The Tollcross area of Edinburgh possibly offers diners the greatest choice of different cuisines in the entire city. By our reckoning, you could eat Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Greek, Southern Indian, Polish, Punjabi or pizza all within a five minute walk of the Tollcross clock.
Pizza and movies
One of the more recent restaurants to join the market is Croma Pizza at the Odeon on Lothian Road. With an interior shaped by the Italian designer Enzo Apicella, Cromer Pizza is an airy, 90 seat restaurant specialising in pizza and pasta.
The pizzas are Neapolitan in style – none of your American deep pan here. Hand-stretched, they are quickly cooked at 750°C so that they are crispy with a slight smoky flavour around the edges. Choices range from a classic Margherita to more contemporary options like the tandoori chicken or pizza Inglese – a sort of Anglo-Italian take on the full English breakfast.
Not only can cinema-goers buy tickets for their films in the restaurant, they can also take pizza in to the screenings.
Pre-theatre meals
Heading in the opposite direction and towards Bruntsfield, Bisque Brasserie is a popular restaurant in the Bruntsfield Hotel.
Handy for the Meadows, King’s Theatre and the Cameo cinema, Bisque Brasserie rightly bills itself as ‘a neighbourhood restaurant with a city centre approach but without the city centre prices’.
Al fresco dining
Diners are welcome to eat in the bar or in the brasserie overlooking the garden terrace. In a city which isn’t overburdened with al fresco dining options, the heated terrace garden at Bisque is understandably buzzy during the sunnier months.
The restaurant serves an all day dining menu as well as a dinner menu – both offer what the restaurant calls ‘casual gourmet quality’. Many of the dishes are contemporary Mediterranean – fritto misto, seafood linguine and risotto.
Others are much loved British classics such as Cumberland sausage and mash; haddock ‘n’ chips or chicken stuffed with haggis and a whisky cream. There is also a grill section offering burgers plus sirloin and rib-eye steaks from the Borders.
Creative, simple, wholesome
][3]Moving towards the Grassmarket end of Tollcross, Simpsons Restaurant is a cosy and friendly restaurant in between the capital’s Old Town and Meadows.
Part of the Edinburgh City Hotel on Lauriston Place, it is close to several of the city’s theatres and an ideal stop for a pre-show meal.
The kitchen’s aim is to provide creative, yet simple and wholesome dishes. Typical starters might be the marinated herring with pickled red cabbage or the haggis beignet served with crushed new potato and turnip plus a red wine sauce.
Popular main courses on the regularly changing menus include steak pie with new potatoes and seasonal vegetables or the roast cod with a Puy lentil casserole. All dishes are prepared and cooked to order using the finest, fresh local produce.
Bright and cheery restaurant
][5]Also handy for the theatre district is the bright and cheery Elements Restaurant, part of the Novotel Edinburgh Centre on Lauriston Place.
Open in the evenings, it has a wide ranging and versatile menu which draws on culinary influences from all over the world.
The menu changes with the seasons but the current a la carte features starters such as the confit duck spring roll with plum sauce; a Greek superfood salad and the ever popular mozzarella bruschetta with shaved fennel and courgette.
Main courses range from a simple three egg omelette with a choice of cheese, ham or mushroom fillings to more elaborate options such as the grilled lamb cutlets with a hazelnut and mint pesto.
Of course, Elements also offers a range of steaks plus the mighty house burger – 8oz of 100% ground beef with lettuce, smoky bacon, Swiss cheese plus tomato and red onion chutney served with jalapeños, onion rings and French fries.
‘Bon appétit!’, ‘Kali órexi!’ and ‘Douzo meshiagare!’, as they say in Tollcross.