Bistro Coco
32b Broughton Street
Pocket-sized places make surprisingly good date locations: you need to murmur seductively across the table and they still feel buzzy even when half-empty. Bistro Coco’s sharer plates are also très romantique; a hunk of meat or whole fish heaped with fries, salad and greens to feed your loved one. 

Montrose
1 Montrose Terrace
The curved stairway leading upstairs makes this elegant restaurant feel secretive and special. There’s a calm hush, with thick napkins and flickering candles. It’s a set menu, so relax and lean into the experience: excellent local produce cooked creatively, with lots of foraged ingredients.

Paz Taqueria
64 Thistle Street
Tacos come in pairs, so why not take your main squeeze and work through the whole menu? Try the flat iron steak with cashew and chilli sauce, or octopus with roast pepper aioli. Let the sultry low lighting and great tunes set the mood, and let the tacos and spicy margs flow.

Port Of Leith Distillery 
11 Whisky Quay
Your date won’t know which way to look at this eighth-floor dockside bar (in a good way). There’s spectacular views all around: the city skyline to the south, along the Forth to the bridges in the west, with Fife unfolding across the water, plus decent small plates, cocktails and a fine whisky selection.

St Bernard’s Bar
10 Raeburn Place
The atmospheric interior suggests the aftermath of an explosion in a Victorian knick-knack emporium. With tables separated by heavy drapes, cosy up for beers, cocktails and lingering gazes, whether in the main bar, or upstairs in romantically monikered speakeasy, The Brief Encounter.