Edinburgh eats well, and it eats globally. The twelve restaurants below are concentrated in the New Town and the Old Town, within a tight grid of streets bracketed by St Andrew Square, Broughton Street and North Bridge — a walkable belt where Japanese sushi counters, Neapolitan pizza ovens, Bombay-cafe homages and family-run Italian dining rooms sit within minutes of one another. The list skews toward kitchens with a clear point of view: places where the cuisine label on the door (sushi, indian, french, italian, mexican) is a promise the kitchen actually keeps, not a marketing convenience. A few are British chains that earn their place because the Edinburgh branch is genuinely good; most are single rooms run by people who answer their own phones. Hours are mixed — some open from breakfast, others not until late afternoon — so the list is also a small schedule. Use it that way: a sushi lunch off Princes Street, a late curry after the theatre, a long Sunday roast on George Street.
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1 Minami
9 West Register Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2AA, GBSushi served in a tight West Register Street room, lunch through early evening only
From 12:00 the counter at Minami, 9 West Register Street in the EH2 2AA postcode, starts turning out the sushi that the lunchtime office crowd off St Andrew Square has quietly adopted. Skip the chain conveyor-belt sushi a few blocks over; the kitchen here closes by 20:00 and shuts entirely on Monday and Tuesday, which tells you it is run by people, not a roster. Wednesday through Sunday it keeps a single eight-hour service, long enough for a proper lunch and an early dinner and nothing else. Book through the site at minami-sushi.co.uk or call +44 7397 671398 — the mobile number is the giveaway that this is a small operation, and worth treating as one.
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2 Franco Manca
19-23 South St Andrew Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2AU, GBSourdough Neapolitan pizza, opens at 11:30 daily, late on Thursday through Saturday
By 11:30 the ovens at Franco Manca, 19-23 South St Andrew Street in the EH2 2AU postcode, are already pulling pizza off the stones for the lunch trade pouring out of St Andrew Square. Come on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday, when the kitchen runs to 23:00 instead of the weeknight 22:00 — that extra hour is when the room finally exhales and you can actually hear the person across the table. It is a British chain, and that is usually a strike against, but this branch keeps the sourdough discipline that made the original Brixton room worth queueing for; see francomanca.co.uk for the menu or call +44 131 560 1329 to ask about a table. Don't bother with the carbon-copy pizza chains further down Princes Street.
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3 Wahaca
16 South St Andrew Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2AU, GBMexican street-food plates from noon to late, a few doors from Franco Manca on the same street
From 12:00 the dining room at Wahaca, 16 South St Andrew Street in the EH2 2AU postcode, runs through to 23:00 every day of the week except Sunday, when the kitchen closes at 22:00. The cuisine is mexican — the small-plate, market-style version, not the burrito-pile-on cliché — and the room fills with groups who want to feed four or six without booking three weeks out. Skip the Tex-Mex barns angling for the stag-do trade; the cooking here is sharper, the cocktails are honest, and the room has a pulse. The site at wahaca.co.uk lists the Edinburgh-specific menu, and +44 131 202 6850 will pick up if you want to hold a long table for an early dinner.
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4 Dishoom
3A St Andrew Square, Edinburgh, EH2 2BD, GBAll-day Bombay-cafe menu, doors open from 08:00 on weekdays for the bacon naan crowd
From 08:00 Monday through Wednesday the doors at Dishoom, 3A St Andrew Square in the EH2 2BD postcode, open onto a queue that has formed in the cold for the bacon naan and the chai. The kitchen runs an indian menu that pretends, charmingly, to be a 1960s Bombay cafe, and it earns the conceit — Thursday and Friday it stays open until midnight, Saturday opens at 09:00 and runs to midnight, Sunday closes at 23:00. Breakfast is the move; the dinner queues are a different sport. See dishoom.com/edinburgh for the walk-in policy and call +44 131 202 6406 if you are a party of six or more. Don't bother trying to be a hero about the queue.
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5 PizzaExpress
23 North Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1SBReliable Italian-American pizza on the North Bridge corridor between Old and New Town
From 11:30 the kitchen at PizzaExpress, 23 North Bridge in the EH1 1SB postcode, starts feeding the steady trade walking between the Old Town and Waverley. It runs to 21:30 Sunday through Thursday and pushes to 22:00 on Friday and Saturday — short hours for a chain, which is the first sign this branch is run sensibly. The cuisine is pizza, yes, and yes it is the high-street brand, but the North Bridge room is genuinely useful when you are between a matinee and a train and want a thin-crust margherita without theatre. Skip the souvenir-shop cafes pretending to do Italian on the Royal Mile; the menu at pizzaexpress.com/edinburgh-northbridge tells you what it is, and +44 131 557 6411 will confirm a table. Not worth the climb up to the castle on an empty stomach.
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6 Holy Cow
34 Elder Street, Edinburgh, EH1 3DX, GBPlant-leaning burgers, sandwiches, soups and bowls a block off the St James Quarter
From 12:00 on weekdays — and from 10:00 Friday through Sunday for a proper brunch — the counter at Holy Cow, 34 Elder Street in the EH1 3DX postcode, does burger, sandwich, soup and bowl in roughly that order of popularity. The locals swear by the burgers, which is mildly funny given the name and the plant-forward menu, and the room shuts at 22:00 every night — late enough for a real dinner, early enough that the staff are not exhausted. Don't bother with the identikit fast-casual chains in the St James Quarter mall up the road; the cooking here has a point of view. See holycow.cafe for the rotating specials or call +44 131 629 7057 if you want to know what is on today.
