1. Spoon Cafe
It doesn't look much - a small open kitchen; some functional Scandinavian furniture - but this cafe is a cut above. Chef-owner Richard Alexander is clearly a stickler - from the smallest details (Tyrell's crisps; good beers; a slightly sweet, but deliciously fiery homemade ginger beer, £2.10) to the relatively ambitious specials, such as boudin noir with glazed carrots and potatoes (£6.95), everything smacks of quality. There are interesting soups and sandwiches, and it's a pleasant spot for breakfast, too. Over coffee and newspapers, a little soothing Richard Hawley audible in the background, tuck into a buttery croissant, filled with proper Ayrshire ham and sweet, nutty Swiss cheese (£3.45). Open until 10pm Fri-Sat; takeaway available.
• Breakfast from £1.95; meals from £3.50. 15 Blackfriars Street, + 44 (0)131 556 6922
2. Oink
Simplicity itself, this. In the window - and looking not unlike the bronzed Ray Winstone of Sexy Beast - sits a whole roasted hog. Reared on co-owner Adam Marshall's Berwickshire farm, the pig is salted and tray-roasted, to retain its juices, and then shredded and served on bread rolls, with sage and onion stuffing, apple or chilli sauce. The bread rolls are cheap, flimsy things, but you get a generous mound of quite majestic meat. Mainly takeaway, limited seating.
• Pork roll £4.60/ £4.90 (with crackling). 34 Victoria Street
3. Urban Angel
Increasingly, when an eaterie pronounces its commitment to fairly traded, free-range, local, seasonal, organic ingredients, it means nothing. It's more a matter of fashion than ethics, and it is certainly no guarantee of a great plate of food. By the taste of things, however, the trendy Urban Angel is the real deal: a takeaway-cafe built on the careful sourcing of fine ingredients. Whether you're taking away a simple mozzarella, tomato and basil sandwich (£3.80); enjoying a (very) late breakfast of excellent eggs Benedict (£7.90, brunch served until 5pm); or tucking into something more substantial - salads, stews, tagines - its rigour shines through.
• Brunch dishes from £3.50; mains from £6.90 - 121 Hanover Street, +44 (0)131 225 6215; urban-angel.co.uk
4. Tailend
In the likes of L'Alba D'Oro and L'Aquila Bianca, Edinburgh has several good chippies. However, just now, everyone is talking about relative newcomer, Tailend. It's split between a seafood restaurant (lunch menu, two-courses, £7.95) and a modern takeaway section, where the options range from steak pies to dressed crab. You can have your fish breaded or grilled, but, otherwise, it's fried-to-order in beef dripping, as are the chips. Owner-fryer Colin Cromar (who used to have the award-winning Anstruther Fish Bar in the East Neuk of Fife) is clearly a bit of an artist - one who can judge his cooking to the millisecond. The chips may look a tad anaemic, a little undercooked, but fear not. They have crisp and crunch, without compromising any of their fluffy density, while a superbly fresh, meaty piece of haddock is encased in an ethereally light batter. Outstanding stuff.
• Meals from £3.50. 14-15, Albert Place, +44 (0)131 555 3577; tailendrestaurant.com
5. Mosque Kitchen
It closes between 1pm-1.45pm on a Friday, during prayers, but otherwise the open-air Mosque Kitchen (noon-8pm, daily) does a brisk trade in cheap, wholesome curries. You can't actually see it from the main Potterrow entrance, but walk past the mosque building, turn right, and you'll find everyone from students to middle-aged tourists chowing down at communal trestle tables, under two, large brightly coloured corrugated-plastic canopies. Flash it ain't. You eat with plastic spoons from paper plates, and the food is solid, unfussy home cooking. The sag aloo has a rather pronounced spinachy iron tang, but it's tasty enough. The yellow lentil tarka daal is the star: creamy, deeply savoury and carrying a nice heat. For the money - £5 for three vegetable curries, rice, and a bottle of water - it's a bargain. Besides the main meat curries, you can also pick up seekh kebabs (£1.50) and tandoori chicken pieces (from £1.20) from the little charcoal grill.
