Top 10... Fast Bites

Kebab Mahal 
7 Nicolson Square

The daddy of them all, the Mahal has been open for thirty years and won best Scottish Takeaway 2009. Aside from the curries, the doner, chicken, shish and shashlik kebabs have a local reputation so you may have to be a little bit patient and if you’ve worked up a big appetite a King Doner with nan may be in order (only available in LARGE). Pizza and burgers are also available into the small hours along with pakora, tikka and samosas, the perfect way to settle those eight or so beers. [SR]

Mosque Kitchen
50 Potterow; Potterow Dome

Edinburgh's worst-kept secret, the open-air restaurant at the back of Edinburgh Central Mosque has been consistently popular since it opened in 2004. Every Fringe the cooks set up shop over the road in the Pleasance Dome as well. The novelty of eating three-quid curries off paper plates has garnered it excessive praise, but the portions are large, and the food consistently good, if not as spectacular as its 2010 Scottish Restaurant Awards nomination would suggest. Vegetarian dishes and barbecued meat and vegetables are on offer in addition to the wide range of curries. [DH]

The Baked Potato Shop
56 Cockburn Street

A far healthier option than any of the above, the best tattie shop in town serves up great value nosh for those idling down the Royal Mile or on their way over to George Street. Take your pick from a seemingly limitless selection of fillings. There's chilli and haggis for the meat-eaters, and beans and vege-haggis for the veggies. Vegans are well catered for here and there's always a gluten-free option or two. There are salad boxes, pittas, and vege sausage rolls for those who don't fancy a potato. [EB]

Che
10 Forrest Road

The staff are friendly and always willing to cater to the more health conscious, if you do require a 1am cheese salad pitta but they specialise in meaty kebabs and pizza. Cheese and chips are another top stodge option but some rather fancy sounding paninis are also on the menu. Choose from salami and mortadella, spicy chicken, or if you like your offal, chicken livers and spinach. Or if you prefer the more conventional and greasier option, you can try Cappadocia across the road. [SR]

Dario’s
85-87 Lothian Road

One of the rare late-night haunts where the food is just as edible sober, Dario’s is the benevolent provider of late-night bags of chips. If not sustained by salt and sauce alone (and never vinegar, you’re in Scotland now) then battered fish, smoked sausage, white and black pudding, pies, Mars Bars -pretty much anything you can see really- will be fried while you wait. Pizza , garlic bread and even late night spaghetti carbonara are on offer as Dario’s is a respectable Italian restaurant by day, so try not to stash a fish supper in your handbag for the taxi back, please. [SR]

La Favorita
Bristo Square

Another of the takeaway vans which materialise by Teviot in Bristo Square for the month of August only to pack up and leave with the tourists. La Favorita is the best pizza restaurant in town (it delivers, too: 0131 5566171 if you're staying in), and the chefs somehow manage to maintain their high standards serving pizza by the slice in a veritable Tardis of a working area – it doesn't look larger than your average wood-oven. There's not the variety you'd get in a restaurant, but there are always a few alternatives to the standard margherita. [EB]

Palymra 
22 Nicolson Street

For the hotly-contested title of ‘Best Falafel in Edinburgh’, Palmyra is certainly a strong contender, having pinned down the golden ratio of chilli sauce to yoghurt. Not limited to wraps, Palmyra also does a mean pizza and if you’re willing to kill two birds with one stone, (and not worried about the state of your arteries) try a doner pizza with garlic dip. There are also mezze platters alongside the usual chicken and lamb kebabs and the staff are very pleasant and ready to offer a student discount. [SR]

Pizza Paradise 
34 George IV Bridge

During the festival you’ll be lucky enough to dodge the local school kids who head here in their droves for a slice of pizza and you’ll soon agree, it’s good stuff. You’ll find no deep-fried monstrosities here instead, fresh, made-to-order thin-bases rule. They also do falafel, baked potatoes, burgers, filled rolls, cake...pretty much any fast food you can think of, not forgetting chips. For those who never quite left school, chips with a generous helping of cheese or curry sauce awaits. There are plenty of seats so you can watch whoever happens to be passing Greyfriars Bobby while you tuck in. [SR]

Stoats Porridge Stands
Various locations

The ideal fortifying snack if you're in a rush, especially good for warming you up when it's cold and rainy. Stoats's main line is rather dull cereal bars, but this stall—normally confined to farmers' markets—has a great range of porridge, porridge bars, and that's actually it. It's all made with organic and (what else?) Scottish oats, and comes in various flavours. Best is the “Classic Cranachan”, which is crammed with raspberries, single cream, honey, and toasted oats. It's rather less austere and doubtless worse for you than the purists' recipe (oats, water, maybe a little salt to taste if you're a feeble sassenach) but far tastier. [EB]

Well Hung and Tender 
Bristo Square

Despite the unsavoury moniker, this burger van is—along with La Favorita—the pick of the bustling fast-food joints found next to the busy Teviot student union, just off Bristo Square (the place with the huge inflatable cow). For four quid you get a bun packed with a considerable slab of deliciously juicy Aberdeen Angus beef, a greasy mound of fried onions, a handful of cheddar (graters are for salad-eating wimps) and a dollop of spicy relish to decorate your shirt. Or there's a steak baguette, and frankly these two options alone are enough to ensure that carnivores can quite happily subsist on cow all August long. There are a few cheaper imitators scattered about but this is the real deal. [EB]