One of Edinburgh’s best new restaurants is on the walk out to Leith, in a tiny, blue room. Dinner is a starters, mains, desserts structure, so a good bet for anyone not enamoured with small plates, and the food is of that quietly brilliant kind that weighs its cleverness with nourishment. Dishes might include an exquisitely wan and green cucumber gazpacho with white asparagus, or a sea trout dish with brown shrimp and butter that gets its surprise from smoked aubergine. Book, and early.

London has Lina Stores; Edinburgh has Valvona & Crolla. Established in the city since 1934, Philip, Mary, Francesca and Olivia Contini’s deli, coffee bar, and restaurant serves a multitude of purposes: if wanting a fancy shared house accommodation dinner, get some cheeses and meats; if wanting a sandwich stuffed with Milan market vegetables and also more cheeses and meats at lunch, get one; if wanting a low-key dinner with the likes of tagliata, panzanella, and even borlotti beans: get that.

Baba Budan is a wonderful cafe, but Edinburgh has plenty of wonderful cafes. What plenty of Edinburgh’s wonderful cafes don’t have, is doughnuts made on the premises. Recent fillings include blackberry, white chocolate and violet cream, peach melba, red berry fool — the perfect flyering fuel, or an instant-fix late breakfast after a particularly heavy night. On the shows, of course.

Edinburgh has a tendency to become a bit much. The Baked Potato shop puts a stop to this, with a baked potato. A kaleidoscope of toppings are available, it’s sustaining, filling, and has been going for 36 years. For the hungry and the weary, be they performers or spectactors.

Down a perilously steep alley off the Royal Mile, find nearly 80 riffs on chicken wings, some of which are alcoholic. Go in a group, order three too many bowls, and get ready to need napkins. Also a reliable lunch stop if slinking off the Mile during a fruitless flyering session — standouts include ‘garlick kiev,’ ‘smoke show’ — hot barbecue — and ‘the skywalker’, which is just ranch.

Edinburgh’s coffee scene is thriving, and it would be remiss to not shout out a few more: Lowdown, for its forensic attention to detail and basement hideaway; Fortitude, for unfailingly warm service. Brew Lab is here for a few reasons beyond coffee : it’s open until 11p.m during the Fringe.; it serves Union of Genius soups (more on those later); it’s focussed on delivering a quality experience at speed, despite being near-permanently rammed during Fringe season.

A spectrum of tasting menus in an old warehouse, Timberyard could suit all manner of occasions. Lunch and pre-theatre a la carte for ox tartare with watercress or razor clams with vermouth, then hake or lamb — even if, at the Fringe, every menu and every meal is pre-theatre. If visiting at dinner, choose from four, six, or eight courses, and settle into one of the most comprehensive beer lists anywhere if that’s the jam. One to book, one for a special occasion.

Much like Jen Cafe in London’s Chinatown, on a menu of 100 options, there are really only two: boiled jiaozi and pan-fried guotie dumplings. The former come in piles of eight or 16, the latter four or eight; soy sauce, black vinegar, and chilli oil are ready to mix as diners wish. Standout fillings are lamb and cumin or pork and prawn, and takeaway’s available.

Another handy lunch stalwart: six soups, two of them vegan, with a chilli with a reputation, good bread from local bakery Dough Re Mi, and a van that hangs out on George Square for those bustling between shows. Fill up, as the menu ranges round the globe in an actually discernible fashion, discrediting similar supermarket soup ranges everywhere.

There are two Mosque Kitchens in Edinburgh. One is on Nicholson Street; this one on Potterrow; the two are parallel to each other. One claims to be ‘Original,’ the other does not. Both serve excellent homestyle dal, pakoras, and curries in a canteen set-up. The ‘Original’ is outside, which can be good. The other is inside, which can be good. They’re both great, so visit.

A walk through the Meadows is an Edinburgh essential to get away from the Mile’s din, and Soderberg — which recently opened a cafe in Soho — is worth a stop. Coffee, sandwiches, and salads are all fine, but the must-orders are the buns. The fruit ones are decent, but the kanelbulle and kardemummabulle, cinnamon and cardamom, are the two best. Cardamom is number one.

For lost Londoners in need of grounding. It’s Dishoom. Eat a bacon naan, or better, head to the small plates section for bhel and vada pau.

A sleek, stylish, very modern espresso bar in a George Street basement, Lowdown gets a shout-out in BrewLab’s listing — because the latter is more geared to Fringe Coffee — but this mature addition to the city’s scene deserves one of its own. A wide spectrum of roasters and changing food menus means that a long-time visitor could visit daily for the whole festival and never have the same thing twice, but be guaranteed it will be expertly made.