A clear-tasting lamb-and-barley soup with leek, carrot, turnip and split peas, simmered for hours. Edinburgh's standard winter starter and the soup of every household kitchen.
Where to eat it: 5 restaurants across 1 city.
Scotch broth has been on Scottish kitchen tables since the Middle Ages, originally as a peasant pot-meal of mutton bones, barley and whatever root vegetable was in the larder. Samuel Johnson ate it in Edinburgh in 1773 and pronounced it good; James Boswell teased him for the conversion. The barley-and-lamb version became the standard restaurant offering through the Victorian hotel kitchens. The Edinburgh bistro version today uses a long-simmered lamb-bone stock, pearl barley swelled in the pot, and the vegetable cut diced rather than peasant-rough.
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Common allergens: Gluten
Tip from the editors. Make the broth the day before. The barley swells, the flavour deepens, and the fat lifts off in a solid disc to be skimmed clean.
Tom Kitchin and Dominic Jack's Stockbridge gastropub in Edinburgh, opened in 2013, the casual sibling to The Kitchin running British classics in a Comely.
OrderFish and chips with mushy peas, or the Sunday roast that books out a week ahead.
TipChildren's menu is taken seriously here; meatballs and mash is a proper plate.
Howies on Victoria Street in Edinburgh, the Old Town flagship of David Howie Scott's Scottish-bistro mini-chain opened in 1990, the city's everyday Scottish.
OrderHaggis bonbons with whisky cream as a starter and the Aberdeen Angus steak with peppercorn sauce.
TipPre-theatre two-course menu from 17:30-19:00 is the value play. The Waterloo Place branch is the second-best room.
James Thomson's heritage dining room at the top of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, opened in 1979 inside Boswell's Court, the city's grand-occasion fine-dining.
OrderThe Witchery Theatre menu of three courses at £50 before 18:30 or after 22:00, the only value play.
Book3 weeks ahead
TipAsk for The Secret Garden, the second dining room down the stairs; the candlelit version of the experience.
The Dome on George Street in Edinburgh's New Town, opened in 1996 inside the former Commercial Bank building, a glass-domed grand brasserie room running.
OrderSmoked salmon platter at lunch and the roast beef Wellington at dinner under the central dome.
TipThe Georgian Tea Room at the back is a quieter alternative if the main hall feels too touristy at peak hours.
The New Town offshoot of the Leith Fishers seafood mini-chain in Edinburgh, on Thistle Street since 2001, a brasserie-style room running East Coast fish.
OrderCullen skink for starters and the whole grilled lemon sole with brown butter.
TipThe original Fishers Bistro on the Shore in Leith is the smaller, more ambient sibling if you want the Old Port version.
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