Restaurants, Bar & pub food

Microbrewery appreciation starts early at Mono, where vast silver vats line one wall, piping homemade lemonades directly to the bar for a refreshing alternative to the usual drinks, which are of course also available. Young parents bring their kids to…

Emerging from a complete refurbishment as we went to press in spring 2013, 99 Hanover Street has gone out of its way to grab the attention in elegant and dignified style amid the often gaudy city-centre bars. Catering to an intensely fashionable young…

Another Leith bar to make the rest of the city weep, Nobles is quite simply everything you could want from a local. With great drinks (Black Isle supply them with a custom-made Nobles IPA), a pub quiz every Monday, live bands all week and a stunning…

Anyone who lives in Edinburgh will tell you that perhaps the city's busiest dining thoroughfare, at least during the summer peak season, is also its least inspiring. There are a few gems on the Royal Mile, but statistically you're more likely to venture…

The Causewayside stalwart is a popular spot with Southside drinkers who know their stuff. This is a place with character in abundance, with walls sporting original wood-carved panels and a carillon of bells hanging from the ceiling. Low-lit lamps and…

Pivo Pivo is a cutting edge live music venue in the heart of Glasgow, home to both emerging and established home-grown talent as well as touring acts from further afield. Live music shakes the walls seven nights a week, all genres catered for and…

Red Squirrel follows a recipe of premium burgers and beer similar to its older sibling Holyrood 9a – indeed the menus at both bars are practically identical. Substantial burgers, including three vegetarian versions, dominate the menu and provide a…

City Centre alleyways are generally best avoided but Renfield Lane makes a rare exception with its pair of laid-back hipster hangouts – the Old Hairdressers for small artsy events and big sister Stereo in the Mackintosh building across the road for…

Both of Edinburgh’s residents born with insatiable appetites for minor sports and obscure expressions of German weissbier must have felt all their prayers had been answered when the Tourmalet first appeared on the Leith pub scene back in 2009. However…

With walls emblazoned with an improbable selection of cartoon characters, and primary colours very much to the fore, Treacle is clearly not aiming for understatement, and it succeeds in pulling off an atmosphere that is breezy and upbeat. Food-wise…

This bar offers a reliable, attractively priced menu in a part of the city where quality is not always guaranteed, and situated just off the city’s busiest streets it’s popular as a break for weary shoppers and a stop-off for pre-club crowds. The…

New breweries are springing-up across Scotland amid the craft beer revolution, but the country’s only German-style microbrewery sits apart from that trend, by drawing its inspiration from centuries-old Bavarian traditions. WEST can be found in most good…

Bar Soba on Hanover Street is the Edinburgh outpost of a successful Glasgow chain, born of the unusual idea that a pan-Asian noodle kitchen might fit nicely in a busy pre-club venue. Upstairs is the bar, with graffitied walls, trendy DJs and omnipresent…

Tapas eating can fit into a shopping expedition like few other culinary styles – it’s restorative, flexible and convivial, and rarely too heavy or time-consuming. So Barça’s location in Princes Square makes a lot of sense, and after eight years it ranks…

A pleasant place with a relaxed atmosphere, it’s stylish but not as boho as the name might suggest. The expansive interior over two floors is excellently served by industrious staff with a genuine interest in taking time to help. Known for a seasonal…

The industrial metal interior is suitably on trend for the Edinburgh outpost of this headline-grabbing brewery. More radical though is the proud proclamation of ‘no football, shots or Stella’. A bar that sees serving good beer as its primary function is…

Part of the adjoining hotel and one of few options in the area, by day the freshly made cakes on the bar disappear slice by slice with tea and coffee. The dark wood interior is well suited to Scottish evenings, with an equally fitting menu that is an…

Beer is now the only religion left in Cloisters: a dark sanctum of guest cask ales, and a shrine to craft beer bottles from Alloa to Australia. And lo, all else was sacrificed to the holy trinity of malt, yeast and hops. Once the token, no-nonsense pies…

Having recently been taken over by new owners, the Common Rooms is looking to re-assert itself in the West End. Spruced up, with a brand new fixed-priced menu and a whole array of live entertainment, it appears ready to compete with the densely…

Divino can fairly count as one of Edinburgh's hidden gems. Set among the pretty murky shadows off Candlemaker Row and under George IV Bridge, this is a surprisingly sophisticated, enchanting subterranean venue of rough-stone walls, clubby leather seats…

The self-proclaimed oldest gastro pub in Edinburgh is due for a refurbishment in 2011 that will hopefully see the currently rather bland décor raised to the same standard as the really rather good food. The menu mixes pub grub staples with some more…