Love shopping at Jordan's, great for all my needs, love herbal tea( chamomile and elderflower…read moreloose), spices and herbs abundant and always good to try something i have never tried, the owner and staff always freindly and helpful. Only issue i have is the phone number contact details are no longer valid, need to be updated as i would like to know in advance if the shop has items in stock before i travel ! Thank you Jordan's your awesome

There's a real middle-eastern vibe about this part of Edinburgh, with it's numerous falafel and…read morecurry take-away outlets. Jordan Valley is a fine purveyor of wholefoods, teas and organic goodies - they carry a huge range of tinned and dried foodstuffs, and I am a frequent purchaser of their salad & falafel wraps and veggie pasties at lunchtime when I want a change from the usual Tesco sandwiches. A baba-ghanoush wrap, a veggie pasty and a quinoa & ginger bar and I'm in veggie lunch heaven. They have a fantastic selection of speciality teas, cheeses, oils, dips, drinks, exotic lotions, seeds.... it really is a wholefood emporium par excellence. Some of the stuff is a little on the pricey side, so be careful as it's very easy to spend more than you want to in here (I won't be buying the litre carton of coconut water at £4.10 again!). Edinburgh does the wholefoods thing rather well, and Jordan Valley does it with an extra exotic twist of Arabic spice. Fantastic.

My go to for those little healthy bits and pieces you just can't find in mainstream grocery stores…read more Theres a good selection of just about any health food you can think of for a reasonable price. I know some of my fellow reviewers might note it's pricey, but I think you pay for what you get. High end and (usually) organic healthy food. Also good for herbs and spices, some fresh foods and buying in bulk. I love the layout of the store and whilst it's quite small, it's easy to navigate by section and I could spend hours going up and down discovering new foods to cook with. Helpful and friendly service too.

A review a long time in the making! Sorry Real Foods; I've been so busy meandering through your…read moreaisles and going home and making healthy delights, that I haven't had time to write a review! This place is an absolute Aladdin's cave of healthy ingredients. Yes, INGREDIENTS! Many health food stores sell healthy food products (and there are those here as well), but Real Foods has all the raw ingredients you could ever need to make healthy foods at home. That means you can tailor the recipes to fit your eating needs - without having to read labels and pay a premium for someone else to prepare and package the foods. So, if you've bought that healthy 'Raw, Vegan or the lastest Superfood cookbook and need to 'google' half the ingredients - don't worry; they'll be here! You may need to do some searching up and down the narrow aisles; sucking in your tummy as you squeeze past other shoppers - but it's all part of the fun - and if that's not your thing - go online and place an order - they even deliver! Some of my top tips: -most ingredients (such as nuts, seeds, dried fruit) have a regular or organic option - organic labels are green -The Real Food packaged goods come in small, medium an large packs. The price per kilo usually is less for the bigger packs - so if you know you'll use it up - go for the bigger bags -If you love coconut oil - look out for their 2 for £10 special on organic coconut oil! -Missed the Saturday market at Castle Terrace? Real Foods gets their organic veg from the same farmers - available all week long! -also great place to get herbal tea, healthy toiletries, eco friendly cleaning products, supplements, organic wine and beer. There is also a smaller Real Foods near Tollcross.

A good range of product here! Like, I'm actually quite impressed. Walking around the store reminded…read moreof all those little bits and pieces I've been meaning to buy for a while but never had to go out of my way for (sunflower seeds, anyone?) I like that it goes further than just food and supplements, there is also a really decent range of natural beauty products and candles for the home which made the protein section smell very appealing. Service was good, staff seemed friendly enough and the shelves were well stocked with product- none of that empty shelf business. I'd probably come back to this store if in need of anything further since I'm happy with the product available.

If you go to the gym and drink protein, casein, creatine, amino energy or whatever else to help you…read morestay lean and tone or big and muscular than this is a good place to buy em all. One half of the store sells a lot of different types of fitness related products. It sells many different type of protein (whey protein, diet protein), energy supplements, diet related supplements, and vitamin supplements... From vitamin A to vitamin Z! They also sell products natural products for the skin- body and face wash as well as essential oils. The other half of the store sell natural foods- many different healthy snacks. You can buy all sorts of snacks: dried fruits, various types of nuts, chocolates, crisps, and prepared frozen food. A small section of the store sell spices. What I like about this store is the constant deals they have. Sure the store can be pretty pricey but a lot of these products are pricey in the first place... Being healthy is expensive unfortunately. So I appreciate the store's regular sale offers ... It's either buy one pay .1p for the second or 2 for 1 deals. I also like that this store sell things you normally can't get anywhere. They have a loyalty card but truthfully I haven't used it or know how to use it but apparently you get points every time you buy something. The staff are pretty friendly and some are pretty knowledgeable about the products since they use it themselves. Id say just go check out what they have sometimes and maybe you'll discover something you've been searching for all along!

