Edinburgh for foodies

Best restaurants

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.