.
You will be well-fed here, wherever you decide to eat.
Fyne Loch
We’re all aware with the Loch Fyne franchise; the seafood experts currently have six locations nationwide (but regrettably, a few of them have closed due to increasingly unsettling times). Nevertheless, we believe that the Edinburgh performance is especially unique.
Located in a stunning former fish market near Newhaven Harbour, the setting seems perfect for some of the most meticulously prepared seafood in Edinburgh. It’s a great place for customers who wish to enjoy a side order of heritage with their haddock because the structure dates back to the 1890s.
With its exposed, dusty red bricked walls, Lock Fyne’s interior has an industrial vibe, as one might expect from an old market hall. With light wooden floors and furnishings that brightens the space, the high ceilings of this venue create a great sense of spaciousness.
The restaurant is also elegantly furnished with images of Loch Fyne, fittingly named after the Loch from where the majority of the product is from and where founders Johnny Noble and Andy Lane first handpicked their oysters almost fifty years ago.
As lovers of oysters, Johnny and Andy used to sell the oysters they collected from improvised shacks located along Scotland’s west coast. The flagship venue is now this location in Edinburgh, and long may it stay that way.
Here, the star component is served with little fanfare or fuss—the oysters do most of the work—and with an optional side of wasabi or soy and ginger sauce to bring out the flavour. This method gives you a complete flavour of the ocean’s diversity while allowing the desired briny taste to emerge when you slurp on the mollusc’s velvety meat.
Additionally, Lock Fyne Oysters LTD, a reputable business, provides responsibly produced golden-shelled mussels that are quite lovely. Additionally, if you place an order at the bar, you may accompany your meal with crisp alternatives like Muscadet or sparkling white wines like Joseph Perrier champagne, which have the effect of being intended for slurping the best ingredient from the ocean.
Fin and Grape
Fin & Grape is a seafood restaurant for sophisticated diners that opened in late 2020. Situated in the Edinburgh neighbourhood of Merchiston, it’s a great place for residents to try some delectable seafood and gives visitors wishing to venture outside of the city’s centre a feel of what’s in store.
Fin & Grape features a seasonal menu designed by skilled chef Stuart Smith, which highlights the chef’s passion for grilled seafood. The majority of the meals are made on a Japanese Konro BBQ, which gives the food an unmatched smoky flavour and texture.
Smith is not a chef who likes to mess around and experiment with a wide variety of foods. Rather, he prefers to keep things simple. His favourite ingredient is salt, which he uses to bring out the rich flavour that the fish itself contains.
Due to the restaurant’s seasonal menu, which keeps things fresh and interesting all year round, you can be certain that every dish is made with care and fresh ingredients, utilising whatever is in season. When dining at the appropriate time, you can enjoy a variety of dishes that are enriched and reinvented by the use of smoke and flame, such as cod mousse, hake croquettes, and line-caught mackerel.
There is a selection of small snacks and a la carte plates available, and the foods are meant to be shared among friends. Even though the dining room is, to use the estate agent’s kind words, “cosy,” the big windows that let you see into the surrounding greenery give the room a feeling of spaciousness. It also feels cosy because of the dark blue trimmings and copper hanging lights, which create a lovely atmosphere without drawing attention away from the food on the plate.
Fin & Grape was one of only two Scottish restaurants to be included on the Good Food Platinum List in 2021, largely due to the food served there. We are eager to return.