Restaurants and Arts venues
- Dean Gallery Café
Where food and art lovers indulge in the art of legendary food. - Tron Theatre
Fantastic food and drink - and a fabulous night out - Gallery Café
Simple, fresh food and al fresco dining in contemporary surroundings - Filmhouse Café Bar
fresh affordable food - breakfast, lunch & dinner, cakes & snacks, vegetarian selection. Open 7 days 10am–late.
The Scottish Café and Restaurant
Scottish National Gallery, The Mound,
Edinburgh,
EH2 2EL
Since taking over the restaurant in the Scottish National Gallery in 2009, Carina and Victor Contini have set about putting their special stamp on the place. As at sister restaurant Centotre, provenance and quality ingredients are of utmost importance.
The Hidden Lane Tearoom
8 Argyle Court, 1103 Argyle Street,
Glasgow,
G3 8ND
Despite its less than obvious location, the Hidden Lane Tearoom is often full to bursting so clearly the secret is out – and what a secret it is. The tearoom is set over two tiny floors decorated in a fashion that is clearly a labour of love. The…
Tower Restaurant
National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street,
Edinburgh,
EH1 1JF
The Tower Restaurant sits atop the National Museum of Scotland where the long dining room is nicely fitted out with leather seats, heavy fabrics and super-shiny surfaces. Stepping out of the lift, the promised skyline views through the large windows…
Café Modern Two
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Two, 73 Belford Road,
Edinburgh,
EH4 3DS
Housed within the former orphanage that is the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Two (formerly the Dean Gallery), this is the smarter cousin of the counter-service café at Modern One across the road. The café has recently expanded into two rooms…
The Grosvenor Café
The Grosvenor Theatre, Ashton Lane,
Glasgow,
G12 8SJ
With its filmic décor and location above the cinema, the recently rebranded Grosvenor Café offers a great opportunity for a movie and a meal night-out. The striking and cavernous venue, lit by spotlights adorning the walls, has silent movie clips…
Zucca
15–17 Grindlay Street,
Edinburgh,
EH3 9AX
Neighbouring the Royal Lyceum and the Usher Hall, Zucca is in prime position for theatre-goers. The ground floor café serves quick panini, salads and desserts. The mezzanine, meanwhile, features tidy tables and vibrant theatre posters, and caters to…
Filmhouse Café Bar
88 Lothian Road,
Edinburgh,
EH3 9BZ
The Filmhouse has been Edinburgh’s home of independent and arthouse cinema for many years, and its café-bar has long been a place to meet fellow cinephiles and chew over the plot with a pint. Just as the cinema itself is like an old friend to many, so…
Loopy Lorna's Tea House @ Churchill Theatre
Churchill Theatre, 33a Morningside Road,
Edinburgh,
EH10 4DR
Having established itself as the place to go for tea and cake in south Morningside, Loopy Lorna’s has closed its tearoom at the foot of the hill and shifted focus to the spacious ground floor of the Churchill Theatre, a space that had been sitting…
Tron Theatre
63 Trongate,
Glasgow,
G1 5HB
Tron is not only a theatre, but a funky late-night bar and restaurant serving unfussy, tasty meals. Having been a gentlemen’s club in a previous life, the restaurant retains this feel with muted lighting, flickering candles and a dark antique bar with…
Café Cosmo
Glasgow Film Theatre, 12 Rose Street,
Glasgow,
G3 6RB
Glasgow’s arthouse cinema, the GFT, has been keeping the city’s cinephiles happy since the 1970s. The appealing art deco building has a dedicated café named after the original Cosmo Cinema that opened on the site in 1939. The café is a long way from…
KG Café
Kelvingrove Park, Argyle Street,
Glasgow,
G3 8AG
The café at the Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery is justifiably popular thanks to its family-friendly focus, quality food at nice prices and pleasant surroundings. The best seats are in the glass extension on the outside edge, with fine airy views to…
The Storytelling Café
Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43 High Street,
Edinburgh,
EH1 1SR
