Best places to eat and drink: eat one steak, get one free

Here are the restaurants and bars, cafés and food festivals on our radar at the moment. We’ll update the list regularly, so make sure you save this page. And please let us know your personal favourites in the comments section below. We’re always looking for new places to eat and drink.
If you’re sad the Fringe is over then cheer yourself up at Innis & Gunn’s taproom on Lothian Road, Edinburgh, where you get a chef’s starter, a glass of The Original beer and steak frites made with 35-day dry-aged Scottish steak, garlic butter fries and The Original steak sauce for £19.95. The fries are bottomless and you can have another portion of steak free of charge should you so fancy it. The deal is also available in the Glasgow city centre and West End taprooms.Details innisandgunn.com
Sri Lankan sarnies in the south side? Yes please. Kofi Kade has opened on Cathcart Road, Glasgow, offering authentic Sri Lankan sandwiches and hot drinks. We love the look of the Galle (£8) made with devilled chicken and served on sourdough; the Kandy (£8.50) made with curried grilled cheese steak served with homemade chilli sauce and toasted bread; or the Negombo (£9), made with curry prawns and tatties, homemade mayonnaise, pomegranate seeds and homemade pickled onions. Rukshan Weeraratne, the owner, decided he wanted to showcase the flavours of his home country — and on its Instagram page you can learn about the origins of the food. Everything is halal too and there are vegetarian options. Details 635 Cathcart Rd @kofikade
If you’re getting off a train at Glasgow Central station and fancy something delicious, then head to Yum Yum Chicken, which has just opened on the corner of Gordon Street and West Nile Street where Bing Bang Bosh used to preside. The soft-launch menu focuses on chicken in all its forms — hot wings, fried on the bone, tenders, burgers — but also has other specials, such as dirty fries served with grated cheese, crispy bacon bits, chopped tenders and Cajun seasoning. Details Instagram: @yumyumchicken.gla
On the Black Isle, the refurbished Newhall Mains hotel has reopened its restaurant with a new chef, Alex Henderson, at the helm. Henderson, originally from Inverness and previously at the three AA rosette Torridon, will serve a regularly changing menu focusing on vegetables, Scottish seafood and whole-fish cuisine. He’ll also be using ingredients foraged from the Newhall Mains estate, with highlights including venison tartare with egg yolk, a garden herb and artichoke gnocchi, and Hebridean scallops, served with apple and fennel. Details newhall-mains.com
Don’t say we’re not in tune with our readers, as we bring news of the one thing missing from your drinks cabinet: a £25,000 bottle of whisky. Released by Loch Lomond distillery, the 50-year-old whisky has been matured in American oak and bourbon hogshead casks, then finished in oloroso sherry casks. The result? Well, our bottle’s still in the post, but industry insiders say the new whisky has a light, tropical flavour with notes of white flesh fruits, citrus, creamy vanilla and woody spice. They’ve only released 100 bottles — what on earth are you waiting for?Details lochlomondwhiskies.com
Leith’s fine-dining restaurant ASKR by Dan Ashmore has launched a new à la carte menu. Available throughout August alongside its tasting menu, the à la carte option sticks to the restaurant’s coal-fired cooking ethos, using seasonal ingredients bought locally such as Orkney scallops with borlotti beans and ’nduja (£19) and “day boat fish” with mussels and gnocchi (£30). The showstopper dish is a whole lobster aged in wagyu fat (£65). A set lunch with three courses featuring “beetroot cooked in yesterday’s coal” is also available for £35pp. Details askr.co.uk
The Edinburgh favourite Civerinos has quietly opened its latest venue, in Stockbridge. Inspired by The Sopranos, the menu will offer northeast America’s finest pizza: from New York slices to crispy Detroit-style and Chicago deep-dish.
We’ve got our eye on their New Haven-style pizza: chewy, charred and cut into squares, its topped with pecorino romano rather than mozzarella. Only a limited number of each pizza will be available, due to how long the dough takes to make. Toppings range from from black olives, anchovies and parsley to simple mushrooms and truffle oil.
