Maya

Eagerly awaited fine-dining restaurant Maya opened with local chef Gabe Lea at the helm but by the end of 2024, he’d done a switcheroo with Shaun Moffat over at Edinburgh Castle.

Now Lea is chef at Edinburgh Castle, and Moffat has taken his place at Maya, and the food has inched towards Modern British rather than the old-school classic French cooking it opened with.

Moffat’s reassuringly compact menu features dishes such as sea trout with Victoria plum relish and cress as a starter, and kohlrabi with hen of the woods mushroom as a vegetarian main. There is plenty for meat-eaters with two steaks and a house burger listed when we visited. Puddings are a triumph with highlights including a light and more-ish chocolate crèmeux, and a rich buttercup yellow custard tart.

Set over three floors, the food is served on the subterranean second floor, an opulent and moody refuge of golds and deep blues with an ornate gilded bar as the centrepiece. Above, the street level ground floor hosts a bar and brasserie – this is where they serve their highly rated Sunday roasts.

There’s a romantic ambiance in the restaurant but it can seem a little too dark for dining. Nevertheless, the food and service are very good and it’s just right for a special occasion.

Drinks are a big deal. There’s some excellent cocktails with smart reimaginings of classics and some unlikely but successful combinations. The banana Manhattan for example, and the salt-honey highball.