Food and drink writer Sarah Campbell reviews Nishiki in Edinburgh, an izakaya-inspired spot recently named as one of the UK's best new restaurants for 2026.
The communal dining table can make or break a restaurant.
If you’re lucky, sitting side by side with strangers feels like a spirited family-style banquet that celebrates the experience of a meal shared. If the vibe is off, it’s an evening of awkward eye contact, jostling for elbow space, and worrying that your neighbour might have overheard that salacious snippet of gossip you probably weren’t meant to share in public.
Which of these fates will befall us at Nishiki in Edinburgh tonight is yet to be determined.
Recently named by Condé Nast as one of the UK’s best new restaurants, this izakaya-inspired spot is a little sister to chef Max Wang's award-winning Yamato in Tollcross.
Though there are detached tables of two and four dotted around the edges of the space, we’ve been tossed straight into the frying pan at their long, shared seating area. With an assortment of paper lanterns hanging over blonde wooden furniture, it's somewhere between an Apple Store and a Japandi furniture showroom on the scale of minimalist chic.
A couple of sakes are ordered stat to stave off any social anxiety or concern over how our chopstick skills will hold up under the scrutiny of our new dinner companions. The Umenoyado Yuzu (£10) tart and full of bright citrus, and the Suigei Tokubetsu Junmai ‘Drunken Whale’ (£9) complex and umami-rich. They do the trick just fine.
Slowly relaxing into our surroundings, first up is a trio of Takoyaki (£7), ball-shaped bites of batter that hide chunky slices of octopus in their fluffy core, topped with a sprinkling of delicate bonito fish flakes.
With our backs to the kitchen, the couple sitting opposite us clock our server approaching with a magnificent slab of pork tonkatsu (£19) before we do, their eyes widening with a look that can only mean ‘damn, we should have ordered that’. A valid response. I, too, would be filled with envy to watch this enormous cutlet of juicy pork, pounded flat and deep-fried in a crisp breadcrumbed coating, delivered to anyone else.
Smaller in size but just as impressive are yakitori skewers of flame-grilled chicken skins (£6), with fat rendered until firm and plump, then slathered with a sticky tare sauce that’s sweet, tangy and brimming with smokiness.
Read more from Sarah Campbell:
The wagyu temaki (£10), I’m not so hot on. Served as an elongated roll of seaweed-wrapped sushi rice, the premium-quality beef, truffle and chive offering is missing a deft touch demonstrated elsewhere. Like in that elegant sesame-crusted seared tuna (£9) from the ‘raw bar’, wrapped around a twist of matchstick cucumbers that arches high off the plate.
While still greedily returning to strips of tonkatsu between each dish, there’s yet more pork meat to be found in a bowl of aka ramen (£19), this time in slender chashu slices striped with a thick seam of belly fat. There’s a brilliant silkiness to the chicken broth here, the perfect base for a dash of homemade spicy sauce and a jammy, soy-marinated, soft-boiled egg perched on a half-submerged island of noodles, bamboo shoots and leeks.
Maybe it's the sake kicking in, but making our way through Nishiki's small plates while a soundtrack of upbeat city pop plays in the background, things are beginning to feel a world away from the streets of Edinburgh outside.
That is, until our server interrupts the feast to tell us it’s last orders at 8.25 pm. Hardly in line with the lively late-night izakaya culture the team borrows inspiration from, but hey, it’s close enough.
One by one, our fellow diners finish up, and after a vibrant green swirl of matcha soft serve (£6), we’re not far behind them, heading out into an eclectic foodie neighbourhood that feels like a suitable home for the Yamato team’s new venture.
Does Nishiki earn its listing among the UK’s best new restaurants? Yep. I’d say so. While the atmosphere is a touch stiff at times despite the communal dining, it feels like we’ve barely scratched the surface of their menu tonight, with dishes that narrowly missed the final cut but have been firmly marked as a must for next time.
Quite frankly, they could seat us at a table that’s shared, private, or even by the potwash station in the kitchen, and I’d still jump at the chance to order that tonkatsu again.
Menu: Small plates, ramen, sushi and grilled meats. The menu here is perfectly judged, with plenty to warrant a return visit. 5/5
Service: It's a young team who are upbeat and friendly, but mostly leave you to it after ordering. 3/5
Atmosphere: It's not quite the lively, sake-led izakaya bar you might expect, with atmosphere a little stiff at times despite our communal dining table, but this clean, minimalist space looks great. 3/5
Price: Fair for the quality on offer, though it can add up quickly if you’re ordering widely across the menu. 3/5
Food: Confident, well-executed dishes with standout highlights like the tonkatsu and ramen, with just the odd misstep, it's not hard to see how Nishiki earned its spot on the best new restaurants list. 8/10
Total: 22/30
Nishiki is located at 151 to 155 Morrison Street in Edinburgh.
Sarah Campbell is The Herald’s Food and Drink writer and restaurant critic. You can find her on X or Instagram @sz_campbell.
Share