Budget, BYOB, Child friendly

Friendly and speedy service, and a lunch menu deal of two courses for £7 (three for £10) make Kurdish and Middle Eastern Nawroz a popular choice among the student population, who pop in for a hearty kebab or shawarma after lectures. It’s spacious and…

You’ve got to trust the food will speak over and above any impressions a style-free, humble interior may give. And trust you do, as seating and feeding hungry customers is a priority from a diner that began as and still is a takeaway. Having grown in…

Kampung Ali is the younger, more westernised sister of the original Kampong Ah Lee in Clerk Street. Larger in size and presented a little more for western tastes, she appears that bit more sophisticated than her smaller, plainer sibling. Both excel in…

When you head to Tanjore, and it’s heartily recommended you do, there are two reasons to bring an appetite. First, this is where to sample the finest Southern Indian cuisine in Edinburgh. Second, you’ll be tempted to order everything on the enticing…

A marriage of Scottish and Thai cuisine might seem a doomed alliance, and some of the menu options sound more like a drunken scramble around the kitchen than haute cuisine (lasagne chicken curry, anybody?), but don’t be fooled – this contemporary outfit…

Proud to call itself Edinburgh’s first Lebanese restaurant, Beirut offers some of the best-value lunch deals in town. Its keen pricing and reasonable BYOB charges make it an attractive option for anyone looking for interesting food without breaking open…

A visit to the Brooklyn Café, the 83-year-old godfather of the Shawlands all-day café scene is a real Glasgow treat. There's a steady production of breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner dishes including creamy risottos or the recently introduced grill…

Big brother to its recently opened sister restaurant Pomegranate, Hanam’s is a class act. No-charge BYOB keeps spirits high across a well-appointed dining room and lower-level overspill. Décor and lighting are warm and inviting with just enough…

As a result of ongoing building work, Athena has temporarily moved from its West End home to the City Centre, which has led to an increased popularity at lunchtime, such is the abundance of offices in their new environ, and the £5 express lunch deal is…

Origano is a bijou alternative to the modern, mass-production Italian restaurant. Although styled as a New York trattoria, the cosy dining room would not be out of place in Greenwich Village or Sienna. Stripped wooden floors and ceilings, simple…

With a plain and pleasant interior that’s more mess hall than Manchuria and a noisy, welcoming buzz about it, Chop Chop has built its popularity and reputation around its homemade dumplings, which are served boiled or fried with assorted, mixed meat…

Perched atop the rise of Bruntsfield Place, Thai Lemongrass is a solid bet for those who like Far Eastern fare dispensed with a liberal spoon. The large glass-fronted space is rather draughty and could feel lacking in privacy if you’re after a venue for…

It would be easy to wander past the narrow St Mary’s Street frontage of Empires. However, an inquisitive peer inside reveals a compact dark-wood interior that comes to life when illuminated by candles and coloured lanterns. A handful of ground-level…

Rivage may seem an understated presence from the outside, but there’s nothing low-key about the restaurant’s menu or the kitchen’s execution of it. Husband and wife team Ryad Meeajane and Catherine Thomson look after the kitchen and front of house…

Sandwiched as it is between two of the capital’s foremost arts venues, the Usher Hall and the Lyceum Theatre, this smallish concern will never lack for footfall. Pleasant and unobtrusive staff, gold-accented décor and soft lighting on small tables…

Ideally placed to capitalise on the pre-theatre crowd spilling over the road from the Festival Theatre, Suruchi has carved a niche for itself that has quite cheerily survived the recent change of ownership. The light and airy upstairs room is brightly…

Bonsai on Broughton Street only opened for business in February 2013 but this new branch has retained much of what makes its Southside sister restaurant so popular. The menu of tapas-style sharing plates is identical and there are even some familiar…

The small deli nestling next to Mother India's Cafe might seem an afterthought – but it's certainly not, for the refreshingly different intimate restaurant sharing space with the takeaway counter offers excellent quality authentic Indian food which…

In 2012 Howies was bought back by the original owners, who now own three restaurants in Scotland – two in Edinburgh and one in Aberdeen. They are keen to show that the original ideas and standards are back in operation: simple cooking of seasonal…

Apparently it’s good feng shui to have your property on a river, which perhaps explains why the Loon Fung, sitting by the Water of Leith, has now been going for over forty years. Owner Sammy Tam doesn’t hold with such things, however, and puts success…

It’s beginning to test the meaning of careworn slightly these days, but there’s still no café in Glasgow homelier than Offshore, nor even as homely. Hugging the corner of Gibson Street where it crosses the River Kelvin, with leafy views to the park…

Tucked away in the corner of St. Patrick’s Square, Ann Purna offers a wide range of vegetarian cuisine inspired by the state of Gujarat on India's west coast. Popular mixed veg bhajias and pakora starters mix with Indian street snacks such as kachori…

What the Cabin lacks in location (a rather uninspiring spot on the Whiteinch-end of Dumbarton Road) it makes up for in quality cooking and bags of character. The outside is decorated with sophisticated art deco-style lettering, but inside it is…

Don’t be put off by the nudge-nudge, wink-wink name – when it comes to food, there are lots of good things going on in this compact little neighbourhood bistro. With a reputation largely built through word-of-mouth, locals and tourists alike flock to…