Tourists, locals and workers alike congregate in this bright, modern space with its beautiful wooden furniture, which sits in stark but appealing contrast to the adjoining 16th-century John Knox house. Run by the same catering company that operates the…
The Arches Café Bar & Restaurant
253 Argyle Street,
Glasgow,
G2 8DL
This venue seems to offer something for everyone – renowned clubbing for late-night revellers, theatre productions for the culture vultures and a small accomplished restaurant for the foodies. Located downstairs from the main entrance, a funky bar with…
The Burrell Collection
Pollok Country Park, 2060 Pollokshaws Rd,
Glasgow,
G43 1AT
The Burrell, home to quite possibly the best private art and artefact collections ever to be donated to a city in Europe, has a scaled-back catering operation (in contrast to what Glasgow council has done at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery). Still, the…
Café Lucia
Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 13/29 Nicolson Street,
Edinburgh,
EH8 9FT
The Festival Theatre’s spacious ground-floor bar has long been a place to gather for a pre-concert drink, catch-up with friends or spot of people watching through the giant windows. It might not be the first place in the area that springs to mind for a…
Henderson's Vegetarian Restaurant
94 Hanover Street,
Edinburgh,
EH2 1DR
Established in 1962, Henderson’s will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year. No mean feat for a restaurant that started life as an outlet for dishes made with produce from Janet Henderson’s kitchen garden at the family's East Lothian farm. From…
Café Cossachok
Trongate 103, 10 King Street,
Glasgow,
G1 5QP
Everyone knows by now that there’s more to Russian cuisine than boiled cabbage but Café Cossachok still manages to surprise with the breadth of its post-Soviet-bloc flavours. From Georgian casserole of chicken, walnuts, saffron and coriander to the…
Café Modern One
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art One, 75 Belford Road,
Edinburgh,
EH4 3DR
A stalwart in Edinburgh’s arts-venue dining scene, the gallery café has become synonymous with quality food. A recent refurb has brought a more modern, streamlined feel to the operation, although the overall approach remains the same. Operating a…
Café at the Palace
Palace of Holyroodhouse,
Edinburgh,
EH8 8DX
Situated next door to Holyrood Palace, this café is the obvious place to grab a sandwich or hearty bowl of soup after visiting the Queen’s Gallery and Palace, or after an invigorating trek round Arthur’s Seat or tour of the Scottish Parliament. With…
City Art Centre Café
City Art Centre, 1 Market Street,
Edinburgh,
EH1 1DE
The recent revamp of the City Art Centre has prompted a rethink of the gallery’s café, a popular spot for Old Town workers and train travellers to grab breakfast, lunch or a coffee on the fly. Edinburgh foodies Cater, whose pedigree includes running…
The Brasserie at Òran Mór
731–735 Great Western Road,
Glasgow,
G12 8QX
The Brasserie at Òran Mór is certainly Scottish in decor, with large feminine Glasgow style prints on the walls, a multitude of malts behind the bar and three enormous in-demand green booths. Tucked down a short flight of stairs from the main bar, the…
Café North
North Edinburgh Arts Centre, 15a Pennywell Court, Muirhouse,
Edinburgh,
EH4 4TZ
If Café North was in the centre of Edinburgh, you would be fighting to get a table. So perfect is it for family lunches, every toddler in town would treat it like a second home. In reality, North Edinburgh Arts Centre (NEAC) is a little off the beaten…
Drill Hall Arts Café
34 Dalmeny Street,
Edinburgh,
EH6 8RG
Amid the global pizza and fried-chicken corporations gathered towards the foot of Leith Walk, Out of the Blue Drill Hall represents a little slice of the alternative – an atmosphere of collectivism where people congregate for all kinds of reasons.
The Gateway Restaurant
John Hope Gateway Centre, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Arboretum Place,
Edinburgh,
EH3 5LR
If there were prizes for location, there’s little doubt that the Gateway Restaurant would win hands down. Set in the beautiful Botanic Gardens, surrounded by a natural canvas of flower and fauna, this has many of the makings of a truly delightful…
