Nine Edinburgh meals for £12 or less, cheapest first

A steak and haggis pie from the Piemaker on South Bridge costs £4.80 and will carry you to teatime. At the other end of this list, £12 buys a croque made with pancakes in Bruntsfield. In between are a fry-up, a bowl of mussels, a hog roast roll and a Monday night of unlimited pizza, every price taken from the venue’s own menu this month. Three of them, the Piemaker, Civerinos and Snax’s Buccleuch Street café, are a short walk from the university’s George Square campus.

How we chose: full meals at £12 or less on each venue’s own menu in October 2026, ranked by price with the cheapest first.

1. The Piemaker

Number one because it is the cheapest full meal on this list. At the Piemaker’s counter on South Bridge, a steak and haggis pie is £4.80 and a big steak bake £4.70, and there are vegan pies at the same price. It opens at 9am every day and stays open until 9pm on Friday and Saturday, a few minutes’ walk from the Cowgate.

South Bridge, Old Town · steak and haggis pie £4.80 · walk-in

2. Snax Cafe

Snax sits behind the Apple store on West Register Street, and Time Out put it third on its 2026 brunch list. The All Day breakfast is £6.00: two link sausages, bacon, a fried egg, black pudding, beans and a buttered roll. If you’re hungrier, the Biggest adds tattie scone, hash brown, haggis and sliced sausage for £9.80. There is a second café by the Meadows on Buccleuch Street.

West Register Street, New Town · All Day breakfast £6.00 · weekdays 7am–3pm, weekends 7:30am–2pm · walk-in

3. Mussel Inn

On Rose Street at lunchtime, a bowl of moules marinière with garlic, cream, shallots and white wine costs £7.95 on the Lunchtime Quickie menu, which runs every month except August. Crab linguine is £9.95. The cheapest thing on that menu, at £6.95, is a Bloody Mary served with an oyster, which counts as lunch only on certain days.

Rose Street, New Town · moules marinière £7.95 at lunch · book online, phone for groups over six

4. Oink

Oink sells one thing on Victoria Street, hog roast in a roll. Order the Oink, 160g of pulled pork in a roll for £9.15, with the house haggis stuffing instead of sage and onion and a squeeze of apple sauce. The Piglet (£6.65) is a snack; the Grunter (£11.95) is a meal and a half. It opens at 11am and closes when the pig runs out.

Victoria Street, Old Town · Oink roll £9.15 · open daily from 11am until sold out · walk-in; also Hanover Street and Canongate

5. Chez Jules

The Good Food Guide’s Edinburgh city guide names this Hanover Street basement as a lunch pick, and the reason is the price: one course for £9.90 between noon and 4pm, or two for £12.90. Choose the steamed mussels or the French onion soup to start, or go straight to les pâtes du lendemain, Jules’s next-day bolognese au vin rouge, which is £11.90 at any hour.

Hanover Street, New Town · one-course lunch £9.90 · lunch noon–4pm · walk-in

6. Civerinos Slice

Michele Civiera sold his sneaker collection to pay for a pizza oven in 2014, and his slice bar on Forrest Road now sells slices cut as a quarter of a 20-inch pie. On Mondays from 5 October, £10 buys as many slices as you can eat between 8:30pm and 10:30pm, dine-in only.

Forrest Road, Southside · unlimited slices £10 · Mondays 8:30–10:30pm · walk-in

7. Bangla Kitchen

Abdul Mohit Khan and his wife Naz run this takeaway on Main Street in Davidson’s Mains, and it won Best Indian Takeaway at the Scottish Curry Awards in 2026, as it had in 2014 and 2015. Order the munchy box for £11.95: a 10-inch pizza box filled with vegetable, chicken and fish pakora, chicken shish and lamb kebab, chips, salad and sauce.

Davidson’s Mains · munchy box £11.95 · daily 5–11pm · takeaway

8. The Pakora Bar

Three brothers run the Pakora Bar on Holyrood Road from their mother’s Punjabi recipes, and the order is the haggis pakora. At lunch, Monday to Friday until 5pm, any pakora goes into a wrap with chips for £12, or you can have a dhal on rice for the same. A plate of five haggis pakora on its own is £8.

Holyrood Road, Old Town · pakora wrap and chips £12 · lunch deal Mon–Fri noon–5pm · walk-in or book

9. Margot

Across Barclay Terrace from Bruntsfield Links, Margot’s day menu tops out at £12 for the Croque Margot: pancakes layered with baked ham, spinach and béchamel under an egg. Time Out put it 23rd in its August ranking of Edinburgh restaurants. Children are welcome, though there are no highchairs.

Barclay Terrace, Bruntsfield · Croque Margot £12 · closed Mon–Tue · book

Checked October 2026.