Broughton Street has always been the part of Edinburgh's New Town that feels most like a village, and L'Escargot Bleu has spent more than fifteen years as its French corner.
Published February 3, 2026 · By Daniel Okafor
L'Escargot Bleu sits at 56 Broughton Street, a few minutes downhill from the top of Leith Walk and an easy walk from Waverley station. Betty Jourjon and Frédéric Berkmiller opened it as a French restaurant and wine bar, and it has held that ground in the Broughton neighborhood ever since. Tripadvisor ranks it #65 of more than 2,390 Edinburgh restaurants, a position it has defended for years.
The idea behind the place is simple and stubborn. French cooking, a Scottish larder, and a wine list that takes a side. Berkmiller is a vocal champion of organic and biodynamic French growers, and the cellar reads like an argument for them.
The wine bar underneath is the reason to file this under bars rather than restaurants. It pours by the glass from that same biodynamic-leaning list, so you can skip the full dinner and still drink the good stuff. A glass of Loire chenin or a Beaujolais cru, a plate of charcuterie, and the basement does the rest. The bottle list runs deep into small French growers most Edinburgh wine bars never carry, and the staff know every one of them. It earns a place on any honest list of the best wine bars in Edinburgh.
Order a Kir to start, made the proper way with crème de cassis and a dry white, then let the staff steer you toward a grower you have not met. The escargots are the house signature and the obvious move on a first visit. Skip the supermarket-familiar bottles, because the list is built to push you past them.
The room is warm and unhurried, closer to a Lyon bouchon than a tourist-trail bistro. Wood, low light, and tables packed close enough to hear French spoken at the next one. The Michelin Guide has listed it for years, and it holds an AA Rosette for culinary excellence. Much of the produce comes from the owners' own plot at Monkton, on the city's edge, which is the kind of detail that separates a real French kitchen from one playing the part.
The crowd is Broughton through and through. New Town locals on a midweek date, Leith Walk regulars marking a birthday, and a steady run of Francophiles who treat it as a piece of home. It fills early on Friday and Saturday, so a booking matters.
Come on a weekday evening for the quiet version, when the wine bar has room and the kitchen has time. Lunch service runs from noon and dinner from 5:30pm, and the doors close on Sunday. The basement is the move for a late, slow glass after the dining room has turned over.
What keeps L'Escargot Bleu on an Edinburgh list is conviction. It has cooked French food with Scottish produce and poured honest wine on the same street for more than fifteen years, and it has never chased a trend to do it. On Broughton Street, it is the room locals send visitors to first.
L'Escargot Bleu pairs with the rest of Edinburgh's wine-led drinking. In the Old Town, Divino Enoteca carries the Italian end of the same idea, while Whighams Wine Cellars near Charlotte Square has poured from its vaulted cellar since the 1980s. For a classic Edinburgh pub turn, Bennets Bar by the Kings Theatre is the move. Our roundup of the best date night bars in Edinburgh and the wider Edinburgh bar guide set the full scene.
