Although most branches of Sainsbury's are pretty much exactly the same as the next one, this one…read morestands out due to its sheer size. Unless you have a car, then the big Tesco in New Town or the big Asda over by the Corn Exchange are a pain to get to, which means that this is where you'll head when you need a big shop. As well as all the usual food and grocery-related stuff this branch also offers a pharmacy, a household section, clothing, a bakery, a cheese counter as well as a butcher/fishmonger counter. It just so happens to be housed within the world's ugliest shopping centre, Cameron Toll. But don't let that put you off; with free parking and good bus links this is a pretty handy one as far as supermarkets go. Just avoid it at the beginning of all the uni terms, as it's packed to the rafters with students accompanied by their doting mums buying them enough food to last them until the next holidays and then some.

This is an absolutely massive Sainsbury's and is the best thing about the Cameron Toll centre by…read morequite a way. It is in a great location for students as well as it is near the Kings Buildings and therefore many people get flats in the area. Sainsbury's therefore get a good amount of younger customers. The store really does allow you to save a lot of money because if you go to the smaller branches of supermarkets such as Tesco Metro or Sainsbury's local, they tend to concentrate on stocking branded items rather than the cheaper Sainsbury's brands. I mean I really can't tell that much difference between Sainsnury's own baked beans than Heinz beans, and this shop would allow you to get these cheaper options. The shop also has a great range of clothes items and home items and would sure to be of great use at picking up some bargains for the house.

Amir and Sons is a Premier grocery shop that offers great choice and excellent service…read more This shop is located close by to my girlfriend's flat and I depend on it greatly to fuel my appetite for snacks, drinks and emergency breakfasts. There is a good variety of almost everything that you could suddenly get a craving for: crisps, chocolate, sandwiches, pastries and traditional homebakes, biscuits and fizzy drinks. For emergency breakfasts (and other meals) there is a good stock of bacon, sausages, eggs and cold meats. The prices, while not being strikingly cheap, are generally what you'd expect from a small convenience store such as this. One tip though, if the price is not marked on the packaging and you can't see it displayed, best to ask before purchase to avoid nasty shocks... It also seems to be rather short of the deals similar stores nearby offer. The owner is very friendly and quickly recognises and converses with any regulars. He was kind enough to save cardboard boxes for my girlfriend when she started packing to move flat. Amir and Sons is certainly one of the safer bets when it comes to using a convenience store in this area.

It sells the regular newsagent type stuff: groceries, newspapers and magazines but they'll order…read moreanything that they don't sell for you and they remember regular customers.

Love this place and it's on my way home from work so I stop in a couple of times a week for…read moreallsorts of culinary bits and bobs. My main stay items are frozen edameme for £1 or so a bag, udon noodles for 40p, various marinades/spice mixes for pennies, soup noodles galore and the bargains in the freezers.... £2 for 50 frozen spring rolls!! The staff are freindly, place is clean, well organised and modern. One of my favourite places for asian ingredients.

A hidden gem on the South side of Edinburgh. Part of me hates to give it away in fact but this is a…read moresuperb supermarket for all your Asian food needs. I am never without a packet of their dim sum in my freezer and I always end up finding a new ingredient to try out. They have a monstrous selection of noodles, every Asian sauce or spice you could ever want, heaps of frozen dim dum and some weird but wonderful delicacies for the adventurous.

Conveniently convenient. This Tesco larger on the inside with multiple aisles containing items…read moreranging from produce to biscuits.

Was a last chance for me to grab some favorite UK snacks - like Ribena and Twirl and marmite before…read moreheading home. Also love the self-check out so prevalent in most UK grocery shops.

While I love this city, it's not a very diverse one for food. Thankfully Starlight exists for some…read moreAsian goods. Although the store is small (nothing compared to what I get back in California), it is packed with anything you could possibly need from herbs, noodles, dumplings, snacks, hotpot, etc. While the snacks were a bit pricier, everything else was pretty reasonably priced. I stocked up on some goodies with some favorites being the green onion pancakes, Mi Goreng noodle packets, and curry cubes. The selection for some good ol' hot pot is great here too with packaged sliced meats and soup base packets, so good to know when I really need it!

Best Chinese Supermarket in Edinburgh!! I don't know about you, but I love food from other…read morecountries, especially Asia... And especially candy! Starlight is my favourite place to go on a taste adventure because although I rarely know what I'm gonna get, you can guarantee it's going to be interesting to eat and stupidly fun to have in my lunchbox! Treats worth looking out for: Birthday Cake Oreos, Sky Flake Crackers, sweet Bunny Buns in the freezer department, 50p individual udon noodle packs (with the funny kid graphic on the cover), matcha tea Pocky sticks, White Rabbit chewy sweets, cute baby mayonnaise (I don't know what that's called, but you'll know it when you see it! And sweet potato crisps and Crablet crisps ... Because who knew crab flavoured anything existed! Fun buys aside, this place is my Go To for buying Matcha Green Tea because at only £7.99 a can, it's a fraction of the price of Tea Pigs (£24.99!!!) and exactly the same product. It's also a great place to buy noodles, sauces and all the other random things you need when cooking anything Asian from cookbooks recipes. It's really cheap, clean, friendly and has a lot of choice. If you can't get to this store, they have a smaller one in Dalry. Failing that, pop into Hing Sing on Leith Walk - that's my second favourite!

Sumals (or Sumal's) Newsagent, on the edge of Newington, looks like a fairly standard newsagent. On…read morethe inside, it also looks like fairly standard newsagent. Actually it serves as a little bit more than that. It sells the usual newspapers and sweets, as well as some basics groceries like fruit and veg, milk, cereal etc., quite a lot of ice cream, oh and footballs. Yeah for some reason they stock and awful lot of plastic kid's footballs. They also offer a lot of of cheap booze, often doing deals like a like four pack of tenants for £3.99 or bottles of whisky for £10.99. I should also note that the women who served me in here was very nice and friendly. A handy local store to stock up on cheap alcohol, cornetto and footballs.

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

On my sister's last day in Edinburgh and on her way to the airport, I took her to visit this tea…read morestore this morning at 10:00 sharp. Since it seemed to be not open yet (although the working hours are from 10:00) we lightly knocked on the door to attract the attention of the people inside. What happened next was a very young man with a long hair, obviously a worker of this place, opening the door, blocking our way inside and yelling at us in a disrespectful and unfriendly manner. He screamed something along the lines of "don't you dare touch the door again, we are not open yet" and when we asked when will the store be open because we were on our way to the airport and wanted to buy a lot of tea gifts for our friends and family, he started raising his voice again. He continued repeating "you can go inside only when I tell you to go inside, don't touch the door yourselves", nudging us to leave the store's door front, which we eventually did. We don't usually leave negative reviews but this was a really unpleasant and embarrassing situation, especially because she was my guest in Edinburgh and her experience was an amazing one before this morning. Prior to this situation I was a very loyal buyer at the Jordan Valley tea shop and I had enjoyed many times the hospitality of an elderly and a very friendly person working there. However, the young man's behavior this morning was odd to say the least and this is definitely not the way people should be treated where they want to spend their money. For all the reasons mentioned above, I will not buy tea in this store anymore. The purpose of this review was to warn others of how disrespectful unfortunately they are and suggest you go to some other tea shop.