
It began as a farm shop.
Janet Henderson first opened at 92 Hanover Street in 1962 as a farm shop, selling the surplus fruit and vegetables from the family's organic market garden in East Lothian.

A vegetarian and vegan restaurant beside Bruntsfield Links, opened in 2021 by the grandson of Janet Henderson, who founded the first Hendersons in 1962.
On a corner by Bruntsfield Links, the name runs in black letters along two striped awnings, with a hanging sign on the sandstone above and painted windows beside the door.
Visited and photographed by Simon Hird
Inside the walls are warm terracotta and textured plaster, with an archway through to a banquette under a painted mural, a nod to the old restaurant on Hanover Street. Dried flowers and grasses spill across the ceiling between strings of bare bulbs and wicker pendant lights, and big mirrors throw the light back over the wooden tables. The plates are all vegetables and grains: a mushroom tower in cream sauce, salads, bread boards with hummus and olives, a burger with onion rings. Come for lunch after a walk across the Links, or for supper before a show at the King's.
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A vegetarian and vegan restaurant, open seven days a week from noon until ten.
The kitchen normally closes between four and five, though the bar stays open for drinks.
Opening hours
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Janet Henderson first opened at 92 Hanover Street in 1962 as a farm shop, selling the surplus fruit and vegetables from the family's organic market garden in East Lothian.

When the Salad Table opened in the basement in 1963, Janet never advertised it as vegetarian, so as not to put anyone off.

The first restaurant was simple enough that people sat on fruit boxes, and it drew everyone from counterculture hippies to the New Town's well-off.

Janet Henderson's husband Mac, the farmer, won three caps for Scotland as a forward in the side that took the Triple Crown in 1933, and lived to 101.

When the Hanover Street restaurant closed in 2020, it was the longest-running vegetarian restaurant in the UK.

The ceiling of the new room is hung with dried barley, hops, wheat and heather, arranged by the Edinburgh florists Gloam.

The vegan haggis on the menu is still made to Janet's own recipe, served now with a whisky and tarragon cream sauce.

New places, news and stories, as we find them.
What is on in EdinburghIn Tollcross, beside Bruntsfield Links.
King's TheatreEdinburgh's home for touring shows and the Christmas pantomime, since 1906.Under a mile 1 min by road
BeatnikA laptop-free specialty coffee shop in Tollcross.Under a mile 2 min by road
The Edinburgh BookshopAn independent bookshop in Bruntsfield, opened in 2007.Under a mile 2 min by road
TimberyardModern dining in a 19th-century warehouse on Lady Lawson Street.Under a mile 3 min by road
Edinburgh PrintmakersThe first open-access print studio in Britain, with free galleries.Under a mile 3 min by road
The MeadowsA public park of open grass and tree-lined paths, once a loch.Under a mile 3 min by roadPlaces to stay near Hendersons, and when each is next free.
West End Muse
Moment George IV Bridge
Old Town Chambers
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What we have written about it, the collections it is in and more in Edinburgh.
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