Food: Value
| 04 August 2009
170 High Street, 0131 622 0667
NEAR Five minutes to Tattoo
It’s worth wading through the crush of the Royal Mile to get to this sunny café. It can sort you out with everything from a cup of coffee and slice of home-made carrot cake or a chunk of their aptly named banana bonanza to a healthy three-course lunch. The fresh fruit smoothies are a good pick-me-up after a long night’s carousing, and it does Fairtrade coffee so you can feel good about your caffeine addiction. A little oasis of calm amidst the maelstrom of the Fringe.
| 04 August 2009
104 Hanover Street, 0131 220 5155
NEAR Five minutes from Assembly Rooms
A recently arrived Italian cousin to The Dogs (see below), Amore offers hearty, rustic Italian cooking at knock-down prices. More than a run-of-the-mill pizza/pasta joint, the menu features less well known dishes such as a salad of orange, fennel and anchovies, or whole pigeon stuffed with lentils.
| 04 August 2009
45 St Patrick’s Square, 0131 662 1807
NEAR Five minutes to Queen’s Hall
A vegetarian restaurant that specialises in Gujerati cooking, the Ann Purna has long been a quiet success. A temple to healthy living, it is one of the few kitchens in Edinburgh that can take vegan customers in its stride. Typical dishes include aubergines, peas and potato in a mustard sauce, or stuffed tomatoes with paneer and mushrooms. Wash them down with a glass from their large range of exotic fruit juices and lassis.
| 04 August 2009
57-61 Blackfriar’s Street, 0131 557 6136
NEAR 10 minutes to the Pleasance
After a brief flirtation with meat and fish options, Bo’s is now firmly back in the total veggie camp. Chef/owner Albert rustles up starters such as a smoked almond nori roulade served with a red pepper salsa and pickled walnuts. Equally flamboyant are main courses like the aubergine stuffed with peppers, chilli and coconut milk topped with smoked tofu. The surroundings are ramshackle rather than rococo but don’t let that put you off. The restaurant is not quite as Bohemian as the adjacent bar but it still makes for a unique experience.
| 04 August 2009
60 Henderson Street, 0131 538 6131
NEAR Ten minute taxi ride to Playhouse
This recent opening has put a smart, modern veneer on an old Victorian boozer, and thrown down the gauntlet to Leith’s more established fish restaurants at the same time. Dinner is £19 for two courses and might include choices such as garlic mussels in a tomato and lemongrass soup, followed by spiced mackerel. Remarkably, around two thirds of the wine list is under £20.
| 04 August 2009
76 Thistle Street, 0131 226 2230
NEAR Five minutes to Assembly Rooms
7 Old Fishmarket Close, 0131 225 3838
NEAR Five minutes to Edinburgh Festival Theatre
The original Café Marlayne on Thistle Street booked up fast so the more recent branch just off the Royal Mile is a welcome addition. French cooking is the background note and it comes through most clearly in dishes such as the boudin noir with seared king scallops and asparagus. More globe-trotting choices might include seared tuna with lime, ginger, chilli, garlic, sesame oil, soy and pak choi. It is all hale and hearty stuff at bistro, rather than restaurant, prices.
| 04 August 2009
18 Eyre Place, 0131 556 0006
http://www.pierrelevicky.co.uk
NEAR Fifteen minutes to Assembly Rooms
The founder of the infamous Pierre Victoire chain is back in the city where his collapsed empire first started. Older, wiser but just as chirpy as before, his new venture offers a greatest hits of French bistro cooking with some exotica thrown in for good measure. Fans of the Old Pierre Victoire restaurants may be pleased to see the grilled mussels with garlic and Pernod butter back on the menu, along with dishes such as a cassoulet featuring goose, duck, white beans, Toulouse sausage and confit belly pork.
