This Edinburgh restaurant is raising the steaks one delicious meal at a time

If you consider yourself a bit of an aficionado when it comes to steak, Edinburgh’s Chop House is probably already on your radar. Renowned for its excellent knowledge and care of the finest British beef, it’s a dining destination that’s not to be missed. With three restaurants across the capital, you’d think it would be easy to get a table - but Chop House’s popularity means it remains sought-after, whichever venue you’re visiting.

We visited the original Chop House in Leith earlier this autumn, to enjoy a celebratory family meal. It’s exactly the kind of place for this kind of thing; warm and ambient, with the right level of background music, comfy chairs and a broad menu of crowd-pleasing dishes, we’re confident you could bring even the fussiest diner here and they’d find something to enjoy.

With four big appetites to sate, we decided on a selection of starters to share: the charcoal salmon, the asparagus with hazelnut and bearnaise sauce, crispy chilli squid, and a delicious short rib Scotch egg. Portions are fairly large, so you can definitely afford to share a starter if you’re not ravenous - but they’re so tasty that you might not want to! We particularly loved the moreish Scotch egg, with melting beef short rib, a soft yolk and rich marrow gravy, and the asparagus with its silky sauce.

Moving on to the main courses, of course steak is the most popular option at Chop House. Butchered and dry-aged in-house for 35 days, using Himalayan salt, the beef is always cooked on the charcoal grill for maximum flavour and those tempting grill marks. You can choose an individual portion of crowd-pleasing cuts, like rump, sirloin, rib-eye and fillet, or you can feast on a sharing cut of chateaubriand, porterhouse or bone-in rib. Three of us chose the steak, opting for rumps and a ribeye respectively, served with bearnaise, peppercorn and blue cheese sauces, and sides of straw fries.

It will come as no surprise that the beef was beautifully cooked, exactly to our liking - juicy, pink and flavourful, with a wonderful smoky taste from the charcoal grill. The sauces were vibrant, velvety in texture and absolutely delicious, ideal for mopping up with the crispy fries.

What may come as a surprise is how well Chop House does seafood and fish. One of our party ordered the monkfish tail; a huge slab of juicy fish, with a vivid tandoori spice, and a side of mango salsa and pickled veg. Monkfish is always a joy to eat, but spiced and served in this way, we all had to sample it - the spice managed to support the fish without overwhelming the flavour, the dish looked beautiful too. We all loved it, and I’d definitely think about ordering this next time.

I would say that we were too full for dessert, and we probably were - but we still couldn’t resist ordering the salted caramel fondue to share, and a platter of three I.J Mellis cheeses. The fondue was luxurious, with marshmallows, strawberries and even pineapple chunks for dipping, whilst our selection of cheeses felt decadent - a truly indulgent way to end our meal.

If you’re looking for a restaurant in Edinburgh where you can sit back and relax, assured that you’ll receive great food and great service, we definitely recommend the Chop House.

To book your table, visit chophousesteak.co.uk.