Restaurants, Cafés and Wi-Fi
- Café Milk
Café Milk offers seasonal, delicious food at fantastic prices! - Valvona & Crolla VinCaffé
Classic Italian cooking using the finest ingredients and a tasting list of over 50 wines by the glass - Angels With Bagpipes
Angels with Bagpipes articulates the natural union of Scottish and Italian sourcing and gastronomy - Centotre
Centotre serves food made from locally sourced ingredients in a great location
Earthy Canonmills
1–6 Canonmills Bridge,
Edinburgh,
EH3 5LF
With two popular food markets and a thriving café under their belt already, the Earthy empire is set for further expansion in April 2012 with the arrival of their new Canonmills enterprise. As well as another store, the site (formerly Dionika) will also…
The New Pakistani Café
607 Pollokshaws Road,
Glasgow,
G41 2QG
A dimly lit café that manages to be unfussy and quirky at the same time, the New Pakistani Café sells tasty food in generous portions. Though predominantly a takeaway, there is plenty of seating and atmosphere to make dining in an enjoyable experience.
Angels With Bagpipes
343 High Street,
Edinburgh,
EH1 1PW
Don’t let the High Street buskers put you off. Through the back in the restaurant you won’t hear them. Instead, the smart sophisticated décor and modern tableware sets off an approach to Scottish ingredients that acknowledges centuries of continental…
Café Nom de Plume
60 Broughton Street,
Edinburgh,
EH1 3SA
Set upstairs from the Edinburgh LGBT Centre and owned by the same team behind the Regent pub, Café Nom de Plume is a gay and lesbian-friendly business and a relaxed hangout for all walks of Broughton life. The décor is a warm and welcoming jumble of…
Centotre
103 George Street,
Edinburgh,
EH2 3ES
Centotre manages to pull off a neat trick. Despite the austere, ex-bank interior, from those lost days when financial edifices were akin to cathedrals, it still manages to maintain a feeling of warmth and intimacy in the evenings or bright and breezy…
Asti
73 Broughton Street,
Edinburgh,
EH1 3RJ
Owned by the same people who run the neighbouring Rapido, Asti is a refined, relaxed eatery in comparison to its neighbour, specialising in decent Italian dishes rather than fast food. Painted a pleasing shade of mocha, this café-cum-restaurant takes…
Spoon Café Bistro
6a Nicolson Street,
Edinburgh,
EH8 9DH
Home life getting you down? Move here. Seriously. It’s open from 10am till 10pm, serving everything from morning rolls through to a three-course dinner. There’s free wi-fi. People bring you drinks. The furniture is cool kitsch-retro-chic. If only the…
The Gateway Restaurant
John Hope Gateway Centre, Royal Botanic Garden, Arboretum Place,
Edinburgh,
EH3 5LR
Although lacking the panoramic views of its sister venue, the Terrace Café, the restaurant in the Botanics’ gleaming new John Hope Gateway enjoys a pleasant outlook over the Biodiversity Garden, especially from the lovely al fresco tables on its…
19 Elm Row, Leith Walk,
Edinburgh,
EH7 4AA
No one who cares about good food in Edinburgh is unaware of the Contini family’s excellent Italy-inspired deli and café, the former being an Aladdin’s Cave of cured meats, fine cheeses and fresh-baked breads. The caffè bar itself is a deserving stop for…
Bar 50
50 Blackfriars Street,
Edinburgh,
EH1 1NE
Set inside a shiny modern hostel and marketing itself squarely at its backpacker residents and the students from the halls next door, Bar 50 is the kind of place it’s easy to walk past. While not exactly a hidden gem, its location and focus on cheap…
The Hidden Lane Tearoom
8 Argyle Court, 1103 Argyle Street,
Glasgow,
G3 8ND
Tucked down a cobbled lane off Argyle Street, the Hidden Lane Tearoom is one of those rare places where everything comes together seamlessly. The décor is shabby chic – all duck-egg blue highlights, floral bunting, artfully mismatched furniture and…
Grand Cru
79 Hanover Street,
Edinburgh,
EH2 1EE
