Sometimes, the best way to appreciate life is to take yourself to the very pits of it, and just…read morerevel in the sheer destitution. Princes Mall Food Court may be a bleak, depressing and foul-smelling experience all rolled into one, but it's also quite unforgettable for those same reasons. Effectively a collection of chain fast food joints surrounding a sprawling mass of cheap late 80s tables, the first thing you'll notice is that the punters are all under 16 or over 65. Those that aren't are rarely in possession of all their limbs, or teeth. I'm not the type to snicker at fast food to try and convince both myself and others I've a shred of class, so I can appreciate the outlets here for what they are, and to some extent, enjoy them. It's just the customers that make it difficult. Every time you look up, you will definitely catch a glimpse of someone who's appearance and / or eating habits puts you off your lunch, so your best bet is just to keep your head down and get on with it. This can actually make your saturated fat-laden feast that bit more enjoyable, as you'll likely concentrate solely on the eating to blank out the misery of your surroundings. It stinks too. Really bad. Yet it has to be experienced at least once, preferably via KFC or Harry Ramsden's. Spud-U-Like looks very tempting as well and I'll go for that one next time I can muster up enough self-loathing to set foot in here.

Much like the whole of Princes Mall, the food court isn't anything special. The only thing it has…read moregoing for it is it's convenient location to Waverly Station so if you're in a rush you can nip in and out before jumping on your train. In my case, I'll usually nip into Spud-u-Like which I think is the best of the bunch the food court has to offer and I can never turn down a baked potato with beans and cheese. Mmm. If spuds aren't your thing then you can choose from the almighty Harry Ramsden's, McDonalds, Subway, KFC, O'Briens or Costa. Take your pick. The main downside, is the fact that this place feels like the most depressing shopping centre in the world so I wouldn't choose to eat here if I wasn't in a rush because it's not the nicest place to spend more time than you have to.

Beautiful department store on Princes St, with a super unique layout due to the historical building…read moreit's in. If you are from Canada, this store is just like Hudson's Bay. If you are from the USA, it's just like Macy's. Ran out of Clarins cream and stopped here to stock back up. Had AMAZING service by the rep!

I had purchased a cashmere overcoat back in the mid 1980's. Most likely when the store was owned…read more& operated by the original owning family. I'm in the USA. This coat is as good as new almost 40 years later. It was well made. If there was a way to contact the original owning family I would like to thank them for such a well made garment.

Bonnie & Wild is a modern food hall at Saint James Square and has a wide variety food options. From…read morevery casual to more formal/upscale food vendors, there's a place for any occasion and palette. Upon entering you have a direct view of the main bar and many food vendors surrounding/around the overall floor plan. I ate at Creel Caught at both visits since I really enjoyed the first meal I had here. I had the Cullen Skink and the Fried Cod Sandwich and really enjoyed both. I came back for the Shrimp Tacos and once again enjoyed them. I came to realize Scottish food isn't the most seasoned but it makes you appreciate underlying taste of the fresh ingredients; so something to keep in mind. This place is on the higher levels of the mall so taking a stroll after some good eats and drinks is very convenient.

Visited Bonnie & Wild while in Edinburgh. There was a bit of a wait in line before getting in, but…read moreonce inside, the atmosphere was lively and youthful, and the service was friendly. Tried the Buffalo wings -- unfortunately, they were disappointing: far from crispy, heavily battered, and nothing like traditional Buffalo wings. Overall, a bit overrated and not worth a return visit. Saluti.

I knew I had to come and have a look at the new and improved Buchanan Galleries foodcourt. To say…read moreimproved wouldn't be hard as it was just Super Generic Food Court before hand. The Burger King is still in place, however, so if you feel the need for a whopper, you can still get that. The star are the independent retailers though. I'm led to believe they rotate and change with a few regulars staying, so I'm obviously just reviewing what I had from Surf Dog. There were many options from lots of different cuisines, but as soon as I saw a chilli dog, my mind was made up. With the dog for £6, a side for £3 - I had onion rings, rather than the sweet potato fries - and a can of soft drink for £1, my meal came to a reasonable tenner. The Taste Buchanan set up is pretty unusual in that it's made out to be an outdoor garden, only indoors and on the top floor of a shopping centre. Garden benches and school style chairs are the order of the day, and it's a nice touch not to be presented again with generic seating from Bland Furniture R Us or wherever food courts usually go. After a short wait for my food to be prepared from scratch, it arrived. The chill dog was gorgeous, presented with just the right mix of chilli, sour cream and grilled jalapenos to be a total and utter mess to eat... that's the sign of a good chilli dog, folks. The chilli itself was warm and wholesome, not too spicy so the heat didn't overwhelm the taste of the dog, but the addition of the grilled jalapenos meant you could add extra heat if you wanted. Of course I did, because that's how I roll. The onion rings were light, crispy and just ideal for dipping in leftover chilli and sour cream. I would definitely get a side order of those again! To sum up, I love the idea of various retailers in one place and changing from time to time, if they're all of this quality and value for money, then it's definitely going to be a hit. I should remember though, that there is no graceful way to eat a chilli dog in public, although at least this time, I managed to avoid spilling it down my shirt, which is a bonus and unusual.

