Your guide to the best Irish food and drinks in Edinburgh

Perhaps the best-known and largest Irish pub in the city, buzzing Biddy’s has a prime spot on the Grassmarket, spilling out onto the cobbles with a large beer garden (The Paddock) popping up during the summer months. There’s not a single night without live music here, so you can come for a sing and a jig all year round, even on high days and holidays. Tourists and students flock to the bar which has direct access to the Grassmarket Hotel, rubbing shoulders with locals.

Adjacent to the main bar is the Wee Pub, Scotland’s smallest bar, which can be hired for events. There’s a menu with homeland classics, such as Cumberland sausage roll with Jameson Whiskey pear chutney, Guinness rarebit, and lamb stew with homemade soda farl, which you can wash down with a pint of Irish ale. Biddy Mulligans opens at 8 am and keeps going until the wee small hours.

The bar holds an eye-watering collection of over 300 whiskies from across the globe. So it stands to reason you’ll find a few from Éire. Order a dram of Green Spot Single Malt, Green Spot Quails’ Gate Pinot Noir Cask Finish, Jameson, Redbreast, Redbreast Lustau Sherry Edition, Teeling Small Batch or Teeling Single Grain. You can enjoy it inside the atmospheric 19th century former pumphouse, or outside on the close-side terrace if the weather is kind. You’ll need to be up for climbing some stairs to get here though, as it’s situated in a steep medieval pocket of the UNESCO Old Town.

Another emporium for the water of life, Whiski Bar stocks a huge range, much like The Devil’s Advocate, but is found in a more accessible part of the historic centre, on the Royal Mile. The award-winning restaurant also serves up craft beers from all around and fresh seasonal cuisine, including hearty breakfasts, which, while they’re not technically Irish, contain much the same ingredients.

The Irish take on a speakeasy, this little gem is tucked away in a basement on North Frederick Street. Promising live music every single night of the week, the reeling begins at 6 pm and goes on right through until 3 am, with many punters up on their feet.

There are plenty of private pockets to explore, as the venue is separated into themed spaces; O’Regan’s Bar, the Barrel Drop beside the stage, the Guinness Room with a fireplace and TVs for rugby coverage, the teeny Grain Store, the main Murphy’s bar and Erin’s Snug beside the dance floor. Order Guinness on draught, or a whiskey from one of Ireland’s producing regions; Ulster, Connacht, Munster or Leinster. Kitty O’Shea’s has two outlets in Glasgow, as well as this one in Edinburgh.

Wander up from Haymarket Station to find Malones on Morrison Street, instantly recognisable by its Guinness-styled exterior. Check out live music nights with local and Irish talent covering country, pop, indie and rock genres and watch fixtures on the big screen. Food is available courtesy of Pizza Geeks who deliver their handmade Neapolitan-inspired pizzas to order, but if you want a taste of authentic Ireland the drinks menu provides it in spades. Plus there’s plenty of Irish hospitality to be soaked up at Malones.