There are loads of restaurants in this street and round the corner
into Potterrow. My favourite is the Phenecia, and it is largely
for my own purposes that I'm recording their phone number, 662 4493.
They do very tasty food from all around the Mediterranean. You
can BYO, but they also have their own booze. As someone who has
eaten there quite a lot over the years, I'm really impressed by their
remarkably low staff turnover and the number of their staff who come
back to them if they've taken time out. I think that says a lot about a
place. Eat kushkia. Tell them I sent you.Another institution of West Nicolson Street is Susie's Diner, a relaxed veggie cafe where I have been known to teach my students. Their noticeboard is one of Edinburgh's useful places to find ads for rooms to let. Eat their tortilla, but, as in most wholesome places, be careful about pudding.
Avalanche Records is good for indie records and new stuff that's a bit
off the beaten track: Edinburgh bands, Glasgow bands, American lo-fi...
I go there for The Pastels, Jad Fair, Ganger, that kind of thing.
Finally, I cannot leave the street without mentioning the Pear Tree. Once upon a time, the Pear Tree was a really nice pub with really nice beer and really comfy furniture and really nice staff. In particular, it usually had Younger's No. 3, of which I am rather fond. It used to be the place you went when your rendezvous screwed up, because you'd probably meet someone you knew, or at least someone worth killing time with until whoever you had planned to meet figured out that you'd gone to the Pear Tree.
However, this pub is no more. Rumour has it that the owners asked the police to bust the place. The staff lost their jobs, the furniture was replaced, they hired much less cool people and made them wear uniform polo shirts, and they took away all the good beer. Grown men wept.
If anyone knows of a pub selling No. 3, please tell me.