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Restaurants
in Lothian.

It’s 20:57 in Lothian.
Lothian

Harbour shacks to a steak house.

Restaurants here run from a hatch by the sea to white cloths and old beams. On North Berwick harbour, a seafood shack cooks lobster and crab rolls to eat by the water, and on the promenade at Portobello another serves shrimp buns over the sand. In Dunbar, a small restaurant by the harbour is the one local people recommend. Gullane has a restaurant with rooms and a dining room in old stables, and steaks are the draw at an old family inn near Linlithgow. On the edge of the Pentlands, a regenerative farm cooks what it grows and raises. Book ahead in summer, especially for a weekend table.

North Berwick Fry→
The Ship Inn→
The Balerno Inn→
Shrimpwreck→
The Grey Horse→
The Bridge Inn→
The Free Company→
Alandas Gelato→
Champany Inn→
The Herringbone→
The Bonnie Badger→
The Lobster Shack→
Restaurant of the day19 hours ago

Shrimpwreck.

A seafood shack on the promenade at Portobello, serving shrimp buns, burgers and fries through a hatch to eat by the sea.

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From our guide18 hours ago

The Herringbone.

Behind a pale green front with tall arched windows at the west end of the High Street, the Herringbone is one of the liveliest places in North Berwick. On a busy evening the window tables are full and there's a real buzz. The menu leans on local and seasonal food, with plenty from the sea, from fish chowder to fish and chips with crushed peas, plus burgers and sticky toffee pudding. The bar pours wines, craft beers and cocktails. Solo diners get as warm a welcome as groups, and it opens for breakfast at weekends.

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From the magazine17 hours agoThe printed copy of Issue 11Issue 11Autumn / Winter 2025–26

At The Free Company, a farm restaurant in the Pentland Hills near Edinburgh, chefs now ask for blackcurrant leaves, and Charlie Buchanan-Smith wonders whether it is a food trend.

The farm grows 500 kilos of blackcurrants a year, and Charlie and his brother Angus have planted an orchard of 500 native fruit trees, a mix of apples, plums, quince and damsons. In the polytunnel, long compost beds are a jungle of tomatoes, cucumbers and orange nasturtiums, which the chefs turn into an oil. 'It’s really peppery', says Charlie. The farm is organic and regenerative and never turns the soil, and from livestock manure, vegetable waste, grass cuttings and woodchip it makes around 300 tonnes of compost a year. It all ends up on the plate, from sourdough given a cindery flavour in the courtyard smoker to shaved fennel with nettle salsa verde.

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Tonight15 hours agoLothianShrimpwreckRestaurantEdinburghThe Ship InnRestaurantLothianAlandas GelatoRestaurantLothianNorth Berwick FryRestaurantLothianThe GrangeRestaurantLothianThe Creel, DunbarRestaurant

A table for tonight.

Restaurants to book ahead, and the ones you can still walk into.

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From our guide14 hours ago

The Bonnie Badger.

On Gullane's Main Street, the Bonnie Badger is a modern Scottish restaurant with rooms in restored old buildings. There are several ways to eat. The Stables is the dining room for an evening out, with a seasonal menu of local produce. The Broc Bar does pub dishes with a modern twist and local beers, and the light Garden Room serves breakfast, lunch and weekend afternoon tea. The garden is set up for every season, with blankets on cool evenings. Families drop in for lunch after a morning on the beach, and there are bedrooms upstairs and in two cottages.

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Afterwards13 hours agoEdinburghThe Glen, North Berwick100 yardsLothianNorth Berwick Beach100 yardsLothianCoastal Communities Museum300 yards

Round the corner from The Grange.

Three good places a short walk away: The Glen, North Berwick, North Berwick Beach and Coastal Communities Museum.

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From our guide11 hours ago

The Free Company.

At the foot of the Pentland Hills just outside Balerno, an old farmhouse and its stone steadings hold a regenerative farm, a restaurant and a gathering place all in one. It began in 2016, with the aim of bringing back old country skills. Vegetables are grown without digging, native cattle graze the fields, and that food goes straight to the kitchen. In 2025 it won the Sustainability Award at the National Restaurant Awards. Eat snacks by the fire, a relaxed lunch or a feast at long tables in the barn. Book ahead.

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From our guide10 hours ago

Champany Inn.

In a cluster of old whitewashed cottages round a courtyard just outside Linlithgow, the Champany Inn has built its name on two things: fine Scotch beef and good wine. It's independent and family owned. The restaurant is the grand occasion, and diners come back year after year for the ribeye. The Chop and Ale House is more relaxed, with steaks, burgers and beer. A wine shop matches the wine list, so you can take a bottle home, and there are rooms for the night. Book ahead, especially for a weekend.

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From the magazine9 hours agoThe printed copy of Issue 04Issue 04Spring / Summer 2022

Jason Davidson, whose parents founded the Champany steakhouse with rooms near Linlithgow in West Lothian, says overnight guests are treated as part of the family.

As he puts it, 'We want them to enjoy the comfort of a home away from home, with fantastic food, wine and whisky'. Guests can arrive early, so there is time for a bath before getting ready for dinner. The steakhouse is the grand occasion, with carefully chosen wines to go with the steaks, and alongside it the Chop and Ale House serves more casual dishes such as burgers. The bedrooms look out over the gardens, and if you are not too full in the morning, breakfast is cooked to order.

See Champany Inn · Lothian
Restaurants8 hours ago

North Berwick Fry.

A busy fish and chip shop and restaurant on Quality Street in North Berwick, a few steps from the beach, open all day into the evening.

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Restaurants6 hours ago

The Ship Inn.

A pub and restaurant on Quality Street in North Berwick, a few steps from the harbour, serving seafood and home cooking every day.

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Restaurants5 hours ago

The Balerno Inn.

A historic village inn on Balerno's Main Street, restored in 2019, with a Scottish kitchen, a sunny garden with heated bothies and five rooms.

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