Henderson’s

Organic, vegetarian, to go. A full meal goes up to no less than £7. Burritos, wraps and burgers with a variety of fresh side salads. Cakes and pastries are sold as dessert, but you can find chocolates and other sweets at their displays. The top bar serves food until 5pm, then the lower floor opens as a cafeteria. A satisfactory meal, filling and healthy.

I feel like New Town is lacking for a quick and healthy bite near Princes Street, and finally got around to visiting the deli at Henderson’s. It sits above the restaurant and offers counter service with a full range of drinks and lots of options for salads and small bites. They also had 3 soups to select from, all sounded good, but I opted for the pea and mint. The soup was delicious and tasted very fresh, as did the two salads I got with it. In total it was £6.50 for the soup and salads with some nice fresh bread. The salads were a broccoli and olive with tomato and then a beetroot and carrot, both were tasty and fresh. I couldn’t finish it all with the amount I was given. There isn’t a lot of seating, but it was a nice spot to have a bite. They also have breads and rolls to take away and a range of health food products should you fancy buying something at random when getting some lunch.

I used to walk past Henderson’s all the time and always wanted to go, but never quite made it. I now live on the other side of town, but managed to make it along with a friend one weekend lunchtime. It was rather busy, so we joined the queue and eyed up the cabinet delights, as didn’t want a huge meal or to linger too long. I wanted one of the tasty looking salads, but didn’t think that would fill me up, so got a pizza bread slice to go with it and my friend got soup with oatcakes, as she had never tried them before, and a large slice of carrot cake to finish.
My pizza bread was lukewarm, but couldn’t be bothered waiting to get it heated some more, so just went with it. The salad was rather tasty though — greens, roasted pumpkin, feta and seeds. My friend said the soup was nice, but nothing amazing and the oatcakes were rather on the dry side. I’m not sure if these were homemade oatcakes, but they looked a little different to normal.
I tried some of her carrot cake as well and it was nice and moist with extremely sweet cream cheese icing.
We were seated in an area around the corner, which was an unusual space, with low ceilings, but kind of cosy. Overall I was a little disappointed and wouldn’t rush back, although am willing to give Henderson’s another chance.

The best food I’ve ever eaten in my entire life. Henderson’s is a must if you are in Edinburgh. It’s purely vegetarian, but don’t let that put you off; even if you’re not vegetarian I think you’ll love it. The food is second to none. It’s a Scottish institution and is world renowned. A deli/​bakery and canteen style restaurant during the day, Henderson’s on Hanover Street converts to a table service restaurant after 5pm. They also have a Bistro on Thistle Street. I visited the Hanover Street restaurant on Wednesday evening. We pre-​booked a table and I’m glad we did as it was very busy. The main restaurant area was booked out for a private party, however we managed to get a table in the more relaxed canteen style area. It definitely has a super relaxed café vibe and could benefit from dimmed lighting and/​or candles in the evening. Some music would be good as well to enhance the atmosphere. We didn’t mind though — our visit was purely to sample the world famous food.
My two dining companions started with red pepper hummus, flatbreads & pickled veg. I opted for vegetarian haggis with oat cakes & whisky cream sauce. My companions both went for mains of thai nut burgers, with salad, potato wedges & lime coconut cream. I choose the polenta tower main (polenta cake, portobello mushrooms, goats cheese, olive tapenade, roast cherry tomatoes, salsa, green peppers and rocket leaves). Desserts consisted of cherry pie with soya ice cream and a crème brûlée. There’s a great wine and beer list with lots of organic options. I’ve eaten in michelin star restaurants which haven’t served food as good as Henderson’s does. The food here is delectable. Don’t expect it to be cheap though just because it’s vegetarian (I noticed some other reviews complained about the cost). Prices are what you would pay in any restaurant, however you will get supreme, fine, delicious, top quality food here. The greatest grub ever! I wish there was a Henderson’s in Belfast…

Always nice to find an all vegetarian restaurant in northern Europe! So many options! My partner and I both got the risotto and side salads. I thought the risotto was so so but my partner really loved it. It was quite moist and creamy. Side salads nothing special, but they have a lot to choose from which is nice.
The star of the show was the fruite almond torte thing with fresh whipped crème that I had for dessert. Oh. My. God. So amazing.
I would probably give it a 3 ½ star if I could. The atmosphere is quite cute.

Warum schaffen es die Deutschen nicht, ein wirklich gutes vegetarisches Restaurant zu etablieren? Edinburgh dagegen ist seit bald 50 Jahren (!!!) mit dem Henderson’s gesegnet und ein Besuch hier in der Stadt ist für mich gleichzeitig ein Besuch dort für ein ultimativ leckeres vegetarisches Essen (neben FfT in London) — und macht nicht nur mich glücklich!
Trotz Selbstbedienung ist man hier gut aufgehoben, man sitzt gemütlich im alten Gewölbe (vielleicht nicht der Hit an einem sonnigen Sommertag), der immer lächelnde Service ist äußerst freundlich und aufmerksam.
Das Essen variiert täglich, es gibt stets ein Lunch-​offer für knapp 9 Pfund, die Portionen sind mehr als ausreichend und das Essen einfach extrem lecker und geschmackvoll (z. B. das vegetarische Haggis). Auch Veganer oder diverse Unverträglichkeiten werden hier bedient.
Ein Deli oberhalb an der Ecke versorgt die Stadt mit Leckereien zum Mitnehmen.
Abends gibt es wechselnde (u. a. musikalische) Veranstaltungen.