Café Marlayne

Nestled behind Princes Street on one of those charming cobbled alleyways running parallel to the Edinburgh's shopping hubbub, this nine-table, simple and sophisticated bistro could quite convincingly be a little corner of Med-culture heaven on a warm summer's evening in the capital. In the more likely event that you visit Café Marlayne on a bitingly cold, wind-searing-through-ribs kind of evening in the capital, the cosy ambience and sumptuous French-Scottish fusion cuisine more than makes up for such a climactic discrepancy. And the wine is rather lovely, too.