August 12. Day five.
Hungover is the basic state for mornings at the Edinburgh Festival. They are as inevitable as the rain. It’s probably possible to catch one without even having drunk anything, so intense is the atmosphere of morning-after pain that sits on the city like a black cloud each morning. But the show must go on, and Edinburgh has a number of places that specialise in hangover-curing curries or coffees to cut through the morning fog. Here are a few of the best.
Mosque Kitchen is a festival staple, a real life-saver. It started out as a tiny curry kitchen round the back of the Edinburgh Central Mosque on Potterow, doling out big steaming dollops of curry (meat, chicken, or vegetable), and rice and dahl on paper plates. It’s the hangover nuclear option – and now they’ve opened a second premises, on Nicholson Square, to cope with their ever-growing demand from the suffering masses. You have not truly been to the Fringe unless you’ve indulged your hangover craving and binged on Mosque Kitchen curry.
Sometimes, some mornings, one simply has a pie-shaped hole in one’s life. The Piemaker, on South Bridge fills that hole.
Walking in to 10 To 10 In Delhi is like entering a different world; a little slice of India in the middle of Edinburgh. The smell of spices fills the air, red and gold drapes adorn inviting seats, and the atmosphere is dreamy, somehow unreal. Their masala chai is all made fresh and to-order, and is a genuinely life-changing experience. After a couple of sips, no day after any kind of night before seems insurmountable.
Oink on Victoria Street, just off the Royal Mile, boasts enormous Scottish hog-roast sandwiches and nothing else, with a choice of either haggis or sage and onion stuffing. The rolls come in three sizes; the Piglet, the Oink, and the Grunter, and the crackling is the best you will ever taste.
It’s difficult to spot Spoon. It’s a bit of a secret, with its hidden-away entrance, but this airy and first-floor cafe, with it’s eclectic décor, healthy sandwiches and home-made soups, is always a great breakfast option.
Last, but absolutely not least, Black Medicine is Edinburgh’s most famous coffee shop. Free wi-fi, a large range of generously-filled ciabattas and bagels, custom wooden furniture and a bustling atmosphere all play second fiddle to some seriously amazing coffee. The place is aptly-named; the coffee is genuinely medicinal.
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