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Edinburgh Restaurants

Chinese Restaurants

• Loon Fung (556-1781), 2 Warriston Place. An extremely good Chinese restaurant with beautifully prepared food. The cuisine is mainly Szechuan and Cantonese. The delicious fried seaweed is a revelation (try it: you will like it). Expect to pay £12 a head excluding wine.
• Oriental Dining Centre (221-1288), 8-14A Morrison Street. A related group of restaurants comprising the Rainbow Arch restaurant on ground level; the Noodle Shack on the first floor and Henry's Dim Sum Bar in the basement. In the Rainbow Arch expect to pay around £20 per person for dinner in the evening. The Noodle Shack is cheaper, with prices of around £6-£7. In Henry's in the basement prices start at £2 for dim sum. Because the three restaurants are together they are not usually too crowded and it is often possible to get in if you have not booked in advance. Caution: Henry's Dim Sum Bar has a karaoke evening on Saturdays. Avoid avoid avoid.
• Szechuan House (229-4655), 95 Gilmore Place. Good Spicy Chinese, though not too good for vegetarians. Price around £8-£15 per person.

French Restaurants

• L'Auberge (556-5888), 58 St. Mary's Street. Expensive, but very French, food is excellent.
• La Bonne Vie (667 1110), 49 Causewayside. Intimate restaurant with friendly staff. Lunch prices are £5.50-6.50 and evening meals are around £12.50. The restaurant is now licenced, and has abandoned its policy of encouraging you to bring your own wine. There is now a corkage charge.
• Pig's Bistro (667 6676), 41 West Nicolson Street. An absolutely tiny restaurant serving delicious omlettes, crêpes and gallettes. In the evening two and three course set meals are available for £11.50 and £13.50. Bring your own wine.
• Le Sept (225-5428), 7 Old Fishmarket Close. An out-of-the-way restaurant specialising in crêpes. Licensed.
• Grain Store restaurant (225 7635), 30 Victoria Street. Food cooked to order in an interesting setting. Set lunch is £7 and evening meals about £20. Special diets (e.g. vegan) catered for.
• Howies (668 2917), 75 St Leonards Street; also (313 3334), 63 Dalry Road and (221 1777), 208 Bruntsfield Place. Excellent French/Scottish food in a small intimate restaurant. Lunch prices are £6.50-7.50 and evening meals are around £14. No smoking after 9pm.
• Merchants (225 4009), 17 Merchant Street, off Candlemaker Row. Good French/Scottish food in a bright, attractive restaurant. Lunch from £9--11. Evening meal prices vary.
• Pierre Victoire: 10 Victoria Street (225-1721), 8 Union Street (557-8451), 38-40 Grassmarket (226-2442), Dock Place (555-6178), 17 South Queensferry Road (226-1890), 10 Edinburgh Road, South Queensferry (331-5006). Very popular (always crowded) restaurants serving good French food at reasonable prices. The restaurants vary in theme: the Leith restaurant in Dock Place concentrates on fish dishes. The atmosphere of rather harassed waiters and occasional delays in being served is part of the experience so be prepared to accept this with good grace: do not go if you do not have time to spend over your meal. Price around £5 for lunch, £15 for dinner (with wine).

Italian Restaurants

• Bepe Vittorio (226 7267), 7 Victoria Street. An Italian restaurant without pizzas! A three-course lunch is very inexpensive at £5. Dinner similarly might be as little as £9. Excellent house wine is available.
• Dario's Pizza House (229-9625), 87 Lothian Road. Nice, clean Italian restaurant, reasonable veggie food; £7-£10.
• Librizzi's (668-1997), 22A Nicolson Street. Basement restaurant across from Nicolson Square, convenient for the Edinburgh Festival Theatre. Open Monday to Saturday 12:00-2:00 and 5:30-11:00. Expect to pay about £15 to £20. Recommended.
• Mammas (225-6464), 30 Grassmarket. Pizza cooked to your order, not microwaved. Wide variety of toppings including haggis (don't eat this).
• Pasquales Restaurant and Pizzeria (228 3115), 169 Gilmore Place. Inexpensive pizzas and pastas. Mr Pasquale sings while he is serving you!
• Tinelli Ristorante (652-1932), 139 Easter Road. Good Italian cooking. The à la carte menu is £14 upwards. Sometimes fully booked two to three weeks in advance.
• The Caprice Restaurant (554-1279/2430), 327 Leith Walk (half way down). Unpretentious and not too noisy with nice staff. Cheap.

Mexican Restaurants

• Coco Loco's (228 1345), 3 Grove Street. Mexican food in an absolutely tiny restaurant. Unlicensed. Three course set menu for £12.95. Open Tuesday-Saturday 6pm-late. Bring your own wine or beer.
• Tex Mex (225 1796), 47 Hanover Street. Nice food in a very popular restaurant.
• Viva Mexico, Cockburn St (226-5145), 50 East Fountainbridge (228-4005). Variety of vegetarian food available. Tasty, filling meals at reasonable price. Prices from £6 to £11 per dish. A three course meal would be around £16 to £20. Cocktails, margaritas and sangria are excellent.

