Dogstar - shines brightly in Leith

A kitchen cooking with intent and imagination, Dogstar turns discipline into creativity. Strict zero‑waste thinking and seasonality shapes the menu, but the experience is all generosity, precision and quiet brilliance.

When Bite was a young pup back in the 2000s, there was a bar called Sirius at Dock Place in Leith. Then, in Autumn 2025, a namesake — Dogstar — arrived along the road at Portland Place. Dogstar, or Sirius, means “bright star”, and this collaboration between Michelin‑level chef James Murray — part of the team that took Timberyard to its star — and Kyle Jamieson and Michael Lynch of Nauticus has created a gravitational pull to a space that was the Portland Bar pre-covid.

Collaborations minimise risk and make fiscal sense in a shaky hospitality sector. They can also inject new life into stale buildings. Both boxes have been ticked here, just as they have been at Brown’s, the revived engineering works at The Shore, and we hear there’s more on the horizon.

Dogstar has received rave reviews from credible voices, so we had to wait a while to secure a reservation. When we finally made it along on a Friday night, we were seated at a tiled bar that instantly transported us to Jerez or San Sebastián.

An Oyster Leaf Martini decompressed us after respective battles with commuter traffic. Then came Radishes with Cod Roe and Bread with Gruyère Custard topped with caramelised onions. The radishes, orange from fermentation then pickling, delivered a bright piquancy that played beautifully against the creamy roe and sweet onions. It also alerted us to the fact that Dogstar’s menu turns on the foraged and natural larder, elevated with technique and a confident, culinary hand.

We are sharing everything — there’s no deviation from small plates at Dogstar — so next come buttony Clams with Cider Butter, Brill with Sea Beets, and Alexanders, a coastal vegetable brightened with cedro lemon, that thick‑pulped cellulite-y citrus. The fish is robust, as are the vegetal flavours, all lifted by that perfume. Mussels with peppercorn sauce, cooked over coals, arrive with a charcoal edge that deepens their sweetness.

If you’ve noticed fewer fish dishes on menus lately, rising costs have pushed many kitchens to scale back, so it’s good to see seafood here. And although our final bill for the night creeps over £100 each, individual dishes feel fairly priced.

By this point we’re onto one of the many stars of the evening: the Ume‑Boosh — Patrón Silver tequila, Ilegal mezcal, umeshu sake, salted plum, champagne agave. Opaque pink from the plum, pretty but with real kick.

The purpose of this visit is to experience as much as possible (hence the bill), so we order two desserts. Rhubarb three ways with ice cream is a joy pregnant with spring promise, kept light and bright. Madeleines, served fresh from the oven — hot, buttery, aromatic — are eaten greedily and washed down with syrupy sherry.

There’s an ethical seam running through Dogstar, expressed in a menu that avoids waste and treats every available ingredient with purpose. That discipline unlocks creativity rather than constraint, pushing the kitchen to dishes that feel alive and intuitive and making Dogstar a guiding light in Scottish hospitality.

Related: read about more Scottish new wave restaurants here

Dogstar - 17 Portland Place, Edinburgh, Eh6 6LA  - t: +441315632776info@dogstarleith.com

Opening hours: Thursday 5:30pm – 9.00pm, Friday – Sunday noon – 2.00pm & 5:30pm – 9.00pm