Dog friendly restaurants in Edinburgh Published 02 January 2025
Dine in style with your furry friend at the best dog-friendly restaurants in Edinburgh. The Scottish capital is home to some exceptional restaurants, pubs and cafes – including a handful that won't mind a well-behaved pooch in tow. Here are our favourites.
While we strive to provide the most up-to-date information, we recommend checking with the restaurant before making plans, as policies can change.
Scottish all-rounder tailor made for tourists and locals
‘Everything you want for a night out – lovely place, great food and friendly, knowledgeable service,’ noted one visitor eager to sample Edinburgh’s touristy charms at this historic restaurant owned by … Read more
‘Everything you want for a night out – lovely place, great food and friendly, knowledgeable service,’ noted one visitor eager to sample Edinburgh’s touristy charms at this historic restaurant owned by the city’s redoubtable Contini family – there’s even a whisky bar next door for those who fancy a dram or two.
An old cannonball lodged in the outer wall of the premises gives the place its name and you can even sample local haggis ‘cannonballs’ (with pickled turnips and whisky cream) for that extra ‘och aye’. But that’s where the frivolous clichés end. This venue is serious about Scottish produce and knows how to handle it with aplomb, serving battered Peterhead haddock, East Coast lobsters with garlic butter and braised beef featherblade accompanied by confit garlic crumb, red cabbage and parsnip purée.
Many vegetables come from the Contini Kitchen Garden (Jerusalem artichokes with roast cod, for example), and cheeses are true Scottish patriots such as Lanark Blue and Elrick Log. To conclude, desserts offer comfort in the shape of a chocolate cannonball with pumpkin and crème fraîche or spiced crème brûlée with Tarocco blood orange. ‘The style of food is terrific,’ says one fan, and the short, sharp wine list kicks off with organic house selections from Spain.
Not that Castle. This one is a reconditioned late-Georgian pub in the Ancoats district of Manchester, now part of a regeneration zone that has conjured a modern neighbourhood where once there was industrial wasteland. Generously u… Read more
Not that Castle. This one is a reconditioned late-Georgian pub in the Ancoats district of Manchester, now part of a regeneration zone that has conjured a modern neighbourhood where once there was industrial wasteland. Generously upholstered banquettes, mirrors and plenty of daylight from big windows are spirit-lifting in themselves, but the cooking lifts the place into another dimension. There is a traditional Sunday lunch offering, but the more speculative contemporary food makes weekdays equally popular with readers. Locally grown purple artichokes are served alla giudia, a Roman Jewish deep-fried treatment that produces a crisply seared surface on a creamy, bittersweet inner texture – not to be missed in their season. When did you last eat a fantail squid? Here they are, hauled in from Brixham and served with new season's peas for textural contrast. For main course, there might be a satisfying fish dish such as hake with pepper dulse and Jersey Royals, while meats offer locally farmed Tamworth pork belly with hispi cabbage or lamb shoulder with broad beans and – of all the things to come upon in Ancoats – nasturtiums. A whopping great pie of Ryeland lamb shank should provide plenty of sustenance for a hungry pair of diners. Seasonal fruits make the dessert list a welcome recourse, whether it be strawberry fool and elderflower cream or Yorkshire rhubarb sorbet with a brandy-snap.
