The expensively and impressively renovated National Museum of Scotland is one of the great wonders of life in Edinburgh, and the fact that it’s free makes it an even more remarkable treat. It’s definitely worth spending a few of those saved pennies in its ground-floor brasserie – actually a posh, well-appointed café overseen by properly attired waiting staff. Devised by the London-based Benugo group, the menu offers the usual fillers including home-baked cakes and artisan ice cream, but it’s also possible to get a really good meal here, with classic café nosh such as burgers, fishcakes, minute-steak sandwiches and Cullen skink bolstered by the likes of haggis with clapshot, salmon tagliatelle with red pepper tapenade or roasted winter vegetable salad with sherry vinaigrette. The wine selection is small but tempting, while meals for the under-12s cost just £2.95.