Thai Restaurants

• Buntom's Thai Restaurant (557 8212), 9 Nelson Street. The first Thai restaurant to open in Scotland. Prices vary from £10 to £18.
• Siam Erwan (226 3675), 48 Howe Street, the continuation of Fredrick Street. A basement restaurant with authentic Thai cuisine. The Lab chicken is recommended. Evening prices about £12.
• Ayutthaya (556 9351), 14b Nicholson Street. Small, inexpensive Thai place with charming staff.

Vegetarian Restaurants

• Annpurna (662 1807), 45 St Patrick Square. Vegetarian restaurant specialising in Gujurati and southern Indian food. Inexpensive lunches. Intensive service.
• Banns Vegetarian Café (226 1112), 5 Hunter Square. Good quality inexpensive café with the sort of restful atmosphere which is ideal for sitting and passing Sunday reading the paper (supplied free) and drinking cappuccino. Not as small as it looks from outside, there is an upstairs also. Open until 11pm seven days.
• Kalpna (667-9890), 2/3 St. Patrick's Square, off Nicholson St. Indian vegetarian, with some vegan dishes. Prices about £10 per head. A buffet lunch is £4.50.
• Helios Fountain (229 7884), 7 The Grassmarket. Situated at the bottom of the Grassmarket, this is a vegetarian café. Excellent for lunch, it closes at 6pm. Entirely non-smoking.
• Henderson's Salad Table (225-2131), 94 Hanover St. Nice salads, good food, good for lunches.
• Pierre Lapin (662 1849), 113 Buccleuch Street. A French vegetarian restaurant! Very variable in quality, with good days and bad days, it would not be possible to recommend it as confidently as (the non-vegetarian) Pierre Victoire. A fish dish is usually available. (£5 lunch, £8 up dinner).
• Seeds Co-operative Ltd. (667 8673), 53 West Nicholson Street. Wholefood vegetarian cafe across from the Appleton Tower.

Scottish

• Jackson's (225-1793), 209 High Street. The idea of a Scottish restaurant located downstairs in a basement off one of Edinburgh's busiest tourist streets [along the Royal Mile] immediately sets alarm bells ringing in your head but in fact Jackson's is a real find. The food is very nice and the staff are pleasant. Vegetarians might find that there is only one option on the menu for them however. Lunch is very good value at £5-£6 but in the evening the prices are much higher [about £30 per head].

Bistros and Cafés

• La Baguette (668 4332), 32 West Nicholson St.
• Cellar Number 1 (220 4298), 1a Chambers Street. Excellent selections of wine in a basement location.
• Café Rouge (225-4515), Fredrick Street. Part of the well-known chain. Nice atmosphere. Non-alcoholic coctails are available.
• The Elephant House (220-5355), 21 George IV Bridge. A tea and coffee house with a very pleasant view from the back room of Edinburgh Castle. Newspapers and magazines are supplied. Usually crowded.
• Nicolsons (557-4567), 6 Nicolson Street. Tastefully decorated and spacious restaurant with relaxed atmosphere; very suitable for light meals before the theatre (just across the road). Recommended.
• Metropole Coffee House (668-4999), 29-33 Newington Road. Very pleasant café which provides today's newspapers and a selection of board games.
• Parrots (229-3252), 3 Viewforth, Bruntsfield. Tiny bistro, incredible atmosphere and music (sort of 1950s Parisian, lots of Piaf etc). Wide range of vegetarian and British food. Absolutely non-smoking throughout. Expect to pay £14 a head.

A selection

• The Buffalo Grill (667-7427), 14 Chapel St, opposite Appleton Tower. Very good steak, but no licence. About £10 for a good sized steak and desert
• Marrakech (556 7293), 30 London Street. Very excellent couscous and tagines. Tremendously warm hospitality. Very good, very good. Unlicenced. Price from £7 for two courses.
• Phenecia (662-4493), 55 West Nicholson Street. Kitsch `chips-with-everything' style eastern food. Probably better for lunch than a full meal. Price from £10 upwards for two courses.
• The Shore (553-5080) - Sea food. 3 The Shore (Leith). £5-8 for main courses.

Classics

• Carlton Highland Hotel (556 7277), North Bridge. The Carvery; Feature: go round for unlimited second helpings, without extra charge. £15 for 3-course meal.
• Views Restaurant, Mount Royal Hotel, Princes Street (225-7161). Evening buffet (expensive), tea and cakes in a quiet setting, open until 10:00pm.

Snack Places

• The Queen's Hall (668-3456), South Clerk Street. Good salads. Some nice hot dishes. Real coffee. Not cheap, but pleasant.
• Victoria and Albert (226-4562), 13a/15a Frederick Street. Old English pub and bar. Piano music after 8:30. Main course £8-10.

Outside Town

• County Hotel (663 3495), 152 High Street Dalkeith. Excellent quality, £10
• The Waterside Bistro (062082 5674), Haddington, 1/5 Waterside, Nungate.
• Burnside Bistro at Howgate (0968 78341)
• The Old Howgate Inn (0968 74244), Wester Howgate (South of Penicuik). Good open-face sandwiches, soups and sweets; excellent beef fondue. Nice surroundings in the old inn. From £10 upwards.