Category Archives: Leith

What we ate in Leith, June 2012

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We celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary last weekend! We decided to go to Leith for a couple of nights. Our lovely Australian friends had got us a voucher to use at The Kitchin so we booked in for dinner on Friday night, and then spent the next day wandering around Leith. Obviously the meal at The Kitchin was mind-blowing, but we also had some great food on Saturday.

The Kitchin

The Kitchin
From top left:
Appetiser – jellied chicken consommé served with a quail’s egg
Salmon & Crab – tartare of wild salmon from Usan and Newhaven brown crab served with cucumber, capers and salmon caviar
Razor Clams (spoots) – razor clams from Arasaig, cooked to order and served with diced vegetables, chorizo and lemon confit
Pig’s Head and Scallop – boned and rolled pig’s head, served with seared hand-dived Orkney scallop and crispy ear salad

The Kitchin

The Kitchin
From top left:
Hake – seared fillet of haje from Scrabster served with local St George mushrooms and sea plantain
Rabbit – saddle of rabbit from Burnside Farm served with Scottish asparagus and sautéed rabbit kidneys
Lemon – glazed lemon tart served with macerated cherries and cherry sorbet

The Kitchin

The Kitchin
Mint & Chocolate – delice of dark chocolate and Perthshire wild mint served with a mint chocolate chip ice cream
Petit Fours

The Water of Leith Cafe Bistro

The Water of Leith Cafe Bistro – Croque Salmon with salad and french fries

I was lured here by the good reviews on Urbanspoon and it really exceeded all my expectations. It had a really lovely neighbourhood vibe, with everyone who came in seeming like they were a local, and the owner was so friendly and welcoming we really didn’t want to leave. The croque salmon was so rich, creamy and delicate – filled with nice chunks of salmon and béchamel sauce. This was a great way to spend our fragile Saturday morning.

Mimi's Bakehouse

Mimi’s Bakehouse – aero and malteaser slice

Mimi’s was suggested by a lovely twitter follower. This place was packed! It does lunch and high tea, as well as cakes/slices as you can see above. I really liked this place but it did require queueing to get a table.

Sometimes two nights away with your beloved is all you need to rejuvenate after a hectic period of work and life. I really loved going to Leith and felt so refreshed when we got home. We stayed at Hot-El Serviced Apartments in Western Harbour, which looked right over the River Forth.

The Kitchin on Urbanspoon

The Water of Leith Cafe Bistro on Urbanspoon

Mimi's Bakehouse on Urbanspoon

The Kitchin, Edinburgh

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The first day of the blog and I’m already breaking the theme! Not all the restaurants we will be eating at will be in Glasgow, and this is our first minor diversion. We ate at The Kitchin, Edinburgh (Leith to be more precise) on 14 February, 2010. 


It has been described the as the best restaurant in Scotland, the 2nd best restaurant in the UK and also has a  Michelin star to its name. Safe to say we were quite excited about going!

They had a special 5 course dinner for Valentine’s Day, plus amuse bouche and a glass of champagne. We tried to resist, but failed. It was a great option as we had a bigger range of dishes to try and would have skipped the seafood in the a’ la carte menu, which ended up being amazing. We drank a bottle of Fritz Haag Riesling from Brauneberg in Germany. The wine was amazing and I’d love to have it again.


We ate: 

Langoustine consommé w/brown prawns

Carpaccio of west coast octopus w/pickled vegetables and a lemon & caper dressing

Razorfish from Arisaig, served with diced vegetables, chorizo and lemon confit

Seared fillet of North Sea red mullet, served with a ragout of coco beans


Saddle of roe deer from Humbie, served with pumpkin, celeriac, roasted apple from Moira’s garden and pepper sauce


Sadly I missed taking a picture of dessert!! I think I was too excited and in some kind of food heaven after the venison. Dessert was “Pear ‘Belle Helene a la Kitchin’, served with chocolate ravioli and vanilla ice cream”. Absolutely delicious and the ravioli was tiny but had so much rich chocolate flavour. 


My favourite courses were the razorfish and the venison. Originally I said the razorfish was the best thing I’d ever eaten, but had to take that back once I had the venison! 

The whole dinner was amazing. The restaurant was lovely and peaceful and the whole atmosphere was relaxing, not stuffy or pretentious. 

We were so happy and pleased with dinner, it was expensive but well worth it. I can’t wait to go back, we are already planning on going back for lunch as they have a great deal of £24.50 for three courses at lunchtime. There really was a big difference between the food served here than anywhere else we’ve ever eaten, so it was great to see that a Michelin star really does mean something. 

The Kitchin on Urbanspoon