threeweeks guide to edinburgh

If you're at the impoverished end of the scale then none of this may apply to you. However, you might be able to afford the occasional takeaway, so that's where I'll start.

All of my recommendations are based on my own personal experience or word of mouth. Ndebele, (57 Home Street,EH3 9JP, near the Cameo Cinema) is great, and everyone loves Uncle T's (8 Forrest Road) for sandwiches, and Nile Valley (6 Chapel Street, EH8 9A) - recommended for yummy wraps. You can't move for sandwich bars, actually - Edinburgh has always been something of a takeaway sandwich heaven, and given the keen competition most are seriously good. Avoid the franchise-sandwich hell of the big chains, and you won’t be disappointed.

For chips and fried food, the fantastically comprehensive Rapido (79 Broughton Street) and Central Fish Bar (15 Teviot Place) are hard to beat. ThreeWeeks favourite – City Restaurant – is your typical greasy spoon styled fry shop, with a particularly good chicken burger and chips. Also recommended in this category is Cappadocia (10 Forrest Road, EH1 2QN) and Marmaris (35 Clerk Street EH8 9JH) - for being open until an unfeasibly late hour, and Palmyra Pizza (22 Nicolson Street, EH8 9DH) for the friendly staff and delicious Humous Falafel. Other takeaways include The Baked Potato Shop (56 Cockburn Street, EH1 1PB)Pizza Paradise (34 George IV Bridge, EH1 1EN), andChilli Connection (47 South Clerk Street EH8 9NZ) for curry.

Pubs and bars which are good for lunch include The Pear Tree (West Nicolson Street), The Last Drop in the Grassmarket, Bar Oz on Forrest Road, The Sheep Heid in Duddingston, Montpelier's on Bruntsfield Place and Assembly (formerly Iguana) on Lothian Street (near the Pleasance Dome). Both of the last two are really good for breakfast. As is the City Cafe on Blair Street who serve good food - especially for a late breakfast.

Dragon Way (74-78 South Clerk Street) and the GY in Marchmont, are good for Chinese. For Indian try Namaste, at 41 West Preston Street where the food is great and the manager is lovely! For Thai, look no further than Thaisanuk on Argyll Place in Marchmont.

Recommended restaurants for vegetarian food are David Bann (56-58 St Mary's Street, EH1 1SX)Black Bo's (57-61 Blackfriars Street), Susie's Diner (51 - 53 West Nicolson Street) and Ana Purna.

For a French accent, try Le Sept (5 Hunter SquareEH1 1QW), Le P’tite Folie (61 Frederick Street, EH2 1LH, Petit Paris (38-40 Grassmarket, EH1 2JU), and La Garrigue (31 Jeffrey Street, EH1 1DH).

There are a great many Italian restaurants. The ones we like include De Niro's (140 Nicolson Street EH8 9EH, near Southside), Bar Napoli (75 Hanover Street, EH2 1EE), and Caffé Sardi (18-20 Forrest Road, EH1 2QN). Mamas (30 Grassmarket, EH1 2HY) is an American style Pizza house that serves up huge dishes of the stuff (including crazy things like cactus pizza). Pizza Express in Stockbridge (1 Deanhaugh Street, EH4 1LU) is great for relaxed summer evenings sitting on their terrace beside the Water of Leith.

Also recommended are Blonde, (75 St Leonards Street, EH8 9QR), Beluga (30a Chambers Street, close to C Venues and The Bedlam Theatre), Biblos (at the other end of Chambers Street) Dusit (49a Thistle Street, EH2 1DY) and Maxies (5b Johnston Terrace, EH1 2PW).

You'll find good Mexican food at Garibaldi's (97 Hanover Street, EH2 1DJ) and then you can stay and make use of the bar and club. The Filling Station on the High Street and Old Orleans (30 Grindlay Street, near the Lyceum) are both fun for food and cocktails. The recently refurbished Pancho Villas (240 Canongate, EH8 8AB) is also good for spice fans.

If that's just too much to digest, here's our top ten eating type places...

(1)For a beer and a burger try Relish (217 High Street, EH1 1PE), a licensed establishment who serve gourmet burgers using Scottish produce. The burgers here are monstrous and if you are not extremely hungry you could be foolish to have a side order.

(2) Monster Mash (4 Forrest Road, EH1 2QN) where the super-friendly chatty staff will join you at your table if there is a vacant seat to take your order serves up traditional British dishes, the majority involving an assortment of sausages of varied flavours, gravy and, as the name suggests, mash.

(3) Off The Wall – One of Edinburgh’s best kept secrets, and arguably the best restaurant in town, Off The Wall boasts huge tables, top quality cooking, and service that is second to none. Definitely not for those of us on a budget, but worth it for a blow out if you win the Perrier.

(4) The City Restaurant  (33 Nicolson Street, next to the Festival Theatre) is the place to go for sit in fish and chips (and they're licensed, so beer and chips all round).

(5) Viva Mexico (41 Cockburn Street) is great for good Mexican food and enjoying a beer with a lime shoved in the neck of it. Sombrero-tastic.

(6)For the more adventurous there is the Mongolian restaurant, Khublai Khan’s (43 Assembly Street), where you can create your own dishes that can include delicacies as rare as wild boar, ostrich, shark, kangaroo and zebra to name but a few.

(7) The Tower (Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street) With stunning views of the city from its rooftop eyrie in the stunning new National Museum wing, the Tower dishes up classic food in surroundings that are worth the (fairly hefty) price alone.

(8) Dragon Way (74-78 South Clerk Street) is great for Chinese, which, really, is all you need to know.

(9)For Indian food try Namaste (15 Bristo Place) where the food is great; we have in our notes “Really friendly manager!” so hopefully that’s still the case…

(10) Stac Polly (8-10 Grindlay Street, EH3 9AS) Authentically Scottish, according to their advertisements on buses, Stac Polly successfully manages to use slightly stodgy things like oatmeal and haggis in an appetising way. Again, not the cheapest of places, but good if you need somewhere to impress.

If you do visit any of these establishments tell them ThreeWeeks sent you. You won't get a discount, but I might once you've all gone home...