If you’re going to blow the budget in style: go to Lyla where Stuart Ralston – executive chef and owner of four restaurants in the city – is at the peak of his powers. Expect 10 delicate-but-dazzling seafood-focused courses from the open kitchen. A year since eating here I still recall tender cured plaice decorated with radish flowers, an individual exmoor caviar pearl in every bud; cured trout sashimi fanned into petals on smooth salty chawanmushi, with marigold, lemon and nori, and a fat langoustine wrapped in crisp pastry strands, dunked in burnt apple and sorrel ketchup.

Eatingat Michelin star-holder Stuart Ralston’s Lyla – a calm, white space dedicated to food, could be described as a Zen-like experience so hypnotically intense is the open kitchen, so attention-demanding the cooking. It’s a formal experience, starting with sophisticated cocktails and ‘snacks’ before tasting menus (ten courses for dinner, five or seven at lunch) focusing primarily on first-class fish and sea food (think langoustines, turbot, etc). Meticulously composed and inventively flavourful, you’ll be thinking about you’ve eaten for days.

Chef and restaurateur Stuart Ralston is a big player in the Edinburgh dining scene, with no fewer than four restaurants in The MICHELIN Guide. This, the MICHELIN-Starred crown jewel in his empire, is a seafood-focussed operation that puts Scottish produce front and centre. A tasting menu format allows for greater seasonality and though it may be pricey, you’ll get some expertly prepared luxury ingredients for your money.

While it’s too early for Tomas and Rodney to celebrate another Michelin success for their latest ventures, Stuart Ralston might be, as his restaurant Lyla - which opened on the site of 21212 in 2023 - is gaining critical praise. Dishes at this elegant restaurant (the rooms are still being run by the late Paul Kitching’s wife Katie O’Brien) include N25 caviar with wild bream, black radish and sea buckthorn as well as Isle of Skye langoustine, bonito emulsion and burgundy sorrel followed by Chawanmushi with razor clam, fermented white asparagus and laminated brioche with cultured butter and whipped macadamia. Could it be the latest Edinburgh restaurant to gain that coveted star?

LYLA has made it into the guide as one of the best Edinburgh Michelin restaurants thanks to its enticing, modern dishes and talented chefs. This luxurious spot can be found within a row of Georgian townhouses on Royal Terrace, doubling as a hotel, with tasting menus available for lunch or dinner. Nab a five-course afternoon meal on Fridays or Saturdays for £65 per person - featuring refined Scottish plates of seafood like langoustines or halibut - or enjoy ten courses in the evening for £165.

Recently opened Lyla marks Stuart Ralston’s fourth Edinburgh restaurant and a clear move in a more overtly fine dining direction for the Scottish chef. Housed in the Georgian townhouse which once housed the late Paul Kitching’s 21212, Lyla is spread across two floors – the first, an elegant dining room with an open kitchen; the second, a moody bar for pre-dinner cocktails. Ralston’s menu is a seafood-heavy, tasting-menu-only experience.

Certainly one of the best restaurants in Edinburgh, LYLA is a Michelin-starred spot that focuses on sustainable seafood off the coast of Scotland. As is the case with almost any Michelin-starred restaurant, the LYLA dining experience is a tasting menu, both at dinner and lunch. But if you fancy a long afternoon or evening of grazing on top-notch and creative Scottish-accented fare, you can’t pick a better place.

28-cover LYLA offers diners the chance to experience a seafood focused tasting menu that is an ode to produce from the Scottish Isles. Welcomed by the champagne trolley, guests ease into their experience with snacks and refreshments before being taken back downstairs, past the open kitchen and towards their table for the evening. The experience is interactive and relaxed, with dishes being finished tableside.

Lyla is Stuart Ralston’s fourth Edinburgh restaurant, this time offering visitors a honed fine dining experience focused on sustainable seafood, organic UK-sourced meat and produce from local growers and foragers. Begin upstairs with cocktails and canapes in the drawing room, before moving to the ground floor dining room for 10 supreme courses.

Lyla is owned by chef Stuart Ralston, who also owns Aizle, Tipo and Noto, all restaurant leaders in the Scottish capital. Aizle was his flagship, but I think Lyla has now become his fine-dining baby. It is where 21212 was [though you can still stay in their rooms upstairs above the restaurant].

The line between experience and ordeal is a boundary routinely tested by the modern tasting menu. When the format soars, as it does here, it can be like a symphony. A recent addition to chef-patron Stuart Ralston’s Edin… Read more

Lyla offers tasting menus showcasing scallops from the Isle of Skye, lobster from Peterhead and trout from Loch Etive, to name just a few.

The establishment is also known for its foraged and locally grown ingredients, making Lyla one of the city’s "finest" seafood experiences.