There’s also Caesar salad, cracked wheat and salted almonds salad and artichoke salads, and sides such as truffle and parmesan fries and gnocchi, and a scoop of tiramisu for dessert. Details civerinos.com
Looking for a party? It’s in Downstairs at Betty’s, a New York-style singalong piano and cocktail bar that has moved to Edinburgh from Lisbon.
Newly opened on Charlotte Lane by the musical theatre actor and fine artist Matt Colagiuri, the bar is named after his grandmother who would gather the family around the piano for holiday singalongs in her downstairs den.
The bar’s seating allows guests to decide how involved they want to be, and its cocktail menu features drinks based on sustainability and minimising waste. Try out the brilliantly named Naked, Famous and Regretful, made with vegan-butter-washed Pensador mezcal, Aperol, Liqueur de Grandmont and super lime. Details @bettys.edinburgh
Newly opened Merchant City in Glasgow, Poko Loko is a taco and tequila bar taking up the former residence of the Pavement café. The team behind it wants to create a Mexican street-food market vibe — and it’s hard to miss with its bright pink frontage and colourful interiors.
The curated cocktail menu focuses on tequila and mezcal, with cocktails starting at £9.50 and a food menu offering vegan chilli, pulled chicken tinga and pulled pork carnitas tacos at £10 for three or £3.75 each. There’s also Mexican fried chicken starting at £3.50, and street snacks with tortilla chips and guacamole. Details @pokolokoglasgow
In Speyside, Macallan is marking its 200th anniversary with a culinary collaboration with the illustrious El Celler de Can Roca — the Girona restaurant’s first venture outside Spain. Dubbed TimeSpirit, the new restaurant at Macallan’s distillery near Craigellachie will have stunning views over the surrounding hills from a 30-seat dining room designed by the award-winning David Thulstrup. The nine-course tasting menu will feature locally sourced Scottish ingredients that have been given the expert care and attention of a three-Michelin-star restaurant twice named as the world’s best. Lunch £65, dinner £95, themacallan.com
We’ve spotted a real feelgood food story in Govanhill, Glasgow, where Full Circle Bakes has opened a shop on Victoria Road. Selling superb stuffed cookies, cake pots, blondies and decadent preserves, Full Circle Bakes is the brainchild of 27-year-old Jacky Stabler, who started selling homebaked products in 2019 to support herself through college, then switched to delivering treat boxes in person during the pandemic. From there Stabler started doing postal orders — such a hit that she has been able to open a shop.
Our tip? The dangerously delicious miso caramel chocolate cookie — we tried it last week and can still feel the sugar high. It’s worth following Stabler’s Insta (@fullcirclebakes) for an insight into the challenges in business faced by someone with autism and ADHD (fullcirclebakes.com).
It pays to know where to go in Edinburgh to escape the crowds — especially during the Festival. Our best bet is the Glasshouse hotel’s rooftop terrace at the foot of Calton Hill. Saoirse Delaney, its mixologist, will collaborate until the end of September with Islay gin brand The Botanist to serve tempting gin and whisky cocktails. Our favourite when we went along last week to test them was a 36, a blend of cask-aged gin with elderflower, citrus and seaweed. And Dreams mixes Bruichladdich’s The Classic Laddie single malt with stout syrup, chocolate and nutmeg (cocktails from £12, theglasshousehotel.co.uk)
Fancy a world-class croissant in Glasgow? The choice is yours, with six cafés and bakeries in the city being ranked among the best by the La Liste World Pastry Awards.
We love Partenope in Shawlands, run by Sara Capaldi and her partner, Toni de Carlo. The café bakes everything from scratch including its filled focaccia (£7.50) with tomato, mozzarella and pesto or salami, ’nduja butter and mozzarella. If you can’t get a seat, try Outlier on London Road, Cottonrake on Great Western Road, Two.Eight.Seven in Govanhill, Kaf Coffee in Partick, or the Bakery by Zique in Lauderdale Gardens, which also made the list. It’s not just Glasgow with brilliant bakes: Twelve Triangles and Lannan in Edinburgh, Aran in Dunkeld and many others around Scotland were all picked out.
