This dark and moody restaurant set in the basement on St Stephen's street in Stockbridge is one of the city's best new openings in the past few years. The small plates menu is compact, but every dish is creative and with some Middle Eastern inspiration running through the menu of small plates. Must order dishes include the fried chicken is one of its signature dishes – a crispy coating and juicy meat covered in a tangy and sweet peach hot sauce, cured sea trout and the donut with smoked cheese.

As the former famed 21212 restaurant with rooms, Lyla is found inside a huge Georgian townhouse on one of Edinburgh's most exclusive streets and is now headed up by chef Stuart Ralston. It's a tasting menu restaurant in super elegant surroundings – think double height ceilings, intricate cornicing and ceiling plastering, gorgeous wall lights that look like sunbeams and sophisticated dried flowers and branches which create the only decor. Dinner starts upstairs in a cosy bar for pre- drinks.

This casual bistro style restaurant in the city's West-End sits inside a former bank with its grand features like high ceilings and cornicing. It's been brought back to life with a black and white tiled floor, moss green walls and pendant lighting over dark mahogany wood furniture. Taking its name from the road it sits on, Palmerston Place, the food is comforting and borders on the rustic side with underused cuts from pig's ears to tripe as well as wild rabbit or duck rillettes.

Owner and chef, Roberta Hall-McCarron opened the Little Chartroom on Leith Walk back in 2018 with her husband, Shaun McCarron, just weeks after they got married. They took a punt to open in the up-and-coming area of Leith, before it had become a popular part of town and before the long-awaited tram network finally got up and running. It's an intimate restaurant, with just 18 seats, with a handful at the bar overlooking the chefs at work creating dishes like mackerel.

First it opened in Glasgow, shortly followed by Edinburgh, and now this mini chain of restaurants has outposts in London, Leeds, Dublin and beyond. Owner Nico Simeone, who hails from Scotland, always offers a six courses tasting menu, and it's one the most affordable tasting menus going at around £42. As well as the decent menu price, its other USP is that the menu changes every six weeks and is based around a theme. It's often a nostalgic take on something from Nico's youth.

Chef Stuart Ralston is another Scot that's opened a flurry of restaurants in and around the city in a short time. First came aizel, and then came Noto found on Thistle street in the New Town's centre. It dishes up Asian-inspired small plates and takes its cues from New York, where Stuart had been living and working prior to coming home to Scotland. The restaurant is even named after his old NYC roommate, Bob Noto.

It was only open for a year before this restaurant earned its first Michelin star, which says everything you need to know about deciding whether to go to Heron (spoiler, it's a big yes). It's a neighborhood restaurant down in Leith overlooking the port, but with a fine dining aesthetic, excellent food, and service to match, though it's certainly not stuffy and keeps it relaxed. Whether you choose the tasting menu or a la carte, you'll get the same level of excellent cooking and often unexpected.

This one is an ode to the Mediterranean, specifically Italy which is obvious from the huge yellow neon sign lighting up the townhouses' dark staircase. It depicts a big bowl of spaghetti (taking notes from the pasta emoji), indicating what's to come. And that's dishes such as chunky ribbons of homemade pappardelle with a creamy crab sauce or delicate pieces of strozzapreti pasta with rich mangalitza pork. The perfectly smooth pipped duck liver parfait is a menu signature.

After moving from its former location at nearby Portobello, Edinburgh's beach just a few miles from the city centre, Eleanor is the second opening from Roberta Hall-McCarron. Inside, the compact restaurant is simple, with clean off-white interiors and high tables with stool seating. It's a set menu at both lunch and dinner time, with thoughtful cooking cleverly traversing the lines between Asian inspired dishes, French pastry and local ingredients.

Down in Stockbridge, the city's coolest little pocket, eòrna is another fine dining restaurant that very quickly after opening earned itself a mention in the Michelin Guide. It's as intimate as it comes, with just 12 seats around a curved bar overlooking the open kitchen. Run by Brian Grigor and Glen Montgomery (who are also the sole team, the chef and sommelier/server, respectively) they're experimental and only serve a tasting menu.