What a great concept, and so far the offerings have been top notch…read more The idea is simple enough - rotate 'street food' vendors in a permanent space - giving smaller vendors an opportunity in a prime location, and giving us punters the chance to sample the wares of some places we might not have tried otherwise. I was lucky enough to be there on opening night and have been back twice since and I've not been disappointed with the food on offer yet. On the first night I tried a few of the offerings including bao from Chompsky - I tried two, the garlic mushroom, and the pulled pork, both delicious - and a sneaky slice of pizza from Nomad (part of the Firebird team I think). Ohhh and of course I started with ice cream from Equis (hey, it's the first stall you see....). I didn't get over to Union Waffles (look right as you come up the escalator as it's set back away from the other vendors, nor could I fit in any cupcakes by Paige, but there is always next time! I managed to chat to the guy who runs it (and the others) and the premise is that they will rotate every now and then, possibly more often at peak times, but the goal is to bring local vendors, offering quality food, to the masses. I was back last week to try Surf Dog which was also pretty good, a good quality hot dog with crushed nachos and a nice salsa. Downsides would be the layout, which on a busy Friday lunchtime ends up with a long queue of people in one place not realising that you can queue for each vendor independently, and the major downside was the time it took to get our food. Hopefully just teething issues, it'll be a different setup for most of the vendors I'd imagine, switching from a van/truck at a site, to peak lunchtime in the city centre! Price wise it runs about average for a lunch, £5 seems the average for most dishes which, given it's fresh food (unlike the processed guff next door at Burger King) seems reasonable. Anyway I don't mind paying a little extra to get these kind of options in the city centre. I really hope it takes off and is successful, I know I'll be back again! Top tip: get the app (there are signs all over the seating area) to keep up to date with new additions and rotations!

Unfortuntately I didn't get much time in here. I had to go through to Leith for my work and my…read morecolleague and I were actually looking for somewhere to get some grub. We headed on in and was agast by the sheer size of the place and it's oh so modern. It's on 3 levels and has a Vue cinema and I hear it has a boat somewhere, not in it I think?! Well it has a shop relating to it anyway. We were there about after 4.30ish on Monday so it was pretty quiet. It looked like it contained the usual high street shops with a few added extras i.e. The Whiskey Shop & Zamboo = a shop selling very weird looking vases. We searched for a food court of some sort but all we came across was what looked like Mitchelin star restaurants. It looked shut but according to the website it's open 'till 10pm. It just wasn't looking like the sort of eating establishment we had in mind, well one with food would've be good for a start. Anyhoo I ain't dissing the place as I only experienced it a little but if I'm ever back out this way I'm sure I'll pop in.

It's big, crowded, loud and full of big families looking to fill their afternoon trying amuse the…read morekiddies with food court treats and a dinosaur display (ain't nothing wrong with that, go you parents!) But no, not for me. So many awesome places in Edinburgh and this is not one of them. I only came here to see the Royal Brittania but I got hungry so went to buy fancy wine and enjoy a fabulous afternoon eating seafood instead. Because that's how I roll. This is probably my worst retail nightmare and I'll avoid this place at all costs. There is seriously nothing special about this place, just a whole bunch of chain stores that you could find anywhere else in Edinburgh. Or Scotland. Or purchase items from online.

Ugly. Is the word that will undoubtedly spring to your mind when you first clap eyes on this…read moremonstrosity of a building. And you'd be right, although you shouldn't let that put you off as it houses some useful high street names. The main reason I come here is to go to Sainsbury's, as it's the biggest supermarket anywhere near to the city centre that you can get to by public transport easily. But aside from that, there's also a handful of banks, travel agents, clothes shops like New Look and Peacocks, as well as random one-off shops like GimmeGizmo and Paperbox. You'll never find anything designer or massively upmarket in here, but it's good for all the day-to-day boring things that nobody likes shopping for but everybody needs. There's also free parking, which is another definite bonus.