I love health food shops. And Real Foods is just packed with healthy foodie things. So, of course,…read moreI'm a fan. An impressive amount of herbal teas and an extraordinary selection of nut butter made me one incredibly happy girl. I have crazy love for almond/peanut/cashew butter; all of it. Health food shopping is really one very easy way for me to spend far too money, and I really did have to be careful not to spend a bomb on almond butter alone, so sensibly restricted myself to just the one tub this time round. I bought the Pip & Nut coconut almond butter, since I'd come across it online but never seen it in a shop. It's the stuff of coconut-almond dreams and now a permanent fridge fixture for me. - I daren't tell you how many days it took me to finish my first tub! It isn't quite the full five stars for me since many of the products you can get significantly cheaper online. But Real Foods has such an extensive selection available that I see myself becoming a frequent visitor.

Even stepping foot into this place makes me feel healthy enough to justify cake for supper…read more I'm not going to lie - i'm not a healthy eater. But hailing from the city of all things organic (Vancouver), I like to play the part that I am. Somehow, having an open bag of chia seeds in the house, that I occasionally remember to throw into smoothies when I occasionally remember to MAKE smoothies, makes me feel less guilty about eating Corn Flakes for dinner while I'm slogging through emails. This makes me an adult right? That doesn't mean that the act of buying a meal that doesn't look like it was constructed by a five year old, doesn't tickle my fancy - I love nothing more then following up a Corn Flakeian dinner with a good ol' fashioned organic almond yogurt. Life is about the balance. I also have a deep seeded belief in only using biodegradable and clean house hold products. So when i'm not doing the best in my personal well being - at least i'm looking after the planet as a whole. This place ticks off a few major factors in my strange collaborative idea of "healthy living". First off, it stocks an impressive array of house hold items and is one of the first places i've found that carries multiple lines of personal care items - from Burts Bees to good for ya toothpaste - it was a one stop shop for both my washroom & under the sink. Secondly - it stocks pretty much everything you need to justify future unhealthy meals. From organic quinoa to virgin, cold pressed coconut oil, it's simply screaming: look how healthy you are?! Why yes, you can eat ice cream for dinner! But as many a person as said - living healthy (or in my case, buying excuses) can be pricey. What I will note, is as a newly landed expat, this place IS cheaper than the haunts back home and for that i'm thankful, but compared to the digs you can pick up elsewhere - yes, it's going to cost you an extra dollar. My tip if you fear the price tag? This funky little blue and green ball we're living on needs all the help it can get. If you can't stomach the whole nine yards of good food organic, pare it down. Spend the extra £1 for your dish soap, laundry & shampoo and keep the nasty stuff out of the drains. Then stock up on the hard to find items, or the ones you use frequently and leave the bits & bobs for a cheaper place. Nothing is better than proper, virgin, organic, cold pressed olive oil. Nothing. Will definitely be popping in here time to time to stock up on the must haves. If I could track down a spot to buy E3Live in town, i'd have all my cake justifying staples back in place.

Expensive but excellent quality food items. I really enjoyed the coconut milk kefir. Store man…read morewelcoming, helpful.

One thing that Edinburgh has no shortage off is health food/vitamin shops and Hanover Health Foods…read morehas rivals such as Napiers, Holland & Barratt, Jan De Vries, Julian Graves, Real Foods and countless other shops that have healthy products at top of their agenda. What makes Hanover stand out are the friendly staff who are very knowledgeable about all the products and very approachable too. So whether it's herbal teas, remedies, beauty products of organic foods you're looking for, you're in good company here.

This place is on my walk to and from uni. At both these times I'm hungry. At both these times my…read moremouth waters when I walk by the New Leaf. You see, ripe fruit's kinda hard to find in Edinburgh. I'm from Brazil. Fruit in Brazil looks like it does in photos. Big, bright and juicy. It is not the same in Scotland. Not by far. But the New Leaf sells only organic produce. And it seems that this reflects on having ripe fruit. Really delicious ripe fruit. The New Leaf doesn't only sell food, though. They also sell a range of eco-friendly detergents and cleaning supplies such as Ecoleaf. You can buy yourself some Ecoleaf washing up liquid and then go back when you've gone through it and get it re-filled for cheaper. You might even feel like you're being a good person. The possibilities are infinite. But on their food front: they get fresh bread delivered most days. They get delectable baked goods delivered from the Engine Shed on Wednesdays and Fridays, too. I got kind of addicted to this parmesan-herb-bread-twirl thing once upon a time, so I know when the deliveries happen. They also sell sun-dried tomatoes that aren't marinated and are much cheaper than buying the marinated ones. Here's a secret: marinating your own sun-dried tomatoes is dead easy. And you'll also save yourself a lotta moolah. So yeah, if you're veggie, or feel like you kind of care about the environment, stop by the New Leaf. They're always really helpful in there. Downside, of course, is that it's really pricey. But it's just as pricey as any other shop that sells organic produce.

If you have specific dietary requirements then this place is worth four stars, but if you don't…read morethen it's probably only worth three in my view. Virtually all the food is very expensive and a lot of it isn't even specialist stuff. For example, why would you buy a packet of porridge oats from here when you can buy them from somewhere else two minutes away for half the price? However, this is missing the point as all their fruit and vegetables are organic, fresh and ripe. Further, if you're lactose, wheat, gluten or anything else intolerant then it sells great, healthy alternatives to many foods for you to enjoy. If you've got specific dietary needs then this is the place. Unfortunately, it comes at a price.