Dessert spot SoftCore has opened its second location on Marchmont Road, Edinburgh, in addition to its spot at the Omni Centre’s Edinburgh Street Food market. It specialises in soft-serve ice cream made with real milk, New York-style cookies, Belgian chocolate and locally roasted coffee from Williams & Johnsons. We recommend the special matcha cookie with macadamia nuts and white chocolate chunks, plus the miso and caramel and the vegan banana and passion fruit soft serves. You can even have a twist of both if you can’t make your mind up and top it off with a cloud of candyfloss.Details softcoreedin.co.uk
Edinburgh’s Duck & Waffle restaurant has announced a collaboration bringing the spirit of Saint-Tropez to Scotland this summer. In partnership with the French winemaker Minuty the restaurant has transformed its 32-seat terrace into a picturesque escape with coastal-style deck chairs and blankets, and is serving Minuty cocktails and wines alongside its ever popular gastro-diner fare.Details duckandwaffle.com
Good news, Bearsden diners, as the former head chef of One Devonshire Gardens in Glasgow’s West End, which has three AA Rosettes, opens his first restaurant on New Kirk Road. Gary Townsend’s new venture, Elements, will offer contemporary Scottish cuisine, from North Sea cod loin to Scottish lamb saddle. A cocktail menu is also available, inspired by the four elements. “I’ve spent a lot of time testing exciting flavour combinations,” Townsend says. “I can’t wait to share them with our guests soon.”Details elementsgla.com
Another day, another opening from Nico Simeone. After launching his first bar in Glasgow in March, he’s now repeating the trick in Edinburgh’s West End with a Somewhere by Nico on Queensferry Street.
With a design concept “based on the cycles of sleep” — no snoring allowed — Nico’s cocktail bars follow the same ever-popular formula as his restaurants, with a tasting menu based on a changing theme.Details 39A-40A Queensferry Street, Edinburgh, somewherebynico.co.uk
It’s all change at Punto in Kilmacolm, where a new owner has given this Italian kitchen and wine bar a fresh lease of life with the addition of reasonably priced brunch and lunch options to supplement an à la carte menu full of classics.
The owner, Danny McIntyre, a former recruitment entrepreneur, had retired but a brush with cancer reminded him of his passion for the hustle and bustle of business, inspiring him to take on Punto. He has appointed Jamie Wade as head chef, a rising star in Scottish cuisine who learnt his trade at the Glasgow mainstay Celinos.
The Full Punto breakfast is £8.50, or you can try an in-vogue pistachio croissant. Tuck into lunchtime mushroom gnocchi for £7.95, or come by in the evening for a range of fresh pastas, pizzas and other Italian favourites.Details 4 Lochwinnoch Rd, Kilmacolm, puntokilmacolm.co.ukAdditional reporting by Charles Pring
We reported a few weeks ago that the Old Course Hotel has a new hotshot chef, Coalin Finn. Now the St Andrews landmark has opened a new rooftop bar, serving cocktails and bouji bites with a view of the coastal course. Named West Deck, the bar is all twinkly lights and rattan lamps, but fear not — if the weather suddenly changes there are glass pods where you can take cover. On the menu are oysters with baby carrot vinegar (£5 each), Great Glen venison charcuterie (£12), fresh crab salad with radish and sorrel sauce (£17) and a brown butter lobster roll (£39). Cocktails include the Par Four with chartreuse, strawberry liqueur and vanilla (£15), and the Bartender’s Bluff featuring Flor de Caña 18-year rum, lime and kiwi (£15).Details oldcoursehotel.co.uk