Cameron Toll is a shopping centre outside of the city centre. It's main interest will be its…read moreproximity to King's Buildings making it useful for students based in the area, though it may be of interest to those further afield due to its ample parking. The centre is dominated by a Sainsbury's (no restaurant though the Sainsbury's on the other side of town at Blackhall has one). For food on the go, among others the food court boasts a baked potato shop and a Burger King. There is also a Costa Coffee on the ground floor. Of the shops on offer the highlights are: BHS, some phone stores, Peacocks, Shoe Zone (cheap but low quality shoes) and a WH Smith. For those based in King's Buildings its ideal if you wish to grab a lunch or pick up some shopping the only warning is a visit there and back will take about an hour unless you're very quick.

We enjoyed an early dinner of Malaysian food while we stayed in Edinburgh…read more Service was quick. Ambiance was compact with colorful wall of food and characters. We ordered the beef rendang which was fork tender and delicious. The sauce was rich but contained a bit too much onions for my liking. The hainese rice was a good side to soak up all the sauce. It was the same price as regular bowl of boiled rice. The char kway teow was served with a good mix of seafood, chicken and veggies. The noodles had a nice chew and overall a nice smoky flavor. It was cooked perfectly without much oil. Would consider coming back if we're in this area of Edinburgh again.

This time I dine in & bought some takeaway from the restaurant. The curry laksa was super…read moredelicious. The place is very cute and small. Service was great. Definitely recommend this place to anyone.

Want to try something from some random place around the world? Then this is the pace to come. From…read morecurry to BBQ, Italian pizza to fried chicken, Peruvian to Asian and more. All is orderd via QR codes to your table, and promptly delivered. Everything we tried was delicious and worth the price. The atmosphere is friendly and relaxed, and all staff we interacted with were helpful and polite.

Located near the Playhouse and north of the Old Town, this subtly trendy food court is smaller than…read morethe other Bonnie & Wild food hall but it still has a decent variety of food offerings from several vendors. And it has a bar so they already have my vote for a reason to visit! I walked back and forth twice and I couldnt decide what to order. I was torn between the bao buns or the Peruvian food and my solution was just get both! The lomo saltado hit the spot for my indecisive hunger. The fries werent mixed in with the meat/tomatos/onions which was a first for me but J see why they did it that way; most of the fries remained crispy. There was a good amount of tender beef and the dish had just the ideal amount of savoriness. As for the bao bun, the texture was great between the warm, soft bun and the tender shirt rib but to me it was far too salty. The cucumber salad and taters were spot on though. There are QR codes at every table so you can order directly from your seat for food and/or drinks from the bar. There is plenty of seating indoors as well as outdoors. Very clean place and a convenient location. I'll have to try the other vendors some day :)

Not easy to see you need to park to pay at the market.Never noticed got a fine them a letter from…read moredebt collectors

The Forge Market is a lovely little corner of Glasgow that doesn't seem to have changed for as long…read moreas I can remember. It's still bustling with grannies and piled high with shameless designer knockoffs like "Channel" handbags and "Calvin Classics" boxer shorts. Every corner you turn, there are greasy grub vendors and the waft of chips and curry sauce from the surrounding scoffers. The whole place has a kind of carnival day out feel to it, with its market vibe and kids' amusement rides in the centre. Each "street" (quaintly signposted, including Del Boy Way) is filled with stalls and shops, selling the weird and wonderful, from toys and tat, to piercings and portraits. The Forge Market is a little time warp of a place, untouched and unspoiled by the modern day, and I very much hope it stays that way.

This small shopping center is located next to Waverley Station. It's a bustling area. They have…read moreabout less than 20 stores, a food court downstairs, a post office and currency exchange vendors. The store I would only go here for was New Look since we do not have it in the states. And there's a nice looking Starbucks. Wash Room: Located lower level but you will need to pay 50p to use.

The Princess Mall sits just outside the Waverly station. It is, as one might suppose a place to…read moreshop, to grab a bite to eat and to wait for your train, and that IS what it is. There are a few shops with names I am familiar with, being from the US. And there are those that I am not at all familiar with. In the place you'll find a huge fast food court, with KFC, McDonalds, A noodle shop, a smoothie shop, a Subway, a grocery store and a handful of other places. There is a Costa and a Starbucks, both are next door to each other and both are know for coffee. If you ask me, I'd go to Costa over Starbucks any day, but .. alas, Starbucks is the one that most hit. There are your whisky shops and your Scotland tourist shops for those people just visiting Edinburgh, and of course there are those commute or live there and they use it as a place to just hang out.