The 'Hendersons' shopfront spans two striped awnings and a red door on an Edinburgh street.
Edinburgh

Hendersons

A vegetarian and vegan restaurant beside Bruntsfield Links, opened in 2021 by the grandson of Janet Henderson, who founded the first Hendersons in 1962.

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Welcome

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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Before you go

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.

Where
Beside Bruntsfield Links, in Tollcross.
Access
A ground-floor toilet with a handrail and baby changing; the entrance door is 81cm wide.

Opening hours

Book
Monday
noon–10pm
Tuesday
noon–10pm
Wednesday
noon–10pm
Thursday
noon–10pm
Friday
noon–10pm
Saturday
noon–10pm
Sunday
noon–10pm

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Did you know

The 'Hendersons' sign and striped awning shade a colourful shopfront window on an Edinburgh street.
Did you know

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.

Wooden tables are set beneath a ceiling hung with dried flowers and pendant lights in a dining room.
Did you know

Never called vegetarian.

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

Woven pendant lights hang beside a large mirror above wooden tables in a dining room.
Did you know

Fruit boxes for seats.

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.

A 'Hendersons' sign hangs above a striped awning on an Edinburgh street corner.
Did you know

A Triple Crown forward.

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.

The 'Hendersons' lettering runs along a striped awning above a doorway on an Edinburgh street.
Did you know

The longest-running.

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

Woven pendant lights hang beside a large mirror above wooden tables in a dining room.
Did you know

Barley, hops and heather.

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

A layered vegetable stack with cream sauce and microgreens is plated on a dark dish at a wooden table.
Did you know

Janet's haggis.

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

A grain salad and a plated vegetable stack with cream sauce sit on a wooden table set with a water jug.
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Places to stay near Hendersons, and when each is next free.

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