Restaurants, Bistros & brasseries, Outdoor dining within 5 miles of Edinburgh

It's twenty years since the plain but distinctive red-and-yellow colour scheme of Pierre Victoire off-shoot Chez Jules first appeared in Edinburgh. Its comeback over the last couple of years – first on Hanover Street then, towards the end of 2010, a…

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…

Bijou came under new ownership in 2011 but both head chef Alastair Berry and the quirky but useful menu formula of offering most items in bijou, medium or large size have remained. The low-key interior features a sprinkling of café-style tables, a small…

Rick’s is a dependable member of the Edinburgh bar scene, positioned just off George Street but attracting essentially the same clientele, whether shoppers, the after-work crowd or weekend revellers. It’s almost never quiet. The layout has been well…

Very few places attract queues, and those that do are usually trading on being the hot new cocktail spot in town. A weekend brunch at modest, unpretentious Toast, on the other hand, really is worth the wait. A haphazard parade of paintings jostle for…

With its sleek lines, darkened underground vibe and loud, clubby soundtrack in competition with the hubbub of well-oiled conversation, Tonic is very much cut from the same cloth as the style bars of George Street and its surrounding area. Where this…

A steady stream of casually dressed business travellers, tourists and locals pack into this tiny city centre restaurant to tuck into some excellent Aberdeen Angus steaks. Char-grilled fillet, sirloin and rib-eye have the depth of savoury flavour that…

The flagship venue of the Montpelier Group, Tigerlily is boutique hotel, bar, restaurant and club rolled into one. Its lavishly styled and maze-like interior includes internal courtyards (where smoking is permitted), private booths and a number of nooks…

Formerly known as the Bad Ass Bistro, this Rose Street pub has a dusky but snug interior, with walls peopled with iconic photos of the twentieth century’s good and great, making for a slightly clichéd yet classic pub vibe. Although 1780 seems to be in…

A decent all-round package should be an upmarket chain’s stock in trade, and Browns Bar and Brasserie in George Street has a slick take on most eating and drinking options. The chandelier wouldn’t disgrace Phantom of the Opera, while smart white-aproned…

Kyloe (meaning ‘cattle’) is looking to fill a niche in the Edinburgh restaurant scene, and that niche is meat, meat, meat. Cows are everywhere – the statue outside, the paintings on the wall, the cowhide furniture and the board that displays all the raw…

If you are a lover of both wine and jazz, then Whighams has pretty much got it covered. Their Sunday-night jams and monthly wine-tasting events are in with the West End bricks, occasions suitably enhanced by the bar’s candlelit cellar atmosphere. The…

Fashionable Indigo Yard in Edinburgh’s West End packs in crowds of after-work drinkers in power suits and clean city Barbours, unwinding over cocktails, champagne, chilled pints and wines in showy shaped glasses. Food-wise, there's a customer-pulling…