| 04 August 2009
248 Morrison Street, 0131 221 1155
NEAR Five minutes from EICC
Several steps removed from the sweet ‘n’ sour chicken gloop that characterises many Chinese restaurants, Chop Chop offers authentic dishes from north west China and there is nothing else quite like it in town. The utilitarian décor and canteen setting mean that this isn’t the place to try and charm a young thespian but it’s great for filling up with cheap and interesting grub. Highlights of the menu are the dumplings, which come boiled or fried. Try the pork and chive versions, although the beef and celery versions also have their fans
| 04 August 2009
88 Commercial Street, 0131 553 5933
http://www.daniels-bistro.co.uk
NEAR 10-minute taxi ride to city centre
A Leith stalwart, Daniel Wenckler’s cheery bistro specialises in provincial French cooking (with more than a passing nod to his home region of Alsace), and has prospered in a location where many restaurants with more high-flying menus have floundered. Raclette, fish soup, escargots, moules marinieres, cassoulet and confit duck are all present and correct. There are all manner of lunch and set dinner menus but the à la carte is pretty reasonable as well.
| 04 August 2009
56-58 St Mary’s Street, 0131 556 5888
NEAR Two minutes to Pleasance Courtyard
Long a champion of vegan and vegetarian food in Edinburgh, David Bann’s latest venture is a smart 21st century vegetarian restaurant and bar. As well as snacks and light meals, main courses include dishes such as chilli and orange roasted vegetables in a crepe with Criffell cheese. As you might expect, there is a wide range of fresh fruit juices and yoghurt drinks available but don’t overlook the short but potent cocktail list. Edinburgh’s best veggie restaurant? Lots of people would say yes.
| 04 August 2009
110 Hanover Street, 0131 220 1208
http://www.thedogsonline.co.uk
NEAR Five minutes from Assembly Rooms
Idiosyncratic restaurateur David Ramsden has got it right with this down to earth but stylish city centre venue. The old school British food is honest, straightforward and priced to go. A starter of mussels with cider and bacon is £4.25; smoked coley, champ and a poached duck egg is £8.10, while the slow roast duck leg and creamed cabbage is £8.75. One of Edinburgh’s more unlikely but lovable success stories.
| 04 August 2009
3-331 Leith Walk, 0131 554 2430
NEAR Ten minutes from Playhouse
The sister operation to old favourite La Vittoria, La Favorita is a swish-looking pizzeria and gourmet pasta restaurant. Using two wood-fired ovens, Tony Crolla wants to make ‘the best pizzas in Scotland’. There are a number of contenders for that crown but La Favorita is heading in the right direction with a purposeful glint in its eye. Try the Diavolina: tomato sauce, mozzarella, spicy Italian sausage, mushrooms and chilli. If pizza isn’t your thing then investigate the secondi section where fillet of lemon sole with balsamic vinegar, basil pesto, toasted almonds and pine nuts on a bed of lettuce leaves and roasted potatoes will set you back £11.95. Unusually, Gluten free pizza are available here.
| 04 August 2009
41 West Preston Street, 0131 667 4242
NEAR five minutes from Queens Hall
This small, plainly decorated, Turkish restaurant has made itself a welcome fixture in the Southside. The mixed mezze are fresh and zingy but save space for the chargrill. There are veggie options available, but the various kebabs are a meat-eater’s dream. There isn’t a single dish over a tenner, which, combined with the generous portions, means you would be hard pushed to eat more than £15 per head here. They sell raki but the Efe’s pilsner is a better bet if you want to remember how the night before panned out. The apple tea offers a refreshing, non-alcoholic alternative.
