Leonardo DiCaprio visits Edinburgh restaurant to help the homeless

Leonardo DiCaprio drew huge crowds when he popped into an Edinburgh restaurant that helps the homeless.

The Oscar winner was invited to visit Home by co-founder Josh Littlejohn ahead of an appearance at the Scottish Business Awards in Scotland's capital tonight.

Fans gathered to catch a glimpse of their idol. One fan told ITV News Scottish Correspondent Peter Smith that the experience was "amazing".

"He's an actor who uses his fame to try and change the world and I think a lot more people should be like that.

"And he's an incredible actor," he said.

Leo was given lamb tagine for lunch at Home, which was set up by Mr Littlejohn and Dean Gassabi, who owns the award winning fine dining Maison Bleue restaurants.

He was joined at the table by Edinburgh local, Elise Lovell who won a competition to dine with the star after donating £5 to buy a meal for a homeless person at the restaurant.

Biffy Mackay, a trainee chef with Social Bite, helped prepare the meal for the movie star.

She said: "He was so nice, so down to earth.

"I told him I've loved him since I was nine and that I did a project about him at school, he said 'that's so cool'."

The 28-year-old added: "I've been given an amazing opportunity by Social Bite and I'm loving it.

"Social Bite's changed my life because it gives me something to look forward to every day.

"Previously I had some hard times with being homeless and a few issues with drugs and alcohol, so it wasn't a good time."

This isn't the first time the enterprise has welcomed a Hollywood star - last year George Clooney popped in to meet staff at the sandwich shop, Social Bites.

Home was set up to provide training and employment for members of the Social Bite Academy, a four-year paid course for homeless people.

Social Bite has cafes in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen which operate the same "pay forward" scheme and employ a number of people who have previously been homeless.