Commons Club Edinburgh

You're walking up Victoria Street—that wonky cobbled stretch that tourists queue for—and you slip into Commons Club on the ground floor of Virgin Hotels. It's immediately obvious this isn't a hotel restaurant trying too hard. There's natural light, a mix of solo diners at the bar and groups clustered round tables, a genuine sense of people actually wanting to be here rather than being trapped by proximity. The menu doesn't overthink things: good breakfast if you're in early, proper lunches, the kind of cocktails that remind you someone knows what they're doing behind the bar. It's become the sort of place locals gravitate towards on Victoria Street, which is saying something given the constant footfall of camera-wielding visitors.