* Tom Kitchin has announced that Kora will be closing permanently at the end of Janaury 2025.*
Kora is an alternative name for Persephone, the Greek goddess of spring and new beginnings, and it seems that the deity has answered t… Read more
* Tom Kitchin has announced that Kora will be closing permanently at the end of Janaury 2025.*
Kora is an alternative name for Persephone, the Greek goddess of spring and new beginnings, and it seems that the deity has answered the prayers not only of Edinburgh diners but also the restaurant’s owners Tom and Michaela Kitchin. Opened in 2018, then forced to close during the pandemic, this re-born bar and dining room is, arguably, even better than ever. It's the sort of neighbourhood bistro that suits once-a-week locals as well as customers coming from further afield. A crack team of Dominic Jack (chef-director of the Kitchin Group’s four restaurants) and head chef James Chapman (formerly at Kitchin’s Stockbridge pub, Scran & Scallie) deliver a genuinely seasonal Scottish menu – a dish on offer one week may be gone the next. We were impressed by everything we ate at our relaxed lunchtime visit – thanks to the friendliness of staff. Snacks included broccoli tempura with an Asian dressing involving four stems of tender veg in a light, salted batter with a ginger-zingy chilli sauce for dipping. A trio of hand-dived Orkney scallops, lightly bronzed from the pan with each sliced in two for ease of eating, rested on a bed of salt-baked celeriac purée with an assortment of intense miniature toppings (tiny golden raisins to amplify the sweetness, caperberries and diced green apple to cut through the richness) – complex flavours, expertly handled and generously portioned. A fleshy pair of bacon ribs to follow, supplied by Shaws Fine Meats of Lauder, came with a fried egg, pineapple salsa, cabbage and Koffmann fries – a namecheck to Tom Kitchin’s famous mentor at La Tante Claire. The fall-off-the-bone meat, stickily glossy, found its foil in the chunky salsa (a classic match of sweet and sour), though less might have been more here: either the excellent egg-topped cabbage or perfectly salted chips would have been enough by themselves. There was no faulting a 'floating island' with custard and crunchy pralines zigzagged with caramel sauce, either. With more than 30 wines available by the glass and advice from a knowledgeable sommelier, individual tastes are easily accommodated; a glass of chilled Beaujolais Villages was a smashing match for the ribs.
Frederic ('Fred') Berkmiller’s classic French bistro has spread a blanket of joy across Edinburgh since it opened in 2009. It’s fair to say that the place buzzes and the atmosphere is 'unbeatable'. And it's no wonder t… Read more
Frederic ('Fred') Berkmiller’s classic French bistro has spread a blanket of joy across Edinburgh since it opened in 2009. It’s fair to say that the place buzzes and the atmosphere is 'unbeatable'. And it's no wonder that fans are quickly seduced by the unmistakable Gallic vibe: 'You could easily be sat in a wee French restaurant in Paris,' noted one reporter who felt fully transported to another world.
The conviviality extends to the assured combination of French cooking with Scottish raw materials, including hand-dived Orkney scallops and venison as well as home-grown vegetables and herbs from Berkmiller’s four-acre plot at Monkton Gardens. The menu itself is built around established standards, which brings people back because they know the quality won’t waver from one visit to the next. 'I had the côte de boeuf again – one of my favourite dishes anywhere. Beautifully served medium-rare with dauphinoise, salad, roasted onion, garlic and peppercorn sauce.' Fish soup with rouille, steak tartare, escargots in garlic butter and beef bourguignon are all present and correct, too.
For dessert there could be a not-to-be-missed crème brûlée as well as griottines in kirsch and îles flottantes. Expect ‘great service from knowledgeable staff', a wine bar in the basement for post-prandial relaxation, and a thoroughly commendable list of French wines with an excellent choice by the glass.
Stylish wine bar, bottle shop and small-plates eatery
On the portico of this elegant Georgian tenement, in handsome serif script, is the single word Spry giving no hint of what’s going on inside, but step through the pillared entrance and you are in what is arguably Edinburgh's… Read more
On the portico of this elegant Georgian tenement, in handsome serif script, is the single word Spry giving no hint of what’s going on inside, but step through the pillared entrance and you are in what is arguably Edinburgh's most stylish wine bar and bottle shop. To the right, a wall of organic and natural wines; in the centre, a row of stools spaced around an oak-topped, island bar that doubles as the kitchen. The furnishings are sparse – a sofa, a few tables and some handsome chairs.
Matt Jackson and partner Marzena Brodziak are the young couple behind this venture, which opened in 2019 with the aim of stocking wines free of additives and preservatives – a comprehensive range spanning the globe, but predominantly from small producers. Wines are offered by the glass; bottles come with a modest corkage charge. At lunch, we are recommended to try a fresh Kamptal Kolleltiv Grüner Veltliner and an equally sprightly Laurent Saillard Sauvignon-Ugni, Sauvignon Blanc.
