Sarah Kendall's favourite cafes
Returning to the Fringe after a couple of years' absence, Sarah Kendall recalls her favourite spots to recharge.
The Very Best of the Edinburgh Festivals 2024
Review: Assembly Hall
Review: Orchestra of Sound
Review: After the Silence
Black Medicine
2 Nicolson Street, EH8 9DH
0131 557 6269
Located one block away from the Pleasance, this café has got me through my mid-festival energy slump many times (and by mid-festival, I mean from around August 3rd to 26th). I don’t who is in charge of the music the café, but whoever you are, I suspect we are exactly the same age, and you too dressed like a member of 4 Non Blondes in the mid 90s. What’s Up?
Monster Mash
20 Forrest Road, EH1 2QN
This is technically not a café, but it is one of my only sources of nutrition during the festival, and my mother wants me to thank them for keeping me alive during the month of August. I love everything about this place – the décor, the staff, the hangovers they’ve cured, and of course, the awesome sausages. Why not meet there with a close friend and say things like, "Hey, you love cramming sausage in your mouth, don’t you?" Or, "Mmm, a nice big sausage! Your mother likes sausage, doesn’t she?" Or, "Do you know, I like nothing more than a..." Oh, you get the idea!
Blue Moon Café
36 Broughton Street, EH1 3SB
I had one of the best eggs Benedict here that I have ever had in my entire life. And I’ve eaten eggs Benedict a lot in my life, and in many different countries. So for one eggs Benedict to stand out, it has to be a pretty bloody good eggs Benedict. And the coffee is great too. Don’t even get me started on how seriously I take coffee. Imagine how seriously I take eggs Benedict, and then multiply it by my love of sausage. Yes, I just said I love sausage. It really is the joke that keeps giving.
Chocolate Soup
2 Hunter Square, EH1 1QW
0131 225 7669
I love this café. There’s nothing quite like a hot bowl of soup to warm you up on a cold, wet, miserable summer day in Edinburgh. Like Monster Mash, I rely on this place heavily for nutrition during August, though you can’t make all those great jokes about sausages in a soup shop. Well you could, but it might seem out of place because there’s no sausage on the menu. People would presume you were just plain vulgar, or mentally ill.
As an insert: Mark Smith really likes:
Filmhouse Cafe
88 Lothian Road, EH3 9BZ
The cafe/bar at the Filmhouse cinema on Lothian Road is open long hours and is a great place to pop in at any time of the day for cheap, filling and quick food with lots of vegetarian options. It also has a great range of beers and wines as well as coffee and cakes and always has a friendly, busy atmosphere.