Heron
A restaurant by the Water of Leith on Henderson Street, opened in 2021 by chefs Tomás Gormley and Sam Yorke, with a Michelin star since 2023.
heron.scot
Edinburgh
Inverleith – The Park, the Botanics and Dinner at Cardinal
A few hours.
A day out suggested by Tomás Gormley, chef patron of Cardinal
The route
This is the afternoon Tomás Gormley recommends before a meal at his restaurant: a walk through Inverleith Park and the Botanic Garden, then coffee at Project Canelé on the edge of Canonmills.
Cardinal is two minutes from the café on Eyre Place, and his seasonal tasting menu is cooked mostly over coals for a room of 24.
Suggested by
Tomás Gormley
Chef patron of Cardinal
A perfect day before a meal at Cardinal?
“A walk through Inverleith Park and the Botanics, coffee at Project Canelé.”
His restaurant
Cardinal
A tasting menu restaurant on Eyre Place led by the chef patron Tomás Gormley, cooking Scottish produce, more and more of it from its own kitchen garden in Midlothian.
- Where
- 14 Eyre Place, Edinburgh, EH3 5EP.
- Open
- Wednesday 5pm to 8.30pm; Thursday to Saturday 12pm to 2pm and 5pm to 8.30pm. Closed Sunday to Tuesday.
See the listingTheir websiteBook a table
Known for
Its signature is smoked lobster, from one boat in Fife.
The smoked lobster course has become the dish regulars come back for. The shells are smoked and infused into butter, the tails are poached in that same smoky butter, and more smoked shells make a bisque served with BBQ potatoes, ponzu gel and chives. The lobster comes every Thursday on The Tina Louise, a lobster boat in Fife.
The kitchen garden is eleven miles away.
Many of the herbs and vegetables come from Cardinal’s own regenerative kitchen garden at Bramblewood Farm in Pathhead, Midlothian, where they are grown under polytunnels at the edge of a wood.
Most of the cooking is done over coals.
Meat, fish and vegetables are cooked over fire, where rendered fat dripping onto the coals comes back up as smoke and steam. Ferments are used carefully and sparingly, so the courses never start to taste the same.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
Book Cardinal's tasting menu online for about 5pm, Wednesday to Saturday: dinner is from 5pm to 8.30pm, and if no time suits, email the restaurant.
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The day
Inverleith
A walk through Inverleith Park and across the Botanic Garden, then coffee and a canelé at Project Canelé in Canonmills. Dinner is round the corner at Cardinal on Eyre Place.
About six and a half hours, with dinner
Inverleith Park
An attraction
His pickBegin by the boating pond on the south side of Inverleith Park, which the city bought in 1889, with its view over the water to the Castle and the city skyline. Tomás Gormley's own idea of an afternoon before dinner at Cardinal is a walk through this park and the Botanics, then coffee at Project Canelé. The park is free and open at all times, with tree-lined avenues, a play area and room for dogs to run. Give it about 20 minutes.
12 min on foot
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
An attraction
His pickIt's about a 12-minute walk up through the park from the pond to Arboretum Place and the Botanics' West Gate. The garden is free: wander through the Rock Garden and up to the Chinese Pavilion, then leave by the East Gate on Inverleith Row. It shuts at 4pm in November and January, 3.30pm in December and 5pm from February to October, so give yourself about an hour and a half before it closes. Dogs aren't allowed in, apart from assistance dogs.
15 min on foot
Project Canelé
Coffee
His pickProject Canelé, bakery and café near the restaurant.
From the West Gate across the garden, out by the East Gate and down to Canonmills, it's about a 15-minute walk to Project Canelé at 150 Dundas Street. It's a small French bakery and café named after the canelé, with flan pâtissier, chouquettes and cheese buns too, to sit in or take away. It usually opens Wednesday to Sunday, 9am to 5pm, so be there by about 4pm. Cardinal is a 2-minute walk away.
2 min on foot
Cardinal
Dinner
It's a 2-minute walk to Cardinal at 14 Eyre Place. The tasting menu is £89 for seven or eight courses of the season, much of it cooked over coals. Tomás Gormley's signature is the smoked lobster: the shells smoked and infused into butter, the tail poached in it, with a smoked lobster bisque and barbecued potatoes. It comes with the longer Full Cardinal Experience, £135, or as a supplement to the tasting menu. The room has 24 seats, and a 15% service charge is added.
If it rains
In rain, keep the park short: the Palm Houses are the garden's shelter, on a timed ticket from 10.15am to 4.15pm, and the café and dinner are indoors.
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Photographs by Natalie Parsons and Jiwon Kokomong Kim via Google
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