Restaurants, Bistros & brasseries

Most of the customers at this small bistro next to Mansfield Park are local and regular, but there’s a nice welcome here for all. The décor is simple and subdued, like the menu, but there are a few unusual touches among more traditional dishes like…

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…

A spacious, popular, centrally located café-bistro with options ranging from smart-casual lunches through to full evening dining, including a pre-theatre menu from 5–6pm.

It’s named after a French Alps off-piste ski run, but La Vallée Blanche is very much on the beaten track, with an excellent first-floor location above the summit of Byres Road. An eye-catchingly good value lunch/pre-theatre deal steers a steady stream…

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…

It’s what everyone wants to find, local or visitor: the hidden gem that, through clever use of ingredients, manages simultaneously to guarantee you a good meal, offer something a bit unusual, and do it for blindingly good value. Since taking on this…

Hidden away in an unprepossessing area of Musselburgh is the impressively restored collection of Victorian buildings at Eskmills. The Birdcage is housed in an Egyptian-style administrative building for what was once a cotton and rope manufacturer. At…

If you like going round to your Mum’s place for a damned good feed, you’ll love this little family-run eatery off Maryhill Road. Cosy, with a homely vibe to the décor, such as decorative signage (expect to see a minimum of one “Keep calm and carry on…

A Grade I listed, 300-year-old building in the heart of Liverpool’s city centre, the Bluecoat offers a year-round programme of visual art, literature, music, dance and live art. The Bluecoat is also home to a wide range of artists and creative…

Considerably nicer than a restaurant housed in the foyer of a middling chain hotel has any right to be, La Bonne Auberge has experienced a facelift in the last year, with previously fussy décor disposed of for a more contemporary-feeling retro-modern…

]Sitting up in the rafters of this great Glasgow institution, in amongst the fairy lights and green, leafy plants, one can feel quite smug: although the brasserie menu may be less grand than the downstairs courtyard, you can still sample excellent…

The two Café Andaluz branches in Glasgow share menus, deals and décor, but while there isn’t much to separate them in culinary terms, there is a distinctly West End feel about the (original) Cresswell Lane restaurant. Glasgow University’s main campus is…

There’s a resonance upon entering Café Grande, on the main drag of Bruntsfield, that makes it clear you have arrived in a neighbourhood institution. The easy friendliness with which the staff greet customers, the sense that diners at separate tables…

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…

Having ditched its semi-fine dining menu along with it its AA rosette, the City Café has gone down the 'home favourites' route to suit its regular customers. Steak pie, beef lasagne and burgers probably suit the hungry hotel guest who doesn’t want any…

If you can, grab a window seat at Coltman’s to make the most of its picturesque views over the River Tweed. If not then console yourself with the fact that the food here is also worth admiring. Kenny Coltman opened in Peebles High Street two years ago…