• Meals from £3. 50 Potterrow, +44 (0)131 667 1777; edmosque.com
6. La Favorita Wagon
Tony Crolla's Italian restaurant, La Favorita (pizza from £6. 325-331 Leith Walk, +44 (0)131 554 2430; la-favorita.com) produces some of, if not the, best pizzas in Edinburgh, and, interestingly, it's just gone mobile. The La Favorita pizza wagon, complete with its own one-tonne wood-fired oven, will be in Bristo Square for the duration of the festival. The components are good: creamy mozzarella; sweet, well-seasoned tomato sauce; nicely fatty, dry sausage; and the pizza bases are exemplarily - crisp, fresh, paper thin in the middle and well-charred. The Vesuvio, with its quiet lick of red chilli heat, is very good, and proves that, despite the cynical grafting of most operators, fast food can be good food. Even when it's served from a van.
• Slice £2, 14" pizza, £10, Bristo Square, noon-3am.
7. The Dogs
With its bare floorboards, mismatched furniture and simple, affordable British dishes, Dogs is, essentially, a gastropub, minus the pub building. Instead, you'll find it on the first floor of an old Georgian New Town terrace. There are some nice touches - several half-litre carafes of wine under a tenner; iced-water arriving unbidden as you ponder the menu - but, ultimately, it's the food that matters. The skin could have been a little crisper, but, otherwise, a mains of trout and two salads (one potato, the other a sharply-dressed mix of green leaves, nuts and seeds) is, at £5.25, precisely the kind of gastro steal that embodies Dogs' appeal. It's so popular, in fact, that owner David Ramsden recently opened Italian spin-off, Amore Dogs (Amore Dogs, 104 Hanover Street, +44 (0)131 220 5155; amoredogs.co.uk), a few doors down.
• Mains from £4.50 (day); £7.90 (night). 110 Hanover Street, +44 (0)131 220 1208; thedogsonline.co.uk
8. Monster Mash
"Happy days are here again," is the slogan, and this retro-modern homage to the traditional cafe - Tunnocks wafers on the counter; HP sauce on the tables; mugs of Tetley tea (85p) on the menu; some terrible radio station playing Squeeze and Billy Joel in the background - has certainly got the details right. The menu continues the theme, offering comfort food classics: macaroni cheese, shepherd's pie and, hence the name, a variety of mix 'n' match sausage, mash and gravy options. Thankfully, the food is much better than it was in 1973. The champ is good, the onion gravy (which arrives in a little stainless steel gravy boat) has proper depth of flavour, and the Monster sausages are decent herby pork bangers. It's filling, too, which is crucial if you're on a tight budget.
• Meals from £7. 4a Forrest Road, +44 (0)131 225 7069
9. Peter's Yard
This Swedish bakery-cafe - the Peter in question is Peter Ljungquist, who, back home, runs high-end artisan bakery brand, Olof Viktors - serves Scandinavian takes on the staples: soups, open sandwiches, salads, but local foodies love it for its breads and cakes. Muffins made with high-quality Valrhona chocolate lay down a marker, but its the light, aromatic cardamom twists (£1.90) that are fast approaching legendary status. Peter's Yard also serves a mean coffee (from £1.80). Located in the new Quartermile development, just off Teviot Place, it's a smartly designed space, with outdoor seating on the pleasantly leafy Middle Meadow Walk.
• Cakes from £1.90; sandwiches from £3.90. Quartermile, 27 Simpson Loan, +44 (0)131 228 5876; petersyard.com
10. Henderson's
Art gallery, arts venue, deli, bistro and bakery, there is a lot going on at the Henderson's complex. Its chief attraction, however, remains its cafeteria-style basement restaurant - the operational hub - which produces vibrant vegetarian food at pretty keen prices. Expect zingy salads, great soups (say, a gutsy roasted red pepper and tomato with good croutons and thin homemade oatcakes) and interesting mains, such as cheese and herb fritters with apple mango chutney (£6.25). Drinks-wise, they offer everything from freshly blended juices (from £2.85) to craft brews, like Hepworth's Blonde Organic Lager (£2.95). Alternatively, help yourself to the jugs of free tap water in the corner.
• Dishes from £3.55. 92-94 Hanover Street, +44 (0)131 225 6694; hendersonsofedinburgh.co.uk
• The Guardian travelled with First TransPennine Express, which is offering free travel for children this summer.