Theatrically chic, Grand Cru is an energising venue for an upbeat evening meal. Though the large bar is devoted to drinkers, a separate dining area is juxtaposed comfortably enough to give you some space to enjoy your food. For a less noisy seat, though…
Metropole
33 Newington Road,
Edinburgh,
EH9 1QR
Taken over recently by the folks who make Canonmills’ Circle Café go round so nicely, the improvements at Metropole are clear. Always a pleasant, airy space, the mix and match floral crockery remains, as do the diner-style booths, though they’ve been…
Stereo
20-28 Renfield Lane,
Glasgow,
G2 5AR
Although it’s hard to catch the full vista from the narrow lane, Stereo is housed in a superb Charles Rennie Mackintosh-designed building, all exterior white tiles and square windows with double doors opening into a leisurely eating and drinking space…
Urban Angel
1 Forth Street,
Edinburgh,
EH1 3JX
Seasonal, local and organic are the buzz words for these bright, informal, modern bistros. A high proportion of the menu is made up of daily specials making the most of what produce is best that day. A nourishing parsnip soup is enlivened with mustard…
Café Marlayne
13 Antigua Street,
Edinburgh,
EH1 3NH
Longevity is not something always associated with Edinburgh’s French restaurants. That Café Marlayne has stuck around for a decade is testament to its ability to consistently please an eclectic range of diners. Tucked just north of George Street the…
Café Truva
251–253 Canongate,
Edinburgh,
EH8 8BQ
You can now pop in for the same Café Truva Mediterranean menu at three branches across Edinburgh. Leith, Lady Lawson Street and Canongate are all serving Turkish plates, a wide range of cakes and your usual café panini list against a varyingly elaborate…
Cranachan
Unit 51, Princes Square, 48 Buchanan Street,
Glasgow,
G1 3JN
Creamy Cranachan. If a place can be judged on its signature dish then Cranachan is sweet and indulgent, perhaps lacking in a few ingredients. The theme is overall Scottish with quality, locally sourced fish, beef and cheese aplenty, which comes in…
Martha's
142a St Vincent Street,
Glasgow,
G2 5LQ
Goodness, in a word. Created with care and calculation (every nutritional detail is shown on the menu) by real chefs, Martha’s moreish menu proves to the as-yet unconverted that healthy can mean hearty. The menu is seasonal but may include everything…
The Rio Café
27 Hyndland Street,
Glasgow,
G11 5QF
The Rio Café’s 1950s diner-style décor and vibe has made it something of an institution in Glasgow’s West End, and it’s menu offers up tempting options whether you’re in for breakfast, lunch, or just a snack. The burgers come large and tasty, and even a…
Upstairs @ The Glasgow Climbing Centre, 534 Paisley Road West,
Glasgow,
G51 1RN
It isn't completely about the ambience inside this converted late-1800s church – the food and coffee are good as well – but it is no doubt its USP. A wrought-iron spiral staircase leads up to a cosy, laid-back space where the view is of a mesmerising…
Brooklyn Café
21 Minard Road,
Glasgow,
G41 2HR
Year of Opening: 1931. This fact alone says so much about the obvious enduring appeal of the Brooklyn Café. Generations of local custom must mean dramatic change is difficult but while crowd-pleasers like the famous ice-cream remain (plus the many…
15 Blackfriars Street,
Edinburgh,
EH1 1NB
Tucked just off the Royal Mile, Eleanor Cunningham’s café features a menu that's a roll call of Scottish food heroes. From Creelers’ smoked salmon to Great Glen venison, Rannoch smoked chicken and Cunningham's mum’s jam and dad’s chutneys, everything…
Fair Trade Coffee Shop
30–31 Albert Place,
Edinburgh,
EH7 5HN
Inspired by the tiny coffee shops of San Francisco’s Mission District, the Fair Trade Coffee Shop’s owner Joe Jerome has created his own small slice of urban bohemia on Leith Walk. He’s gone one further, in fact –- the top secret brand of single source…





