Cafés, "Edinburgh"

The combination of minimalist styling and glass display cabinets featuring neat lines of coloured macaroons and delicate pastries means stopping for coffee here can feel like disturbing an immaculate art gallery or exclusive boutique. A gentle Parisian…

Rocking the boho bedsit chic, with elegantly mismatched retro furniture, lampshades and crockery, this is one Spoon that’s unquestionably more loving than greasy. The menu’s packed with wholesome, healthy options, a decent proportion of which are…

The colourful, design savvy interior and good coffee at this little deli/café give a nod to owner Marcello Sprio’s home town of Milan. With imported Italian sweets, Italian newspapers, magazines and radio it is only the Tunnock’s teacakes that remind…

Having recently come under new management, spacious and elegantly high-ceilinged Rocksalt appears to be undergoing a process of wedding its repertoire of more typical lunchtime favourites to an increasing Turkish influence brought in with the new…

A bustling and friendly family-run café and deli, Gaia boasts a proudly Sicilian influence over everything it does. The coffee is excellent although very strong, the noises from the open kitchen lend a lively air as you enjoy one of the homemade paninis…

Challenging preconceived notions of her native cuisine, Russian owner Maria has brought across fistfuls of traditional recipes and enough entertaining chat to span an enjoyable evening. Small cheery café and takeaway by day, the open kitchen and three…

Portobello Promenade has a faded seaside charm that’s equally appealing for eating chips from a wrapper in the sun or watching rain stream down a window in grey winter light. With its traditional bay frontage looking out over the sea and now opening all…

The sign reading ‘Six buggy limit’ says it all. If you live in Portobello and have small children, chances are you’ll know Reds and its large, soft cage – sorry, play frame – in the back room, where your offspring can slide and scamper while you eat or…

Now well into its third decade in business, the much-loved Blue Moon on a Broughton Street corner must be doing something right. Maybe it’s the friendly, laidback atmosphere and genuine sense of welcome. Maybe it’s the low-key decor and gay-friendly…

There's a tranquil feel to the Gateway Restaurant located upstairs in the John Hope Gateway Centre, a biodiversity and information centre in Edinburgh's Royal Botanic Gardens. Set in a long, bright room, the lovely interior features leaf-green ceilings…

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…

Happy birthday to the Traverse Theatre. In 2013 the venue celebrates its Golden Jubilee and to mark the occasion its fondly regarded basement bar/cafe has an updated menu. Fried sea bass with crushed new potatoes, or tagliatelle with mushrooms…

Some restaurants are all about the expectation game. Launched in London over 40 years ago, the Hard Rock has since exported its rather cookie cutter approach all over the world, but should you go in expecting generous portions of decent, if rather…

Drop down from the shoe-beaten pavement of Hanover Street into the comfortable ease of Urban Angel. The sunlight-brightened front room makes it easy to forget you’re in basement premises, while the quiet backyard courtyard, off the cosy rear dining…

Expect nothing but a friendly welcome from the mother and daughter team behind the cheery Skylark Café situated in what was once the Theatre Workshop box office. Hits here include pastrami bagels, bacon rolls and Fair Trade organic coffee. Soup is…