Noto

Stuart Ralston named this restaurant after Bob Noto, his old New York flatmate — a detail that tells you something about the spirit of the place. There is an ease and confidence to Noto that comes from a chef and owner who is cooking the food he wants to cook, for people he expects will enjoy it, in a room built around conversation rather than performance.

The basement on Thistle Street — tucked off the grid of the New Town, requiring the effort of intention to find — has walls trimmed with wooden foliage, dried flowers on each table, and the low light of candles paired with exposed bulbs. The effect is intimate in the way that good intimate restaurants always feel: deliberate without being overwrought, designed to make the person across the table the focus of attention rather than the room around them.

The cooking is built around sharing plates that draw on Asian flavour principles applied to Scottish and seasonal European produce. Noto's Michelin Bib Gourmand — awarded to restaurants offering exceptional quality at reasonable prices — reflects both the ambition and the value of what arrives at the table. Small plates rotate with the season, with a sensibility that is sometimes Japanese, sometimes Scandinavian, consistently original, and reliably delicious.

The wine list is entirely focused on small domaine natural producers — sourced with the same care and attention that the kitchen applies to its ingredients. The selection changes regularly, the team's knowledge is genuine rather than rote, and there is a genuine pleasure in watching the right glass arrive with the right dish.

Noto solves the first date problem that plagues Edinburgh: too many restaurants here are either too casual (no occasion) or too formal (too much pressure). Noto sits in the space between — unquestionably impressive without being intimidating, genuinely good without demanding that the meal become the evening's only topic of conversation.

The small plates format is a first date gift. Sharing food creates natural interaction, removes the awkward formality of ordering independently, and provides a framework for conversation — "try this," "what do you think of that," "should we get another round?" — that flows from the meal rather than having to be manufactured around it. The low prices for the quality delivered mean the evening is not overshadowed by the bill. And the natural wine list provides something genuinely interesting to discuss for those who know wine, without being alienating for those who do not.

The menu changes frequently, but certain principles persist. The snacks are not afterthoughts — start there and allow the meal to build. The small plates benefit from being ordered in rounds rather than all at once: this creates a pace to the evening that keeps conversation alive and allows dishes to arrive at their best temperatures. The natural wine pairings by the glass, guided by the team, are consistently inspired and rarely predictable.

The not-so-small plates — heartier preparations that anchor the sharing format — are worth including for balance. Noto's cooking rewards a degree of adventurousness; the kitchen is not trying to be safe, and guests who approach it with curiosity rather than caution are consistently rewarded.