Labneh with fresh and pickled cucumber is the opener from a selection of hot and cold small plates that changes daily. This might be followed by an intelligent partnership of cured mackerel and ripe cherries finished with buttermilk. From the hot dishes, we enjoyed aubergine with fava beans and gremolata, as well as a pollock paratha with saffron and yoghurt. A cheese course features Ragstone, Cora Linn or Stilton, each individually paired with crackers, preserves, chutney or pain perdu. Dessert is a cardamom panna cotta with cherries poached in red wine.
Quality sourdough bread and cultured butter (with offers of a top-up) plus a dish of Mignonette peppered almonds completes the line-up for a charming lunch. If you fancy something more substantial, they also offer a five-course set menu for £60 – although you will need to add £50 for wine pairings.
Good-value Med-oriented cooking in atmospheric surroundings
In a retooled bank building in Edinburgh's Haymarket district, the Palmerston makes a virtue of the decorative style of yesteryear. Lots of dark wood, an uncovered floor and bentwood café chairs create an atmosphere of old-… Read more
In a retooled bank building in Edinburgh's Haymarket district, the Palmerston makes a virtue of the decorative style of yesteryear. Lots of dark wood, an uncovered floor and bentwood café chairs create an atmosphere of old-world civility rather than anything too severe, while tall windows provide the daylight.
The place opens at 9am for coffee and pastries, to encourage a little constructive dawdling on the way to work, but full services introduce a neat, seasonal menu of up-to-the-minute, Med-oriented bistro dishes with a strong backbone of pedigree regional supplies. Dishes often pack several punches in one concentrated package: brandade and puntarelle are dressed in chilli, capers and dill, while duck rillettes are sharpened to a fine point with pickled clementine.
A reporter's spring dinner that took in a rabbit sausage, as well as ox heart and chips, spoke for many in its admiration for the kitchen's respectful approach to meats, but there was praise too for pollack with clams in creamy cider sauce. Fans have also enthused about the pasta dishes. Lamb comes from Shetland, and could be served 'en crépinette' with mashed swede, while a canonical rendition of coq au vin for two (rich with ceps and bacon) is accompanied by mustard greens.
To conclude, the kitchen's bakery skills are spotlit for the likes of chocolate, almond and pear cake, and the heavenly rhubarb sorbet is also mentioned in dispatches. Free bread is the kind of touch that gets everybody onside. The enterprising cosmopolitan wine list is a closely printed miscellany of thoroughbred bottles, opening with a Soave Classico and Dão red at £27, and there is a clutch of quality fortified libations.
Tom Kitchin's take on a Scottish neighbourhood pub
Set up by Edinburgh big-hitters Tom and Michaela Kitchin, this Georgian pub in Stockbridge is a neighbourhood resource that manages to feel both dynamically of its city, but also slightly rustic too, as though a country inn had fo… Read more
Set up by Edinburgh big-hitters Tom and Michaela Kitchin, this Georgian pub in Stockbridge is a neighbourhood resource that manages to feel both dynamically of its city, but also slightly rustic too, as though a country inn had found its way to the bright lights. Mismatched chairs and bare tables are the decorative order, and the menus speak a lightly accented dialect – 'Sit ye doon, yer welcome' – that should orient locals and carpetbaggers alike.
There are pub classics on offer, as you would expect, from neeped and tattied haggis to fish and chips with chunky tartare and a stonker of a house steak pie. Even the less obvious crowd-pleasers don't stray too far off-grid: smoked Orkney scallops with cauliflower and raisins is virtually a pub favourite in its own right now.
Vegetarians and kids are well looked after, and the dessert menu majors in toffee, chocolate and caramel in the colder months, rather than fruit – unless you count rhubarb as a fruit, giving panna cotta an oxalic kick up the buttermilk. An extensive list of wines by the glass in all sizes is exactly what we want to see, while Champagne comes courtesy of the underrated Philipponnat.
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