Edinburgh's Gastronomic Delights: Top 5 Places to Dine and Drink

Hello again!

If you follow our blog, you’ll notice we’ve been writing about Edinburgh, but we left out places to eat. And no, we were not fasting or just eating from a convenience store. We were just saving it to make a post all about food from Edinburgh.

But first I need to make a disclaimer or warning. At the time of that travel, I had two brilliant ideas. One was that I wanted to make videos of the travel and post them in reels or Tiktok, that didn’t happen.

The second was that after every travel, my wife and I download all our pictures and made a joint library. And usually we ended wit tons on repeated photos. So, this time when I saw my wife taking a picture, I contained myself and avoided taking the same photo. But what actually happen, is that this time we never downloaded the pictures because we now pay for the google storage. So, I didn’t have all the pictures of this trip and I’m too lazy to dive into my wife’s phone and share all the pictures.

Well, that’s just a little explanation why I have just a few pictures of this travel. And also, sometimes you are just enjoying the experience and forget to take pictures.

In this post we’re going to share 5 very nice places to eat or drink in Edinburgh.

The Painted Rooster

I think this was my favorite place to have breakfast in Edinburgh. Of course we stayed there for a few days and this is not a definite guide for Edinburg, but it was a pretty good place to eat. We went there after our visit to the Dean Village. And it’s almost in the middle of the road between the center of Edinburg and the village.

The door is very little and it is easy to just walk by. But we were searching specifically for this place, so we founded. It is not hidden, but from the outside it doesn’t look like a restaurant. It’s just a little glass door.

Once inside, it is very cozy. And you need to walk downstairs because it’s on the basement floor. The restaurant is very small, but really charming. The menu is ok, you have a lot of options, even vegan ones. But we were there to try a traditional Scottish breakfast.

The Traditional Scottish Breakfast cans include many things like scrambles eggs, black pudding, beans, potatoes, spinach, tomatoes etc. They give you a long list of ingredients and you need to choose 3 items, but you can add extras for a fee. I chose fried eggs, bacon, hash browns and haggis.

Haggis is traditional Scottish pudding that contains sheep's heart, liver, and lungs, minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, and cooked in the animal's stomach. I know it doesn’t sound great but it was good, I even repeated it during this trip.

Milnes Bar

After a rainy afternoon, we were hungry and cold, and we decided to enter the first place we could find. We didn’t make a research, just made a little search in google maps and found this place nearby.

And it was a pleasant surprise. It is a traditional bar with lots of beer and surprisingly good food. We just wanted a warm place and found a great experience.

You just enter, find a table and then you need to go to the bar, make your order, pay and wait at your table. We didn’t know all of this, because we’ve never been to a bar in the UK, but it wasn’t rocket science and with the help of the staff we figured it out.

First, we ordered a pint and a half pint of some beer we can’t remember, but I know it was a lager.

The they brought our food. I went for the signature Hampshire Breed Pork Belly with an apple cider sauce. And my wife asked for a typical fish & chips. The food was surprisingly good, and I really recommend it. Also, the experience was nice, it looks that the bar was filled with locals even if it is near the center of Edinburg.

Panda & Son’s

This is a nontraditional bar we spotted months before our travel. It was once in the list of the 50 Best Bars in the World and we were really looking forward visiting it. Fortunately it was just a few steps of our hotel.

The experience began before you enter. This is a speakeasy, so it’s kind of a hidden bar. From the outside it looks like a hair salon. And when you enter It looks like a very small and picturesque hair salon. But when you go down the stairs someone receives you and opens the secret door that looks like a bookcase.

Once inside it is just like a normal bar with great drinks and complicated mixology. It’s a little bit pricey but it is worth it. Every drink has a story about the members of the panda family.

I think you can have just a beer, but I wouldn’t recommend it. You go there for the cocktails.

Mimi’s Bake House

This is a great bakery with a few locations all over Edinburg. We went there early in the morning, before our visit to the Palace of Holyroodhouse. The place is nice and it is full of sweets that looks delicious.

We had some sandwiches and tea for breakfast. They were simple, but delicious. And although it was a great breakfast, it wasn't that great as the Painted Rooster. I think is a better place to just go and had a tea and something sweet. I read they have a “Before noon tea” that is famous, but we had not the time to experience it.

We recommend this place, but maybe it would be better to go without a rush.

Oink

Maybe my favorite place in all Edinburg and also the cheapest. The menu is very simple, they just serve pork met in a bun with some stuffing and sauces. You can choose the size, the kind of bread (brown or white), the stuffing (sage and onion or haggis) and the sauce.

I tried to eat in this place on the first day but it was a fail because they just sell one whole pork a day in each location and then they just close. On the first day I tried at 4 pm without luck.

The second time I tried before 1 pm with success but I saw they were almost out of meat. So, be aware of that.

You can accompany it with a drink and some crisps in a combo. Also, I highly recommend you to try the IRN-BRU, a very Scottish beverage that I think you could find in all UK, but here you can find it everywhere. It is something in the middle of a soda and an energy drink.

And that’s all. Hope you like our suggestions.

See you soon Eduardo from @elteamgordo

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All the pictures were taken by me with my phone

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