Paul Kitching's Michelin-starred Edinburgh restaurant occupies a ravishing Georgian townhouse in Royal Terrace. The innovative menu is constantly evolving, and it's fun to watch the chefs beavering away in the open kitchen while you eat. The affordable weekday lunch menu offers a great opportunity to try Michelin star-level food on a budget.

Following the success of his Michelin-starred Leith Shore eatery, chef Martin Wishart opened a second Edinburgh restaurant in the New Town during 2011. The menu blends traditional, seasonal Scottish flavours with French-inspired cuisine, including a mouth-watering selection of seafood and steak, complimented by a good choice of wines from an extensive list.

Impeccably presented Italian food is served in the beautiful surroundings of a converted New Town house at Contini. The menu includes classic Italian meat and fish dishes, a variety of interesting pasta sauces, excellent pizzas, and homemade ice cream. The owners source fresh produce directly from Scottish and Italian farmers.

Don't be put off if you're a meat eater - this classy vegetarian restaurant does food good enough to convert even the most confirmed carnivore. The menu trots the globe from the Mediterranean to the Pacific, taking in India and Thailand en-route. The service is consistently excellent too.

This small local chain has three branches, all offering modern Scottish dishes in attractive surroundings with tasteful tartan touches. The food is beautifully prepared and presented, while the staff are friendly and helpful. In season, the menu features Scottish game, such as venison and pheasant.

This small and popular Stockbridge restaurant has been satisfying Edinburgh's yearnings for burgers for over 40 years. Steaks and veggie-burgers are also available, but it is the chargrilled beef-burgers, with their various savoury butters, which are the real highlights in this unpretentious, simply furnished diner. Tuck into piles of pancakes and ice cream for dessert.

Kalpna is one of Edinburgh's longest-established and best-known Indian restaurants. It is small, simply decorated and unpretentious inside, but the food (all of which is vegetarian) is delicious and inspired. Specialities include huge South Indian dosas, thali set meals and vegetable-stuffed potatoes. The Kalpna lunchtime buffet is very good value and, correspondingly, popular.

The two city centre branches of Urban Angel serve a mean brunch, plus healthy, light lunches and inexpensive dinners using sustainable, organic ingredients where possible. You can expect porridge or Arbroath smokies for breakfast, Mediterranean salads or falafel sandwiches at noon, and tapas dishes or haggis for supper.