Holy Cow is such a staple for me on my visits to Edinburgh. The food is so comforting and…read moredelicious. Holy cow is 100% plant based and has a wide variety of options to choose from. Most recently, I had the english breakfast and it was a hardy plate full of all the essentials. Everything on it was excellent. I was also excited to see that they had a house-made pumpkin spice latte on the menu, even in July! Holy Cow can get very busy (when I was there on a Thursday, one group after another came in.) But they do a good job at seating everyone quickly, as well as taking orders and bringing out food promptly. During my last visit, I was seated inside, but previously I got to enjoy their back patio. The latter is really lovely on a rare sunny day in Edinburgh. Either way, you'll enjoy your time here.

If you're vegan/plant-based (... even if you're not, to be honest), coffee and a slice of cake at…read moreHoly Cow is a MUST. The options change daily, so be sure to check out their display case when you walk in. My favorite is still the tiramisu, but the biscoff cheesecake, victoria sponge, and forest fruit are close seconds; the only one I haven't liked was the lemon tart (it just wasn't lemon-y enough and the texture was strange too). Needing something lighter and fresher, I recently tried the Cult HC's Pad Thai Salad which came with courgette noodles, red cabbage, red peppers, spring onion, roasted peanuts, cilantro, and smoked tofu in a satay sauce. I asked if they would add avocado on top, and they were incredibly generous with how much they gave me! The salad itself was enormous, and - flavor/texture-wise was exactly what I was looking for. That smoked tofu is SOOOO GOOD. Holy Cow is walk-in only, and they can get BUSY (so come right when they open, or plan a later afternoon visit). Open 12pm to 10pm Monday through Thursday; 10am to 10pm Friday through Sunday. They serve their full vegan breakfast (sausage, smoked tempeh bacon, baked beans, scrambled tofu, potato scone, mushrooms, tomato, greens, and toast) all day, so don't worry you won't miss out!

Healthy, organic, and likely to cleanse out your innards, Holland and Barret's products are readily…read moreavailable and mainly centre around the concept of extending your lifespan, or at least making your bowel movements less of an agonising trauma. Useful, but a roll and sausage tastes better.

I visited this shop knowing exactly what I wanted, and managed to get it. My only complaint is that…read morethe service and staff management was a little chaotic. The manager served me when the phone began to ring. She answered the phone and attempted to continue to serve me, before asking another member of staff to take over. Whilst I get that managing a business is hard, since I've been in that position myself, great service comes when you value your customers. I've found myself in similar situations and the phone really can wait. - If it's a really important call, the person will phone back. Above all, the customer will really appreciate the fact that you're giving them your full attention despite everything else going on and you'll be far less stressed because you can focus on one thing at a time. - It's a win-win situation for both parties really. Despite this experience, I'll still come back here when I'm a little too skint for my favourite independent health food shop and I'm running low on my regular supplements. - They do some great deals and, if you've a points card, you can get some handy money-off vouchers.

Green Organics, if you hadn't guessed from the name, is a shop offering organic food, most of which…read moreare ingredients. It specialises in vegetarian, ethical raw foods. I suspect Green Organics is unfortunately placed. Tucked away down Lady Lawson St., this isn't the sort of area you come to shopping for groceries, given the shop's specialist nature. I have often found the shop to be quite empty when walking by. Perhaps the newly opened Sainsburys nearby will help with custom. Either way Green Organics doesn't deserve to be unknown. It isn't a grocery store, but it does offer organic, ethical version of basics like tea and coffee, chocolate, cereals, various cooking pastes, nuts and seeds. They aren't cheap, but around what you would expect to pay for the privilege of better quality items. i think the problem with Green Organics, if it could be said to have one, is that it doesn't cover enough basis. With shops like Real Foods, not far away, offering the same sorts of things but with a much more extensive range (you could probably do your weekly shop there), Green Organics plays itself down a bit. But it does need to manage its much smaller place. Having said this, the more ethical and organic shops there are, especially independent ones, the better. That way we can move toward making these standards the norm.

I'll give NFE a 3* on the basis of products but I will go back to check out their crepes!…read more Reasonable range of specialist food products: vegetarian, vegan and gluten free. I came here in search of gluten free goodies but I wasn't wowed. I felt Earthy at Canonmills or Real Foods had more options so I only left with a pack of Soba noodles which Tesco sometimes sell. I think the real draw here will be the food they make and sell on the premises. I've seen pictures of huge crepes which are gluten free so I plan to return for this, rather than buy my gf store cupboard ingredients.

Just had a most lovely time in this shop. It was tranquil. Staff left me alone so I could pick and…read morethink. All went smoothly at checkout. I am dead chuffed. Often when I been in and left I feel flustered and somehow emerged from chaos. Really glad to see so much veg! I got 6 avocados. They'll ripen perfectly I can feel it. Thankyou NFE