Closed since November 2022, Glenfinnan House hotel has reopened after an extensive boutique makeover, adding a cracking new BBQ dining space down by Loch Shiel, offering views across the water to the Bonnie Prince Charlie monument. BBQs cost £12.50 (veggie) or £15.30 (beef), or dine in the hotel’s revamped main restaurant, which also has views across the loch (mains from £22). Even if you can’t stay for dinner, the afternoon tea here is worth the stop (£38), then walk it off with a lochside stroll to Glenfinnan viaduct, made famous by the flying car scene in the second Harry Potter movie. Details glenfinnanhouse.com
There are more than 6,000 Yang Guo Fu restaurants in the world (mostly in Asia), but none in Scotland — until one opened in Edinburgh. Taking over the old Rigatoni’s site on South Clerk Street in Newington, the new Yang Guo Fu specialises in malatang, a popular street food named for the way the Sichuan pepper and dried chilli numb your tongue. Don’t say we didn’t warn you. Customers fill a pay-by-weight bowl with ingredients, where it’s then cooked in either a classic beef bone broth, a spicy mala ban broth or a sweet and sour tomato soup. Toppings include a variety of noodles, leafy greens, enoki mushrooms, tofu, rice cakes, meat and seafood. Details @yangguofu_edinburgh
Another day, another new restaurant on Edinburgh’s Leith Walk. Launched by the Vittoria group, which also owns Divino Enoteca and Bertie’s, Brunswick Book Club is a contemporary take on the classic Auld Reekie pub. It will have live music, quiz nights and a menu that’s heavy on comfort foods — macaroni cheese, fish and chips, curries and club sandwiches — but reasonably light on the wallet. The all-day brunch looks good, as do Sunday roasts, and the heated terrace with blankets provided. Mains from £9.95. Details 113 Brunswick St, brunswickbookclub.co.uk
Also just in time for summer: Lochrin, a new rooftop drinking spot at Moxy Fountainbridge. Named after James Haig’s famous gin distillery in a nod to Fountainbridge’s industrial heritage, the bar has a speakeasy, gentleman’s club vibe inside, spilling out onto a terrace for amazing views across the city. Speciality cocktails inspired by Edinburgh include Wojtek The Bear, made with Polish vodka, Scotch coffee liqueur, salted caramel and honeycomb or the One O’Clock Gun Martini made with Edinburgh Cannonball gin, Brochan oat vodka and Lillet Blanc. On the menu are wee plates such as chilli and garlic prawns, breaded halloumi fries and meat or cheese sharing boards.Details instagram.com/lochrin_rooftop
Edinburgh has a new Nepalese restaurant and speakeasy bar named Thamel. Named after the buzzing restaurant district in Kathmandu, Thamel is owned by the same folk behind Gautam’s in Meadowbank. It will serve authentic Nepalese dishes such as steamed chicken momos (dumplings) served with a hempseed chutney (£6.50) or the Raja’s nihari gohst: a lamb shank marinated for 24 hours then slow-cooked for six hours in a sauce infused with Himalayan spices and herbs (£19). Try the Thamel margarita (£11) or the Jaffa Cake mai tai to finish. Details 7-11 East London Street, Edinburgh, thamel.co.uk
A stylish new Asian restaurant has opened at 35 St Vincent Place this week after an almost £1 million refurbishment of the former Prezzo site. The latest launch from the Hunky Dory group — it owns Chaakoo Bombay Café, Panag and Topolabamba — Zhima serves contemporary takes on Cantonese, Hunan and Sichuan classics, such as almond butter garlic prawns, Xi’an cumin lamb chops and “drunken” monkfish. The set lunch menu, served Monday to Friday, 12pm to 3.45pm, offers two courses from £18. Details zhima.co.uk
South India has just come to Fife with the launch of a new Chennai-themed menu at Dhoom Indian Streatery & Bar in Dunfermline. Chennai is famous for its dosas (rice pancakes made from fermented batter) and idli (savoury rice cakes). At £16.95 for seven courses (or £27.95 for ten courses) it’s an absolute bargain too. In other words, come hungry. Details dhoomuk.co.ukhttp://tickettailor.com/events/fhior/1189001