Peter Irvine’s Scotland the best
Discover the perfect place to savour tasty food and relax in a wonderful, laid-back atmosphere
Fruitmarket Cafe, Edinburgh
Attached to the Fruitmarket Gallery, a cool, spacious place for coffee, pastries or a light lunch by the Milk people. Big salads, home cooking, deli plates and two or three daily specials. It attracts a mix of tourists, artbaggers and Edinburgers who know this is where to hang out as well as eat.
Singl-end, Glasgow
Brilliant boho below-street cafe/restaurant along from Glasgow School of Art opened its Merchant City branch in 2018. The original, named after the Glasgow vernacular for a tiny tenement living space, set a new standard in garage-style urban chic, with ethical, home-made dining, especially baking. Though subterranean, the space is bright and comfortable. John Street has a terrace spilling over the pedestrian street and two floors.
Allan Water Cafe, Bridge of Allan
Located on the main street, beside the eponymous bridge. Worth coming over from Stirling (five miles) for a takeaway or a seat in the cafe (a steel-and-glass extension somewhat lacking in charm but not in buzz) for great fish’n’chips and the ice cream. Practically an institution.
Girvans, Inverness
A different proposition to The Castle, more perhaps a restaurant, but the atmosphere is of a good, unpretentious caff serving everything from omelettes to full-blown comfort meals. Tempting cream-laden cakes. I never go to Inverness without coming here.
University Cafe, Glasgow
People have been coming here for generations to sit at the “kneesy” tables and share the salt and vinegar. Here nothing much changes. Run by the Verecchia family, who administer advice, sympathy and pie, beans and chips with equal aplomb. And have done so for 100 years! Six booths only; it resists all change.
Peter Irvine is the author of the essential travel guide Scotland the Best published by Collins, priced £15.99