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Pizza Express remains a hugely popular bedrock of casual eating. Its popularity is testimony to the fact that across the country, they have restaurants where you will always be guaranteed a good nosh, with children's tastes being well catered for.

Pizza Express has gone even more Roman, and following the success of that particular example of listening to their public have introduced Romana pizzas, including the scorching Etna and the hearty Siciliana.

These pizzas are now thinner, bigger and crispier, and if that sounds like a marketing line, it is. However, unlike many such lines, this one is true, and their quality is always consistent, though cleverly they have still managed to retain a homemade feel to their pizzas.

As an alternative to pizza, try their pollo pesto - cavatappi pasta with torn chicken breast, mushrooms, red onions and mozzarella in a creamy gruyere, parmesan and pesto sauce and finished with grana padano - or the niçoise salad with mixed leaves, yellowfin tuna, free range egg, green beans, potatoes and tomatoes with olives, anchovies, capers and house dressing.

Many of the big chains have come a long way, and Pizza Express is certainly amongst them. One of the first to be quoted on the Stock Exchange - in 1993 - Pizza Express is not a franchise operation and retains tight control through its own staff.

Their wine list - though short - contains some surprisingly good offerings, especially their intense Australian Chardonnay, and a big, full-bodied Merlot from Cusumano, Sicilia.

Dionika has re-invented itself and is working hard seven days a week selling some of the best Spanish food available in Edinburgh, including pata negra hams and manchego, all sourced carefully by Juan Blanco. Juan has added a tapas bar and restaurant, giving a welcome opportunity to allow customers to sample the goods before they reel into the deli on their homeward journey.

The doors open at 8 am for early morning revivers and then the lunch menu takes over until 3 pm. On offer for lunch are three tapas for £5.95 and there are croquettes, grilled aubergines, tortilla and steamed mussels, until the evening menu takes over. As a change from the traditional Scottish black pudding try the Spanish variety, the morcilla, or anchovies, octopus and a Moorish kebab skewer.

Dionika's speciality is its fish, fresh as it comes and cooked as fish was intended to be with minimal fuss and careful timing. A Catalonian flan sits well on top of all this, and should inspire you to hit the deli with a vengeance on your way out.

Things seem to move fast at Wagamama - the Asian inspired, noodle restaurant chain that was started in 1992. As soon as you decide what you want to eat, your order is taken via a PDA, and wirelessly networked to the kitchen, so it can be made fresh and served right after. The restaurant chain does not believe in taking reservations, and all customers are seated on a first come, first serve basis. In fact, be aware that most of the tables are long ones and you will often be asked to share them.

The restaurants are modelled on traditional Japanese ramen bars that have been popular for hundreds of years - ramen are Japanese style noodles, served in a meat-based broth, topped with pork, dried seaweed or even corn. Chilli beef ramen, made of noodles in a spicy pork and chicken soup topped with a marinated and grilled sirloin steak and fresh vegetables, is hearty and satisfying.

Apart from ramen, you could opt for the coconut soup based kare noodles or teppan, cooked on a hot, flat griddle. They also offer many rice dishes like katsu curry, chicken fillet deep-fried in panko breadcrumbs, served with a lightly spiced curry sauce and sticky white rice. Vegetarians are definitely not ignored, as they can opt for saien soba, made using whole-wheat noodles in a soup topped with stir-fried vegetables, seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil and garnished with sliced spring onion.

Meat and vegetable dumplings, skewered chicken, deep-fried prawns and raw salads double as both sides and starters. Steamed green soya-beans, called edamame, go well with drinks - hold them up to your mouth and squeeze the succulent beans from the pod. If you've noticed, Wagamama is more about eating healthy food fast and less about the order. Don't be surprised if you're served the main course before the side dish - order isn't important, the aim is, don't wait - just tuck in and share.

Wash down your meal with sake, plum wine or even a Japanese beer. Wind up your meal with coconut reika - three scoops of dairy coconut ice cream topped with a fresh, tangy mango sauce and toasted coconut flakes or the tamarind and chilli Pavlova, with a crunchy meringue base served with a raspberry and tamarind sauce.

At Wagamama, you can also shop for cookbooks, sauces, ramen bowls and t-shirts. The restaurant is all about enjoying genuine, reasonably priced, Pan-Asian cuisine in a sleek but informal setting.