| 04 August 2009
Howies Victoria 10-14 Victoria Street, 0131 225 1721
NEAR one minute to Underbelly
Howies Bruntsfield 208 Bruntsfield Place, 0131 221 1777
NEAR Ten minutes to King’s Theatre
Howies Waterloo Place 29 Waterloo Place, 0131 556 5766
NEAR Ten minutes to Festival Theatre
Howies One Alva Street 1a Alva Street, Edinburgh, 0131 225 5553
NEAR Five minutes to Playhouse
This is a popular group of Edinburgh restaurants that thrives on cooking Scottish produce at agreeable prices. The four branches have individual chefs who are all encouraged to develop their own style and dishes under the Howie’s umbrella. As a result, each will have its own menu, but a warm salad of black pudding, smoked bacon and sauté potato with a cider vinegar and honey dressing or a pan-fried pork tenderloin with colcannon, roast parsnips and Dijon mustard sauce would not look out of place in any of them. The premises are all light, airy and laid back. ‘Fine food without the faff’ is their motto, although if they added something about good value it would be just as appropriate – but rather less snappy. About £20 for a three course dinner.
| 04 August 2009
7 Nicolson Square, 0131 667 5214
NEAR 2 minutes from Gilded Balloon
With its canteen style décor, closely packed tables and all round lack of frills, Kebab Mahal is not the place to attempt a romantic wedding proposal. However, if you want good, freshly made curries at knock-down prices then this is the place. The most expensive main course is just over £7 and most are under a fiver. If possible, avoid the more obvious feeding times when the queue runs out of the door. The late opening hours can be a lifesaver. Unlicensed and halal.
| 04 August 2009
32b West Nicholson Street, 0131 667 4871
NEAR One minute from Gilded Balloon
The much loved Khushi’s on Victoria Street suffered a devastating fire last December and, at the time of writing, shows little sign of a quick re-opening. However, Khushi’s Diner, opened by a member of the same family, is in the same spirit. Specialities of the house include a starter of king prawns marinated with sesame seeds, cashew nuts, spices and yoghurt before being cooked in the tandoor. Biryanis are also a big feature on the menu alongside the kormas and jalfrezis you might expect.
| 04 August 2009
26-30 Potterrow, 0131 667 2299
NEAR One minute to Gilded Balloon
Edinburgh’s first teppanyaki restaurant is a blast if you want to see where Japanese food, clowning and martial arts cross. The idea is that customers sit around granite topped tables that are equipped with a stainless steel griddle. Chefs then chop, flip and cook your food in front of you. Not that you have to sit at the teppanyaki tables. An extensive menu of sushi, sashimi, noodle dishes, grilled skewers and tempura can all be eaten without the fireworks.
| 04 August 2009
19 Shore Place, 0131 476 6776
http://www.tapaedinburgh.co.uk
NEAR Ten minute taxi to Playhouse
Slightly tricky to find, this new tapas joint set up shop in an old, whitewashed warehouse earlier this year. It’s run by the man behind Edinburgh’s much-loved and long deceased Tapas Olé restaurants and has the same sense of fun about it. All the tapas favourites you would expect are there, as are a few curveballs. The global tapas section is cute, with dishes of barely seared tuna and South American puff pastries stuffed with jamón. The prices are very reasonable.
| 04 August 2009
9 South Charlotte Street, 0131 220 0011
NEAR Two minutes to Book Festival
Omni Centre, Greenside Place, 0131 558 8894
NEAR One minute to Playhouse
We Brits have embraced the idea of tapas, but don’t like the hassle of wandering from bar to bar to find them as the Spanish do. The La Tasca chain solves that problem by putting a wide and varied tapas menu in the one venue. Tapas such as patatas bravas, grilled tiger prawns, meatballs and paella are among the choices. If the massive menu looks overwhelming, then the chef’s selection of tapas for two will solve your dilemma.
| 04 August 2009
30 Grassmarket, 0131 225 6464
NEAR Five minutes to Gilded Balloon
Mamma’s American Pizza Company has been going strong in the Grassmarket for nearly three decades. It’s a laid-back place that packs out quickly, especially on sunny days when the Grassmarket is heaving and the outside seating looks especially inviting. All the pizzas are freshly made and, as well as standard toppings such as mushroom and ham, customers can choose from exotics such as banana, haggis and cactus. Pizza is the point here but if that don’t float your boat then try the steak and Cajun salmon served on a hot stone.
