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The dining room of the Scottish Cafe & Restaurant at the National Gallery.
Edinburgh

The Scottish Cafe

Victor and Carina Contini's cafe and restaurant at the Gardens entrance of the Scottish National Gallery, overlooking Princes Street Gardens.

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Welcome

Below the Scottish National Gallery, at its Gardens Entrance on the edge of East Princes Street Gardens, Victor and Carina Contini run the Scottish Cafe & Restaurant.

Its long windows look out over the gardens to the Scotsman building, Waverley Bridge and the clock tower of the Balmoral.

The cooking celebrates Scotland, drawing on more than seventy small producers: breakfasts in the morning, then lunch of Cullen skink, fish and chips and seasonal plates, and afternoon tea with scones, cakes and sandwiches on tiered stands. The dining room is bright and colourful, with tall windows and tables laid for a long lunch, and it makes a natural pause in a day among the paintings upstairs.

The cafe opens every day from ten until five, with breakfast until half past eleven and lunch and afternoon tea from noon. Tables can be booked, and guests are asked to leave by five, when the gallery closes.

Round the cornerNumber OneThe fine dining restaurant of the Balmoral hotel at the east end of Princes Street, with a seven-course tasting menu, in the Michelin Guide.1 min by roadSee itBar stools face shelves of spirits lit above a patterned tiled floor
Before you go

Open every day from ten until five, with breakfast until half past eleven and lunch and afternoon tea from noon.

Tables can be booked.

Where
Gardens Entrance, Scottish National Gallery, The Mound, Edinburgh EH2 2EL.

Opening hours

Their website
Monday
10am–5pm
Tuesday
10am–5pm
Wednesday
10am–5pm
Thursday
10am–5pm
Friday
10am–5pm
Saturday
10am–5pm
Sunday
10am–5pm
Where it is

Below the Scottish National Gallery, at its Gardens Entrance in East Princes Street Gardens.

Close byThe Mound and Princes Street Gardens.
  1. Wooden chalets of the Christmas market in East Princes Street Gardens, hung with greenery and signs.Edinburgh’s Christmas MarketUnder a mile1 min by road
  2. Red gallery walls hung with gilt-framed paintings above set dinner tables and a marble statueScottish National GalleryThe national collection of fine art, above the cafe.Under a mile1 min by road
  3. The AbbotsfordA Rose Street pub, long a favourite haunt of Edinburgh's poets.Under a mile1 min by road
  4. Edinburgh Castle rises above trees and lawns of Princes Street GardensPrinces StreetThe southern edge of the New Town, built on one side only.Under a mile1 min by road
  5. Ross Fountain in Princes Street Gardens with Edinburgh Castle behindRoss FountainA French cast-iron fountain of 1872 beneath the castle rock.Under a mile4 min by road
Directions
Bar stools face shelves of spirits lit above a patterned tiled floorRestaurantsNumber OneA step away
Lowdown Coffee café sign above a basement entrance behind iron railingsCafeLowdown CoffeeA step away
Set table beside a brick fireplace with clock and mirror aboveRestaurantsWhiski Rooms0.2 miles
Turreted stone building with a Makars' Court sign in Edinburgh's Old TownAttractionsWriters’ Museum in Lady Stair’s Close0.2 miles
Turreted stone tenement with crow-stepped gables and a lamppost in Edinburgh's Old TownAttractionsWriters' Museum0.2 miles
Pavement slab inscribed with Robert Garioch's verse "In Embro to the ployAttractionsLady Stair's Close0.2 miles
Lady Stair's Close and the Writers' Museum, a tall old house with a turret.AttractionsMakars’ Court0.2 miles
Hanging pub sign for the Jolly Judge on a stone wallRestaurantsJolly Judge0.2 miles
Bronze sculpture of a basket with a carved oar motif on its stone plinthAttractionsSusannah Alice Stephen Memorial0.2 miles
Stay nearby

Places to stay near the Scottish Cafe, and when each is next free.

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  • Sleeps 4
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Check datesA turreted sandstone building with conical spires catches the evening light above rooftops, a large pine tree standing beside it.The Scott Hotel
  • A hotel
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  • A mile from the Scottish Cafe
Check datesPlaces to stayEvery stay in EdinburghAll our places to stay nearby, to search by date and by who is coming.See them all
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Every photograph commissioned, every word written by somebody who went. Printed twice a year, made in Scotland.

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