The port of Leith has not always enjoyed unqualified success in establishing itself as the new swinging Edinburgh but this is certainly not due to any lack of effort on the part of the Chinese influences at work in Palace Chine, part of the Ocean Terminal development.

Edinburgh's first Chinese herbal restaurant is an important part of Palace Chine and whilst it is perfectly possible to eat more conventional Chinese cuisine, many are drawn inextricably to the prospect of concealing a healthy appetite beneath a veneer of healthcare.

Dishes are distinguished by explanations of What This Can Do For You. Given the import of some of the promises made more cautious folk might feel they would prefer to stick to the conventional path, but it's a free world and the choice is yours. Perhaps the staff have been trained to maintain reserve when it comes to some of the wackier innuendoes round the table, suffice to say they are inscrutable and efficient, nor do they write prescriptions.

Whichever path you take you can be assured of plentiful helpings of well-cooked and presented food with a good variety of original dishes, particularly on the medicinal menu.

There are signs that with the imposition of restrictions on natural health products emanating from the ivory towers of Brussels, eating your way to good health could become a valid option

Should you wonder how a Polish restaurant can justify opening up in Scotland's capital city, rest assured that there are reputed to be some twenty thousand Polish workers who have arrived in Scotland in the last two years with the intention of honing the Scottish economy and their own wellbeing.

The culinary aspirations which they bring with them must feel comfortable there too, since nobody would accuse the Scots of being light on the carbohydrates. With bread and sausages high on the list of Polish preferred items, say no more. Indeed bigos is a favourite Polish dish of smoked sausage and cabbage. Flaki, boczek and barszcz are also to be seen in the more socially aware delis.

What can be said in favour of Polish cuisine is that whilst it may not always look great, it is certainly filling and nourishing, though beetroot broth, often drunk in a mug as in tea, must take some getting used to.

The other thing about Bigos - the restaurant - is its prices, which are phenomenally low. With dinner costing around £10 can you really afford not to at least give it a try?

But do not expect a licence.

Located at the corner of Henderson Street, in the Leith district of Edinburgh, The Plumed Horse is a fine dining restaurant serving a wide variety of British and international cuisine. Originally based in Castle Douglas, Tony Borthwick relocated the restaurant to Edinburgh in 2008, regaining his Michelin star the following year. A compact, high-ceilinged space with frosted windows and comfortable seating, Borthwick eschews the standard practice of turning tables over in favour of one dinner sitting. The food is remarkably affordable with the menus being concise and perfectly balanced and ingredients sourced impeccably- whether it is seafood from the Scottish ports or pork from Black Iberian pigs.

To start, there is the homemade mini haggis and foie gras with mashed potato and clapshot or terrine of black pudding with ham hock, pineapple and apricot chutney. Main courses are more intricate and include roast fillet of cod with garlic and fresh herb risotto and scallop velouté; sautéed Scottish calves' liver, with mashed potato, roast parsnips, Dubonnet, orange and shallot sauce.

Pizza Express remains a hugely popular bedrock of casual eating. Its popularity is testimony to the fact that across the country, they have restaurants where you will always be guaranteed a good nosh, with children's tastes being well catered for.

Pizza Express has gone even more Roman, and following the success of that particular example of listening to their public have introduced Romana pizzas, including the scorching Etna and the hearty Siciliana.

These pizzas are now thinner, bigger and crispier, and if that sounds like a marketing line, it is. However, unlike many such lines, this one is true, and their quality is always consistent, though cleverly they have still managed to retain a homemade feel to their pizzas.

As an alternative to pizza, try their pollo pesto - cavatappi pasta with torn chicken breast, mushrooms, red onions and mozzarella in a creamy gruyere, parmesan and pesto sauce and finished with grana padano - or the niçoise salad with mixed leaves, yellowfin tuna, free range egg, green beans, potatoes and tomatoes with olives, anchovies, capers and house dressing.

Many of the big chains have come a long way, and Pizza Express is certainly amongst them. One of the first to be quoted on the Stock Exchange - in 1993 - Pizza Express is not a franchise operation and retains tight control through its own staff.

Their wine list - though short - contains some surprisingly good offerings, especially their intense Australian Chardonnay, and a big, full-bodied Merlot from Cusumano, Sicilia.