BYOB

172 places

Sorted by popularity

Pho Vietnam House

1-3 Grove Street, Edinburgh, EH3 8AF

Newly extended at the end of 2012, Pho Vietnam House remains small but by no means cramped, with plenty of elbow room and a multi-coloured interior that has more than a hint of chilled-out beach hut to it. Owner Jodie Nguyen sweeps efficiently between…

Shilla

1138 Argyle Street, Glasgow, G3 8TD

Shilla is the sole Korean restaurant in Glasgow and the sister venue to the Edinburgh venture of the same name. This small unassuming space is located in the perennially up-and-coming cool neighbourhood of Finneston. A handful of tightly packed beech…

Kampung Ali Malaysian Delight

97–101 Fountainbridge, Edinburgh, EH3 9QG

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…

Miso & Sushi

46a Haymarket Terrace, Edinburgh, EH12 5LA

Going to Miso and Sushi is like going back in time. The décor can't have changed in years. Glaring lights preside over a corridor of booths lined with wood and ancient flock wallpaper. It's in desperate need of a spruce up. However, if there's no love…

The Purple Pig Café

12 Leven Street, Edinburgh, EH3 9LG

The Purple Pig is perhaps the only pig you can trust around food. This bright, white Tollcross café, run by a green but keen brother-and-sister team, is as steadfast as a bacon roll. Fresh, local ingredients, chosen for taste, are simply and competently…

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Brooklyn Café

21 Minard Road, Glasgow, G41 2HR

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…

L'escargot Bleu

56 Broughton Street, Edinburgh, EH1 3SA

The humble snail is a byword for French cuisine and the symbol of the international Slow Food movement, both of which are well represented by this popular Broughton Street restaurant. There’s a real French ambience in the high-ceilinged dining room with…

Thai Lemongrass

24 Renfrew Street, Glasgow, G2 3BW

Worth seeking out at the top of Renfrew Street, Thai Lemongrass offers an oasis of calm from the hustle and bustle of City Centre life. Dark wood and warming gold dominate the intimate space with luxury red-upholstered booths, canopied with heavy…

Buffalo Grill

1 Raeburn Place, Edinburgh, EH4 1HU

With a menu that has worked for 26 years, why change it? No reason, when you continue to pull in the crowds the way Buffalo Grill does. The Stockbridge restaurant, an offshoot of the original in the heart of Edinburgh’s student land, is cosy, warm…

L'escargot Blanc

17 Queensferry Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4QW

Step through the modest shop front on busy Queensferry Street, climb the wooden stairs and be enfolded in the warm embrace of L’escargot Blanc. This laidback sister to Broughton’s L’escargot Bleu has bags of bistro-style charm to tempt its clientele of…

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The Forest Café

141 Lauriston Place, Edinburgh, EH3 9JN

The Forest vegetarian café is known less for its coffee and more as a shared space for like-minded people. The dusty, glass-fronted former shop unit is perhaps a surprising haven for the city’s artists and creative types. It is nevertheless buzzing with…

Khushi's

10 Antigua Street, Edinburgh, EH1 3NH

With acres of street-level window, stylish split-level interior and panoply of coloured ceiling lights, the latest incarnation of Edinburgh stalwart Khushi’s is far from your run-of-the-mill Indian restaurant. The menu has a modern feel to it and a…

Leven's

30-32 Leven Street, Edinburgh, EH3 9LJ

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…

Kampong Ah Lee Malaysian Delight

28 Clerk Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9HX

Kampong Ah Lee Malaysian Delight is a compact, canteen-style restaurant serving authentic Malaysian food in basic but comfortable surroundings. Its small shop front may be easy to miss, but it remains well known and popular with students seeking an…

Loon Fung

2 Warriston Place, Canonmills, Edinburgh, EH3 5LE

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…

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Origano

277 Leith Walk, Edinburgh, EH6 8PD

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…

University Café

87 Byres Road, Glasgow, G11 5HN

Banana Leaf

76B Old Dumbarton Road, Glasgow, G3 8RE

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…

The Lee On

3–5 Bruntsfield Place, Edinburgh, EH10 4HN

Tanjore

6–8 Clerk Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9HX

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…

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The Blue Parrot Cantina

49 St Stephen Street, Edinburgh, EH3 5AH

Restaurants on St Stephen Street come and go, but 20 years after Fiona MacRae opened her rustic basement cantina, the eponymous blue bird is still sitting perkily on his perch outside. It’s a simple, dark-painted wee place with a clutter of wooden…

Bonsai Bar Bistro

14 Broughton Street, Edinburgh, EH1 3RH

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…

Bonsai Bar Bistro

46 West Richmond Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9DZ

Bonsai Bar Bistro provides a clear rebuttal to the notion that Japanese cuisine in the UK is expensive and exclusive. The small but perfectly formed restaurant is known for its welcoming atmosphere and has a wide-ranging menu that offers something for…

Go Slow Café

452 Victoria Road, Glasgow, G42 8YU

Six years of taking it easy at Go Slow Café (to paraphrase the blurb), but the place is thriving and popular, so it’s no mean feat that during the busiest times owner/factotum Rose manages to keep the happy, calm vibe alive. Like most places run with…

Hanam's

3 Johnston Terrace, Edinburgh, EH1 2PW

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…