All You Need to Know about the Edinburgh Restaurant Festival

It’s time to dust off your tastebuds and get out and see what the thriving restaurant scene in Edinburgh has to offer! As the Restaurant Festival is only in its third year and people hence might not know that much about it, we asked the lovely folk behind the Festival a few questions. Keep reading to learn more and for some great tips and offers!

Can you explain what the Edinburgh Restaurant Festival is all about to someone who has never been?

It’s a celebration of the wonderful mix of restaurants on offer in the City Centre and West End, running from the 6th to the 16th of October. Now in its third year, Edinburgh diners are being encouraged to enjoy a world of culinary adventure in the Capital with an impressive programme of special restaurant events, exclusive tasting menus and offers. It’s produced by EdinEvents and they are challenging diners to ‘try something new’, so we’re hoping that people will be up for sampling some new dishes and styles of food that they have never tried before.

What was the inspiration behind the festival?

With the Scottish Capital currently enjoying a surge of new restaurant openings, and hosting more restaurants per head of the population than any other UK city, the Festival aims to celebrate the City’s buzzing restaurant scene and inspire people to visit and enjoy their own culinary journey.

What are the festival highlights?

There are so many, from the innovative ‘Sensory Dinner’ at Harvey Nichols to a sizzling ‘Street Food Barbeque’ hosted by Taco Mazama. We also have the exciting new ‘Moveable Feast’ event taking place on Thursday 13th October – a one-off gastronomic tour of the city which will enable guests to eat five different courses in five different restaurants.

There will also be a ‘free lunch’ on offer at this year’s festival thanks to our new social media challenge, ‘Let’s Do Lunch’. People need to watch out for a festival-branded table and chairs which will pop up in unexpected places around the city each weekday morning, inviting them to post a picture to be in with a chance of winning a daily free lunch prize for two.

How many restaurants are participating and where can we see a list of them?

In total 36 restaurants within the City Centre and West End areas have signed up to take part in this year’s Festival, from classic establishments such as Harvey Nichols, Hadrian’s Brasserie and The Pompadour by Galvin, to recent openings including CAU, Badger & Co, Cadiz and Cup Tea Lounge. See all the restaurants here.

What’s the most exciting or unusual restaurant taking part in 2016?

There are plenty of really exciting events scheduled in to the programme this year, but if people want to try something new to the City, we have some great activity happening at some newly opened outlets including seafood restaurant Cadiz, Scottish teahouse favourite Cup, multi award-winning gin bar, Gin 71 and Italian Wine Café, Veeno. In addition, Badger & Co recently reached finalist level within the Britain’s Best Beer Garden 2016 Awards, proving to be an exciting lunch location for the Festival.

Any amazing deals we should know about?

The Festival is a really good way to try out some of the City’s best restaurants at a great price. For example, if you’ve ever fancied fine dining at Restaurant Mark Greenway, they are featuring an amazing 2 course lunch for £15 and 3 course dinner for £25 throughout the Festival. Another great example is Chaophraya where there is 30% off the A La Carte menu.

Is there anything on for families?

Within the host of participating restaurants, there is a fantastic selection of child-friendly dining options. Family favourites with great children’s menus include GUSTO, Las Iguanas, Hard Rock Café, The Filling Station, Amarone Edinburgh and Harvey Nichols Forth Floor Restaurant.

To view all of the official participating restaurants, special events and offers, visit the Festival webpage at www.edinburghrestaurantfestival.com.