The Blue Bear

The Blue Bear is a licensed café in Canonmills and is allegedly home to one of Edinburgh’s finest brunches. It’s open seven days a week, on weekdays from the wee hours of 7.30am, and supplies Edinburgh’s New Town-ers with nutritious and delicious breakfasts, brunches, lunches, slices of cake, slabs of traybakes and cups of tea and coffee.

The Blue Bear also does afternoon tea and antipasti platters, if you’re partaking in a more leisurely lunchtime visit. The kitchen only works with fresh, seasonal and local produce, which guarantees the quality of its food and drink, while some of the vegetables and herbs used in The Blue Bear’s menu are actually from its own wee allotment! As well as being good at being a cafe, The Blue Bear is also the meeting spot for monthly knitting night, Knit n’ Knead, where knitters of all abilities can gather to have a chat about projects, do a bit of crafting and have a nice cup of tea (or indeed a glass of wine). Knit n’ Knead is organised through Kathy’s Knits, where information about the next meeting can be found. What's more, The Blue Bear has also been known to host parties and other nighttime events… Keep an eye on their website for a note of all the latest happenings.

If you've happened upon our profile for Blue Bear while looking out for cafe recommendations in Edinburgh, you've come to the right place. Once a year, The Skinny holds a Food and Drink Survey and in 2015 The Blue Bear was victorious within the Best Cafe category.  See who else made the cut in our full list of category winners, or get your cafe-specific recommendations via our roundup of the Best Cafes in Edinburgh and Glasgow 2015. If you like the sound of The Blue Bear, you'll probably be interested in co-champions Lovecrumbs and Artisan Roast.