Edinburgh's food section runs 2 curated guides. The restaurants guide and the cafes guide each hold 12 verified entries, the maximum any shortlist can carry. Our Edinburgh research found enough strong candidates on both the restaurant and cafe sides to fill each list to its cap, which isn't always the case in every city we cover.
If you're planning evening meals in Edinburgh, open the restaurants guide first. The cafes guide serves a different purpose, more useful for daytime stops and lighter meals at the kind of Edinburgh spots where you might linger for an hour. With 12 entries in each guide, you could try somewhere different every day for more than 3 weeks without repeating. The 2 guides cover separate territory, so there's no overlap between them.
Edinburgh averages a 19°C high in August with 12 rain days. September falls to 16°C across 13 rain days. That 3°C drop between months is noticeable, and rain stays frequent in both, which makes the cafes guide especially practical for warm indoor stops.
Edinburgh's August high averages 19°C with 12 rain days, and September falls to 16°C with 13, keeping both months cool and wet enough to favor indoor dining.