North Port, 8 North Street, Perth 01738 580867
Food: 10/10
Atmosphere: 9 and a half/10
Value for money: 10/10
Service: 9/10
You can hear the hum of satisfaction from the North Port’s clientele. Its promise- ‘All of our ingredients have been carefully selected and are supplied by small, local growers, breeders, suppliers and foragers’- isn’t fashionable posturing. Every ingredient on each plate is thoughtful: intelligently sourced, handled with care and effort, eschewing pointless fussing.
Edinburgh Food Studio, 158 Dalkeith Rd, Edinburgh 0131 258 0758
Food: 10/10
Atmosphere: 9 and a half/10
Value for money: 10/10
Service: 9/10
Young, creative, at the cutting edge of the discussions around modern gastronomy, the Studio is mapping out dynamic new foundations for food in Scotland, delivering wave after wave of edible wonderfulness received with gurgles of delight from diners.
83 Hanover Street, 83 Hanover Street, Edinburgh 0131 225 4862
Food: 10/10
Atmosphere: 9 and a half/10
Value for money: 10/10
Service: 9/10
This upbeat, cheering Chilean establishment is bursting with energy. Portions are big, supremely satisfying, diligently prepared and determinedly authentic. The Latino freshness of the food here is striking, both conceptually and in its execution. You get fistfuls of character here, stimulating contrasts.
Monadh Kitchen 19 New Kirk Rd, Bearsden, Glasgow 0141 258 6420
Food: 9 and a half/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Value for money: 9/10
Service: 9/10
Tucked away in one of Glasgow’s most affluent suburbs, Monadh would soon build up a loyal following in any city centre. You can see and taste on the plate its sheer mastery of professional skills, predicated on wise, heavily local procurement of first rate, rigorously seasonal ingredients.
Forage and Chatter, 1a Alva Street, Edinburgh 0131 225 4599
Food: 9 and a half/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Value for money: 9/10
Service: 9/10
The only customer complaint I hear about this place is that the name is hard to remember. Thereafter it’s one popular thumbs-up with its mature, confident modern, clean-cut interpretation of the oft-abused descriptor: ‘locally sourced Scottish cuisine’.
Gather by Zique, 70-72 Hyndland St, Glasgow 0141 339 2000
Food: 9 and a half/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Value for money: 9/10
Service: 9/10
All the ‘Zique’ enterprises are a class act. This one fills a gap in Glasgow’s thriving West End dining scene: exciting, gastronomically literate, outward-looking food that ticks the casual-modern, fine dining box, but dumps the Old School formality that often accompanies it.
Macintosh at the Willow 119-121 Sauchiehall St, Glasgow 0141 332 8446
Food: 8/10
Atmosphere: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Service: 9/10
This faithfully honouring of CRJ’s unique tearoom for the legendary Miss Cranston keeps the Mackintosh legacy burning brightly. There’s a general feeling of enchantment, from the staff (the tearoom is run as a social enterprise) to the customers, everyone has a smile on their face. Food? Unfussy, sensible, and perfectly decent.
Beaumartin The Cottage, 156 Milngavie Road, Bearsden 0141 2581881
Food: 8 and a half/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Value for money: 9/10
Service: 9/10
Beaumartin knows how to balance a dish, are wizards with sauces, and follow traditional cooking principles. Dishes change by the minute: “We use fresh organic ingredients that are available on the day, menus are subject to minor changes”. I reckon Elizabeth David would approve of this French set-up.
Five March, 140 Elderslie St, Glasgow 07714 005933
Food: 10/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Value for money: 9/10
Service 9/10
Here we have a relaxed, but attentive chef who really understands, either intuitively, or through experience, family trees of ingredients, their flavour potential and limits, someone whose interventions make food better, not worse. There’s a refreshing liveliness, brightness, upbeat freshness, and world traveller depth to this cooking that suggests someone who has looked beyond this parish.
Little Chartroom, 30-31 Albert Pl, Edinburgh 0131 556 6600
Food: 10/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Value for money: 9/10
Service: 10/10
Small, intimate, beautifully curated restaurant, more like a scaled-up dinner for friends, where the cook, arms brimming from the market, cooks the pick of the day. They’re so serious about seasonality here that the printed menu risks constant updating- only one portion of this, only two of that- and when it’s gone it’s gone.
Joanna Blythman is the Guild of Food Writers Writer of the Year 2018
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here