Edinburgh named second UK city for eating out

Edinburgh is the best place to eat out in the UK, behind London, according to a restaurant guide.

Mark Greenaway's restaurant was among those named as "Top Scorers" in the guide.

Harden’s 26th annual poll of diners found the capital was the second best city in terms of quality of food, with 10 restaurants amongst the guide’s UK Top Scorers, out of 250 in the country as a whole.

Restaurants singled out included Timberyard, Restaurant Mark Greenaway and Aizle in the "Top Scoring" restaurants, as well as Mother India Cafe and Kanpai, which were ranked in the under £60 category. A Top Scoring restaurant is defined in the guide as either any restaurant charging over £60 per person scoring 4/5 or higher, or any establishment charging under £60 per person achieving the top 5/5 score. Other high end top scoring eateries included Number One, The Kitchin, Restaurant Martin Wishart, 21212 and The Castle Terrace restaurant.

Manchester achieved the guide’s biggest number of inclusions outside London with 52 restaurants, while Edinburgh has 43 listings.

The guide’s editor and co-founder Peter Harden said: “What is impressive about the Edinburgh restaurant scene is its quality at all price levels.”

"Manchester’s economic boom is there to be seen in terms of its number of overall restaurants, and there are many fabulous restaurants now in the city, but it is still losing out to Edinburgh when it comes the best destinations."

Brighton and Leeds tied with Manchester for the third position in terms of Top Scorers, while Liverpool and Cardiff were amongst large cities with no Top Scoring restaurants, despite a high number of overall inclusions, suggesting both cities have further to go to develop as quality dining destinations.