Three Edinburgh restaurants in Harden's 100 Best UK Restaurants list, with Leith venue grabbing Top 10 spot

Respected restaurant guide Harden's has announced its annual list of the UK’s best restaurants – and three Edinburgh venues are named amongst the top places to dine in the country.

Simon Rogan’s L’Enclume in Cartmel, Cumbria, has come out on top in the carefully curated Top 100 Best UK Restaurants diners’ poll. The much-loved Lake District dining destination has featured in Harden’s Top 100 every year since the list first launched in 2011, but this is the first time it has reached the No.1 spot. Feedback from diners hailed it as “a completely faultless experience”.

Coming in at No.8 on the list is Edinburgh’s own Restaurant Martin Wishart. In its description of the Michelin-starred eaterie, based at the Shore in Leith, Harden’s call it “one of the city’s most accoladed culinary destinations, where [Wishart’s] menus of Frenchified Scottish ingredients offer decadent luxury in the cool, gentrified environs of the Leith waterfront”.

Coming in at No.13 is The Kitchin, the celebrated Leith restaurant run by Tom Kitchin and his wife Michaela. In its description of the award-winning venue, Hardens says: “Tom and Michaela’s flagship venue occupies a buzzy warehouse in Leith and was again Edinburgh’s most commented-on destination in our annual diners’ poll. Criticism is impressively absent: there is nothing but reams of praise for excellent fine dining, produced from a glass-walled kitchen whose chefs create an amazing food journey”.

Also flying the flag for Auld Reekie is Fhior, which came in at No.64. The Broughton Street eaterie is described as a “fun, stylish and super-friendly restaurant”.

Strikingly, the number of Top 100 restaurants based in London has fallen to an all-time low. Usually expected to make up between 45-50% of the final rankings, this year only 36 of the UK’s best restaurants are located in the Big Smoke.

Peter Harden said: “London’s grip on the Top 100 list is the weakest that we have ever recorded (the lowest previous figure was 41 in the 2020 guide). Whilst 12 months is too little data for firm pronouncements, this swing to the shires may reflect the increasing excellence of dining out across the country.”

Yet it is not regional cities that are driving any swing from London, but destination dining in scenic locations as demonstrated by this year’s top placed establishments.

“Unlike in other European countries, our greatest cities still tend to lack depth when it comes to quality restaurants at the top end,” said Peter. “The closest any city comes to London’s 36 in the Top 100 is Edinburgh and Cambridge with just three apiece.”