Edinburgh has a reputation for being expensive, and on rent it's deserved. On food it really isn't — you just have to know where to point yourself.
The city's cheap food is mostly small, mostly independent, and mostly clustered in the Old Town and Southside where the students already are. There's a hog roast shop that opens at 11am and closes when the pork runs out. A pie shop that's been on South Bridge since 1995. A soup van that parks outside a university building at half eleven. And a Cowgate pub that hands students a free pizza every Friday.
Here's where to go, when it's open, and where your student card actually saves you money.
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The Old Town cheap eats institutions
Oink
The Edinburgh classic. Slow-roasted pig, pulled into a roll with your choice of stuffing and sauce, and that's basically it.
Three shops: Victoria Street, Canongate at the bottom of the Royal Mile, and Hanover Street in the New Town. Rolls come in three sizes — Piglet, Oink and Grunter, from 80g up to 250g of pork.
The thing to know is the opening line, which is straight from Oink: "All our Oink shops are now open every day from 11am until sell out!" There's no closing time. Go late afternoon and you may find nothing left, which is either charming or infuriating depending on how hungry you are.
If you're skipping the bread, the Hog in a Box — 250g of pulled pork, no roll — is £9.25. Their sausage options run £6 to £10.75, and extra toppings are 30p each.
The Piemaker
Two minutes from the university's central campus, and it's been on the same site since 1995. Sit in or take away.
Peppersteak, haggis, macaroni and steak-and-haggis are the signatures, and there's a proper vegetarian and vegan range rather than a token option. A pie is the single most efficient cheap lunch in the Old Town — hot, handheld, and you can eat it walking to a lecture.
Mosque Kitchen
A genuine Edinburgh student institution, and the good news is it's confirmed open: their own site says "We are back open as usual!" Hours are generous — every day, 11:30am to 10pm.
Curry, rice, big portions, no ceremony. Their website is currently a placeholder while they build a new one, so there's no menu online — but that's never been the point of Mosque Kitchen.
Kebab Mahal
Round the corner, and another long-standing Southside fixture. Sunday to Thursday, noon to midnight. Friday and Saturday, noon to 2am — though after midnight at weekends it's pizza, kebabs and starters only.
Worth a phone call before a big order — they ask for that themselves. 0131 667 5214.
Union of Genius
A soup café, which sounds modest until you're cold in November.
The café runs Monday to Friday, 11am to 4pm. But the bit worth knowing is "Dumbo the soup van", which parks Monday to Friday from 11:30am to 2:30pm outside the Chrystal Macmillan Building on George Square — right in the middle of the university's central campus. Hot soup that comes to you, between lectures.
Pizza, slices and late food
Civerinos
Civerinos has pizzerias at Hunter Square in the Old Town and in Stockbridge, and it runs two offers that are genuinely cheap rather than nominally discounted:
50% off Click & Collect on Tuesdays. Order ahead, walk in, pay half.
A £1 After School Slice at their Portobello site. A pound. For a slice of pizza.
The Three Sisters — free pizza on Fridays
A Cowgate institution in the Old Town, and it does something unusually generous: a free pizza for students every Friday, 5pm to 7pm.
The conditions are real, so read them properly:
You must pre-book a table.
Minimum two people.
It doesn't run during August or December — so it's off right now during the Fringe, and off over Christmas.
Where your student card actually saves you money
The local ones nobody tells you about
Start here, because these are Edinburgh places rather than national chains:
Where | What you get | The details |
|---|---|---|
Cafe Piccante, East Norton Place | 20% off | In store. Pizzas, kebabs, wraps and meal deals |
The Three Sisters, Cowgate | 20% off | Plus the free Friday pizza above |
Biddy Mulligans, Grassmarket | 20% off | Irish pub, open seven days |
Tinderbox Espresso | 20% off food and drink | In store. Show your ID when you pay — and it covers you plus one guest |
Margiotta Food & Wine | 10% off | Local Edinburgh shops since 1989. This one's for a grocery top-up, not a treat |
Cheap drinks and sweet things
Knoops is the sleeper hit here, and it's two offers rather than one:
15% off all barista-made drinks, every day of the week.
£2 drinks, Monday to Wednesday — on selected small iced chocolates, hot chocolates, frozen hot chocolates and milkshakes. Toppings are charged extra, so keep it plain.
Also worth having: Krispy Kreme — 12% off in their own shops (over-18s only, and it doesn't work at supermarket concessions or through delivery apps), and Millie's Cookies — 20% off.
Proper meals out
Most of these are best value early in the week, which is worth planning around:
Fat Hippo — 20% off food and drink, in store, Sunday to Thursday, any time. Drinks are only discounted if you order a burger with them, and it works on in-house takeaway too.
Franco Manca — 20% off your total bill, Sunday to Thursday, eat in only, £12 minimum spend.
ASK Italian — 20% off food, Sunday to Thursday, dine-in only, maximum eight people. Not valid at any point during December, or on bank holidays.
Byron — 20% off, with a £15 minimum spend
Fast food and takeaway
German Doner Kebab — 15% off, in store, and usefully this one is valid at every UK restaurant with no location exclusions. Just show a valid student ID.
Taco Bell — 15% off in store.
Fireaway — 25% off Signature pizzas, delivery or collection, £10 minimum spend. It only works through Fireaway's own website or app, not through any delivery platform, and only on Signature pizzas — no drinks, sides or desserts.
Edinburgh's weekend markets
If you're cooking rather than buying lunch, this is where the real saving lives — and Edinburgh has something on both days of every weekend, all year round.
Grassmarket Market — Saturdays, 10am to 5pm. Old Town, below the castle.
Leith Market — Saturdays, 10am to 5pm. Down at the shore.
Stockbridge Market — Sundays, 10am to 5pm. The New Town one, and the Sunday option.
There's also the Edinburgh Farmers' Market on Saturdays, 9am to 2pm — meat, seafood, dairy, fruit and veg, and voted Slow Food Scotland's Market of the Year four years running. Worth checking the location before you set off, though; see the note at the end.
The tip that applies at all of them: skip the hot food stalls and buy produce. A bag of veg, a loaf and some cheese will feed you for days for the price of two takeaways.
Top tips for eating cheap in Edinburgh
Get to Oink before mid-afternoon. They open at 11am and shut when the pork runs out, not at a set time.
Tuesday is Civerinos day — 50% off Click & Collect.
Book a table at the Three Sisters for a Friday if you want the free pizza, and remember it's off in August and December.
Look for the soup van on George Square, weekdays 11:30am to 2:30pm.
Buy produce at the weekend markets, not hot food. Grassmarket and Leith on Saturdays, Stockbridge on Sundays.
Use your student card at the independents, not just the chains. Cafe Piccante, Biddy Mulligans, the Three Sisters and Tinderbox all do 20%, and hardly anyone knows.
Eat out Sunday to Thursday. Fat Hippo, Franco Manca and ASK Italian all restrict their 20% to early in the week.
Knoops does £2 drinks Monday to Wednesday on top of its everyday 15%.
Don't bother with Papa Johns here — both Edinburgh stores are excluded from the 50% offer.
Margiotta gives 10% off a shop — that's groceries, not a night out, which is where it actually helps.
If you're 21 or under, apply for a National Entitlement Card in your first week. Free buses changes what's within reach.
Once you've eaten, there's a long list of free things to do in Edinburgh for filling weekends without spending anything.
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