Blackfriars

57–61 Blackfriars Street, Old Town, 0131 558 8684, blackfriarsedinburgh.co.uk
There’s more than a touch of art school hipness about this stripped-back bar and neighbouring restaurant where a former sous chef to Martin Wishart cooks robust, pared-down mains and cultured bar snacks including homemade pork pies and other well-sourced seasonal combinations.

Field

41 West Nicolson Street, Southside, 0131 667 7010, fieldrestaurant.co.uk
Another place where a chef with Michelin-star experience is out to prove that a competitively priced Scottish menu needn’t bow to cliché or blandness. In a modest, 22-cover venue near Edinburgh University, Gordon Craig cooks with feisty flavours and fine-dining-style attention to detail.

Galvin Brasserie de Luxe

Caledonian Hotel, Princes Street, West End, 0131 222 8988, galvinrestaurants.com
The Caley now houses two restaurants set up by London power-chefs Chris and Jeff Galvin, with day-to-day head chef duties by local star Craig Sandle. Upstairs, it’s tasting menus and respectful hush in the majestic Pompadour dining room, while the slicker brasserie includes a gleaming oval bar piled with crustacea.

Restaurant Mark Greenaway

69 North Castle Street, New Town, 0131 226 1155, markgreenaway.com
The eponymous chef joshed his way through the Great British Menu earlier this year, a good showcase for his newly relocated restaurant and its ever-entertaining menu featuring plenty of foams, fumes and flashy finishes. It’s great food for all that, full of imagination and culinary intricacy.

The Scran & Scallie

1 Comely Bank Road, Stockbridge, 0131 332 6281, scranandscallie.com
When headlining local chef Tom Kitchin announced he was opening a pub in 2013, the locals got excited. While the Perthshire croft meets Victoriana dining room is barely recognisable as a public bar, it is serving a combination of down-the-line pub classics alongside old Scottish recipes and highlights from the offal revival, all impressively well cooked and presented.