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7 Frenchie
14 Broughton Street, Edinburgh, EH1 3RHGenuinely French cooking on Broughton Street with a split lunch-and-dinner service early in the week
From 12:00 the dining room at Frenchie, 14 Broughton Street in the EH1 3RH postcode, runs a proper continental split — lunch to 15:00, then a hard close, then dinner from 17:00 to 21:00 — Monday through Wednesday. Thursday through Saturday it goes all-day to 22:00, and Sunday runs through to 21:00, which is when the cooking gets its quietest, most patient service. The cuisine is french, and the kitchen treats that label as a contract, not a costume. Head here when you are tired of the carbon-copy bistros on George Street chasing the convention crowd. Book through barfrenchie.com or ring +44 131 556 5333 for the corner two-top; the room is small enough that the phone is still the right tool.
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8 Passage to India
20 Union Place, Edinburgh, EH1 3NQLate-night Indian dining at the top of Leith Walk, open past midnight Friday and Saturday
From 16:00 the kitchen at Passage to India, 20 Union Place in the EH1 3NQ postcode, opens for a long, deliberately late service — to 23:30 Sunday through Thursday, and through to 00:30 on Friday and Saturday. That is the giveaway: an indian dining room calibrated for theatre, comedy and concert traffic spilling out around the top of Leith Walk, not for the lunch crowd. Come after a show, when the room has loosened and the orders are coming out of a kitchen that has hit its rhythm. Don't bother with the chain curry houses on the Royal Mile aimed at the tour-bus trade — the cooking here is steadier and the room is properly lit. See passage2india.co.uk for the menu or call +44 131 556 4547 for a late-evening booking.
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9 Le Petit Beefbar Edinburgh
21-25 George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2PBBeef and meat-focused George Street dining room, weekend lunches from 12:30
From 17:30 Monday through Thursday the kitchen at Le Petit Beefbar Edinburgh, 21-25 George Street in the EH2 2PB postcode, works a tight dinner-only service to 22:00. Friday adds a 12:30-15:30 lunch, then closes for an hour and reopens through to 22:00; Saturday and Sunday run continuously from 12:30 to 22:00. The cuisine is beef and meat, handled by a kitchen that does not pretend otherwise — this is not a steakhouse trying to be a brasserie. Book the weekend lunch, when the George Street crowd thins and the room is at its most generous. Skip the carbon-copy steakhouses chasing the bachelor-party trade; see beefbar.com/le-petit-beefbar-edinburgh or ring +44 131 240 7177 for a table.
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10 Mowgli
20 Hanover Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2QWIndian street-food small plates on Hanover Street, late on Friday and Saturday
From 11:30 the dining room at Mowgli, 20 Hanover Street in the EH2 2QW postcode, runs continuously to 22:00 Sunday through Thursday and pushes to 23:00 on Friday and Saturday. The cuisine is indian, but the format — small plates, tin cups, a menu organised the way home cooks actually eat — is the part that earns the room its queue. Come in groups of four or six, because that is the order count at which the menu starts to make sense. Don't bother trying to order it like a standard curry house; the kitchen is doing something else. See mowglistreetfood.com/restaurants/edinburgh for the current menu or call +44 131 560 2510 to hold a long table for a Friday evening. Better than the carbon-copy curry rooms a few blocks east.
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11 Mother India's Cafe
3-5 Infirmary Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1LTTapas-style Indian small plates on Infirmary Street, with a split lunch-and-dinner service early in the week
From 12:00 the kitchen at Mother India's Cafe, 3-5 Infirmary Street in the EH1 1LT postcode, runs a tight lunch to 14:00 Monday through Wednesday, then closes for a hard three hours before dinner from 17:00 to 22:30. Thursday the room goes continuous to 22:30, Friday and Saturday push to 23:00, and Sunday closes at 22:00. The cuisine is indian — the small-plate, tapas-style format that the Glasgow original made its name on — and it earns its following for a straightforward reason: you can order six dishes for the price of two main courses elsewhere. Skip the all-you-can-eat buffets near the university; see motherindia.co.uk/restaurant/mother-india-edinburgh for the current menu or ring +44 131 524 9801 to hold a table.
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12 Jolly
9 Elm Row, Edinburgh, EH7 4AAFamily-run Italian dining room on Elm Row with a classic split weekday service
From 12:00 the kitchen at Jolly, 9 Elm Row in the EH7 4AA postcode, works a proper Italian split — lunch to 14:30, a long afternoon shut, then dinner from 17:00 to 21:30 — Monday through Friday. Saturday it goes continuous to 21:30, Sunday opens at 12:30 and runs to 21:00, which is when the long family lunches actually happen. The cuisine is italian, and the room is run by people who have decided that timing the kitchen properly matters more than turning two extra covers. Sunday lunch is the reason to come, not a quick weeknight bite. Don't bother with the carbon-copy trattorias chasing the festival crowd on the Royal Mile; see jollyrestaurant.co.uk for the seasonal menu or call +44 131 556 1588 for the back booth.
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