Cutting Chaii is a modern indian restaurant in Leith, Edinburgh. Rated 4.7 stars from 461 Google reviews. Known for gunpowder chicken and butter paneer and attentive, warm staff. Best for birthday celebrations and solo dining. Price range: £20–30.
Cutting Chaii is rated 4.7★ on Google (461 reviews) and 4.7★ on TripAdvisor (125 reviews) — a consistent rating across both platforms.
Rankings updated
Cutting Chaii
Across 428 rated reviews, 92% gave four or five stars.
| Rating | 4.7★ |
| Reviews | 461 |
| 1-star share | 2.8% |
| Best for | Dinner |
In Their Own Words
Review highlights surfaced by Google — shown in English, with the original beneath
“Very much enjoyed the food and the friendly service from the staff.”
“Cooked in a creamy sauce so so tasty.”
“Cosy environment, friendly staffs and extremely delicious foods.”
Consistently rated across Google and TripAdvisor
586 reviews across two platforms
Quick Verdict
Cutting Chaii delivers freshly made, flavourful Indian tapas with genuine hospitality and vegan options that don't feel like an afterthought.
You want tapas-style Indian cooking that tastes like it matters, in a room where staff remember your order.
About Cutting Chaii
Tapas-style Indian in Leith, and the format suits the food well: small plates built for sharing, intensely spiced and sized generously enough that ordering one dish per person is genuinely the move. The gunpowder chicken, butter paneer, khasta kachori and desi lamb are the dishes people keep coming back for, and the vegan options draw their own loyal crowd. What sets it apart most consistently, though, is the staff — Nero, the manager, coordinated a birthday dinner for 23 people with the kind of ease that earns repeat bookings, working through timings, starters and dessert presentation without a fault. For a celebration or a regular Tuesday, the service carries the same warmth either way.
In the last 90 days, Cutting Chaii has drawn 15 substantial written reviews (50+ characters of genuine feedback) — recent momentum that is one of the signals behind its place on the hot list.
What Stands Out
Gunpowder chicken and butter paneer
Google review topics show gunpowder chicken mentioned 8 times and butter paneer 7 times—the two most-named dishes after tapas itself—with recent reviews praising the desi lamb and describing creamy sauces as 'so so tasty'.
Attentive, warm staff
A September birthday review detailed how the manager worked through every element of the evening without prompting; another recent review called them 'absolutely the sweetest staff', and multiple reviews cite 'friendly service' and 'very kind staff'.
Generous portions and vegan options
Reviews consistently mention portion sizes as 'HUGE' and 'very generous'; Google attributes list vegan options with 14 mentions, and a review praised 'thoughtfully developed vegan options'.
Practical Information
Opening Hours
Contact
Frequently Asked Questions about Cutting Chaii
Cutting Chaii, in Leith, Edinburgh, is marked as popular for solo dining on Google. The bar onsite means a solo diner can order a drink while settling in, and the tapas-style menu—small plates like gunpowder chicken and butter paneer—works well for one person to graze through at their own pace.
Cutting Chaii welcomes special occasions and has proved particularly attentive to them. A September review of a 70th birthday celebration noted that the manager worked through every detail—when starters arrived, which mains were chosen, how dessert was presented—without needing to be asked.
Cutting Chaii offers vegan options that reviewers describe as thoughtfully developed, not an afterthought. Google attributes list vegan options among the top mentions, and the menu includes dishes like jackfruit in Punjabi masala alongside the main tapas selection.
Cutting Chaii's price range is £20–30 per head. Portions are generous—reviewers consistently note they are 'HUGE'—so one plate per person often suffices, and dessert rarely fits after the mains.
Cutting Chaii recommends reservations for dinner, though the bar onsite means walk-ins can order a drink while waiting for a table on quieter evenings. The restaurant accepts reservations and is family-friendly, with high chairs available.
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How We Rank Venues
Rankings are recalculated monthly from live Google Business Profile data. Our Hot Score weighs review velocity (new text reviews), baseline rating, and Google Business Profile completeness. No editorial picks, no paid placements — just what the data says this month.
Hot Score: 59/100 · ranked October 2026
The written profile on this page is generated from real Google reviews and reviewed monthly. Quotes are verbatim and belong to the people who wrote them — not to us.
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