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
Stockbridge to Leith – The Botanics, Cardinal and the River
A day.
With picks from Tomás Gormley, chef patron of Cardinal
The route
A day on foot across the north of Edinburgh, from the Botanic Garden to the old quays of Leith, with the city's river for company through the afternoon.
Lunch is at Cardinal, Tomás Gormley's small restaurant on Eyre Place, where most of the cooking is done over coals. Supper is his own favourite of the moment, a bowl of ramen at Gulp on Leith Walk.
With picks from
Tomás Gormley
Chef patron of Cardinal
Favourite place to eat or drink in Edinburgh when you are not at Cardinal?
“If you can get a seat at Gulp Ramen on Leith Walk, it’s well worth it.”
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.
The nearest of ours is Old Town Chambers in Edinburgh, a mile away.
Then Moment George IV Bridge in Edinburgh, 2 miles away. Sleeps 2.
Book a table at Cardinal online for about 1pm: lunch is from 12pm to 2pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and if no time suits, email the restaurant.
The day
Stockbridge to Leith
A morning in the Botanic Garden, then down into Stockbridge for its shops and cobbled lanes before lunch at Cardinal on Eyre Place. The afternoon follows the Water of Leith downstream from Canonmills to the old quays of the Shore, and the day ends up Leith Walk with a bowl of ramen at Gulp.
About eight hours, with lunch and supper
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
An attraction
Start at the West Gate on Arboretum Place, by the John Hope Gateway, when the Royal Botanic Garden opens at 10am. It began in 1670 as a physic garden, and entry to the garden is free. Wander up through the Rock Garden and on to the Chinese Pavilion, then through the trees beyond. The restored Palm Houses are open again by timed ticket, adults £5.50 and children 15 and under free; the other glasshouses stay closed for restoration. Dogs aren't allowed in, apart from assistance dogs. Give it an hour and a half, then leave by the West Gate.
19 min on foot
Lannan Pantry
A shop
His pickLannan Pantry, for expertly curated homewares and ingredients.
It's about a 19-minute walk from the West Gate down into Stockbridge and Lannan Pantry at 29-35 Hamilton Place, the shop the baker Darcie Maher opened next door to her Lannan Bakery in 2025. It sells produce, cheese, natural wine and homewares, and Tomás Gormley sends friends here for its 'expertly curated homewares and ingredients'. It opens Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm. Give it about 20 minutes.
3 min on foot
St Stephen Street
An attraction
It's about a 3-minute walk round the corner to St Stephen Street, a curving Georgian street of small independent shops and basement bars. Golden Hare Books, at number 68, shows a whole wall of its books with their covers facing out, like a gallery, and opens every day from 10am to 6pm. Treen, at number 12, sells clothes made with care over two floors. Give the street about 40 minutes.
6 min on foot
Circus Lane
An attraction
A few steps from the bookshop, turn into the west end of Circus Lane and walk its length, about 6 minutes, with St Stephen's clock tower rising ahead. The lane was built in the early 1800s as mews for the horses and carriages of the grand houses on Royal Circus. Its north side is the longest unbroken row of mews in the Second New Town, and it curves with the Circus. William Henry Playfair designed St Stephen's in 1827. The mews houses are homes now, so go quietly.
7 min on foot
Cardinal
Lunch
From the end of the lane it's about a 7-minute walk to Cardinal at 14 Eyre Place, Tomás Gormley's restaurant of 24 seats, where most of the cooking is done over coals. At lunch on Thursday, Friday and Saturday the £25 market menu is built around produce from its own kitchen garden at Bramblewood Farm in Pathhead; the £89 tasting menu runs too. From 1 to 22 December it becomes the Festive Market Menu, four courses for £37. Tell them of any dietary needs when you book.
About 20 min on foot
Water of Leith
An attraction
His pickUp or down the Water of Leith, perfect in all seasons.
Walk the few minutes north to Canonmills and join the Water of Leith Walkway downstream: about 50 minutes, a little under 2.5 miles, to the Shore. It's Tomás Gormley's own favourite walk, 'perfect in all seasons', and this is the river's working end. One of Antony Gormley's 6 Times figures stands in the water at Powderhall, and another at Bonnington, an old milling village where the last stretch of the walkway opened in 2003; follow the signs carefully there. The footbridge into St Mark's Park at Powderhall is closed, so keep to the walkway. At Coalie Park, once a coal depot and railway yard, swans nest, and in winter cormorants and tufted ducks come up from the Forth. The path is shared with bikes.
About 31 min on foot
Leith Shore
An attraction
Near the end, Heron stands by the river on Henderson Street: the restaurant Tomás Gormley first opened with Sam Yorke, named for the herons sometimes seen on the shore, and awarded a Michelin star in 2023. Then the walkway comes out on the Shore, Leith's old quayside where the river meets the docks. By the 18th century Leith was Scotland's chief seaport, and from 1833 until 1920 it was a burgh of its own. George IV came ashore here in 1822, the first reigning monarch to visit Scotland in more than 170 years. Look for the harpoon gun from Christian Salvesen's whaling ships, and walk on to the Victorian swing bridge where the walkway ends. On Thursday and Friday the ramen shop opens at 5pm, so there's time to walk both banks.
13 min on foot
Gulp Ramen
Supper
His pickIf you can get a seat at Gulp Ramen on Leith Walk, it’s well worth it.
From the Shore it's about a 13-minute walk up to Gulp Ramen at 126 Leith Walk, the ramen shop Tomás Gormley tells his friends about, for its bowls made from scratch. It's an owner-run shop, its short menu made in front of you: tonkotsu, a vegetable ramen and mazemen, £20 a bowl. It opens at 5pm on Thursday and Friday and 4pm on Saturday, with last bowls at 9.30pm. There are no reservations, so there may be a wait. The kitchen can't change dishes for allergies, and dogs aren't allowed.
If it rains
In rain, the Palm Houses are the Botanics' shelter, on a timed ticket, and the shops of St Stephen Street and a long lunch at Cardinal are indoors. The walkway has little cover, so in heavy rain walk from Canonmills to the Shore by the streets instead.
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Photographs by Shlokya Trivedi, richard staff and Stuart Smith via Google
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