Vegan-friendly
Lacto
Indian
Buffet
Beer/Wine
Delivery
Take-out
Veggie restaurant since 1983 and under ownership since 2015. Specializes in traditional South Indian vegetarian cuisine and thali. All-you-can eat buffet at lunchtime. NOTE: Booking system reported to be unreliable. Open Mon-Sun 12:00-14:30, 17:30-22:30.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
-
2-3 St. Patrick Square (at Nicolson St), Edinburgh, Scotland, EH8 9EZ
-
Loading...
-
-
Last update on 04 Jan 2022 by craigmc
Update business info -
Are you the owner?
Claim this business
-
-
73 Reviews
First Review by feorag
imogenmichel
Points +2707
Tasty Thali! - Edit
Kalpna is a one of my favourite places to eat out in Edinburgh - their vegan thalis are excellent :) It's a great place for a celebratory meal or date. The decor and atmosphere are great and the staff are helpful and friendly! Highly recommended.
Read morePros: Brilliant vegan thalis, Lovely, helpful
Guest
Alyson
Points +801
Good vegan thaali - Edit
I was initialy uncertain of trying here as some of the reviews were quite negative, but I have a perfectly lovely meal and service. THe waiters were all friendly and attentive. As a single female eater I didn't feel out of place in any way. I ordered the vegan thaali and it was lovely, good range of dishes. Glad I came here after all!
Read morePros: Vegan food
Guest
Selma-Jo
Points +15
Lunch buffé - Edit
Cosy but basic. Nice wall decorations and friendly staff. The food was basic but well done, all vegetarian and many vegan dishes. Well worth the 8£ that it costed!
Read moreGuest
vaughnofthedead
Points +26
Boring and flavourless - Edit
I was disappointed with the food here. The veg curry was lacking in spices and flavour, the other dishes were equally dull. The curries I make at home are a thousand times better.
Read morePros: Quick in and out., Kingfisher beer on tap, very nice and refreshing.
Cons: Seemingly amateur chef with no no idea how Indian
Guest
Ryecatcher
Points +2222
Doesn't knock my socks off - Edit
Kalpna might have been a gem a decade ago, but it's getting long in the tooth and deterioration is in evidence. It seems they missed the chance to renew not only furniture and cutlery and so on but their whole service model.
Read moreThe food was still good though. Just note that you won't get rice with some dishes unless you order it separately (at extra cost).
However, I would consider Kalpna to serve authentic Indian food. I've been just a bit disappointed by an a bit distracted service.
Pros: authentic Indian food, long-serving vegetarian
Cons: ageing, service not the best
Guest
hatman919
Points +242
Kalpna :( - Edit
I'm not a fan of leaving bad reviews, but this is something people should be aware of. I ate the lunch buffet here at the end of August with a group of friends. Half of us ate some rice with our meals, while the other half did not. All of us who ate the rice started feeling unwell that evening. Sadly I ate a lot of rice and became severely ill for over a week. I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone as this is the sickest I've been in about 7 years and I wouldn't want anyone else to have to feel this grim.
Read morePros: Mostly vegan, Food is really tasty, Cheap
Guest
MaciekJanczuk
Points +26
Delicious, friendly and unexpensive - Edit
Delicious food for resonable amount of money, really friendly, helpful and kind stuff members. oh, and they have an open buffet for 8 pounds per person. Great deal!!! :-)
Read moreI highly recommend this place!
Pros: Tasty food for reasonable price, almost everything vegan, friendly and attentive staff members
Guest
MuK-UK
Points +262
Vegan? Wouldn't bother... - Edit
Yeah, there's the vegan thali on the menu, it's fine,but remarkably ordinary and not that cheap.
Read moreThe staff were pleasant, and the vegetarians I was with seemed happy enough and it was an easy place to come as a large group.
I won't be back though.
Pros: Nice enough place.
Cons: Pretty unremarkable.
Guest
thetofutravellers
Points +5599
Ok for one meal - Edit
At the Kalpna Restaurant I had a buffet lunch and while I thought the food not much varied, it still tasted good. Unfortunately, service was not very friendly and the food and how the buffet worked were not explained at all, even when I asked. In the end I found out that except the desert and one sauce everything was vegan.
Read moreAltogether it was ok to have a meal here, but considering all the choices in Edinburgh, I wouldn't visit again. Although I might, because reading all the good reviews here, I wonder if maybe I just picked an unlucky day!
Pros: Almost everything vegan, Buffet lunch
Cons: Unfriendly service when I visited
Guest
christopherjboyce
Points +980
Not very impressed - Edit
I've eaten here quite a few times as I live in and around Edinburgh and I've not been impressed each time. I've eaten a thali here which was OK, but I didn't find it very filling and it's quite pricey. I've also had their lunch time buffet which is good value for money. Personally I wouldn't bother with their dosa - it's not very good - if you really want a dosa I'd go to Tanjore which is a south indian restaurant just down the road where, although serving meat, they do do an extremely good dosa (well at least 5 out of 6 times that I've been there). I think overall you can get better vegan food elsewhere.
Read moreUpdated from previous review on Tuesday November 05, 2013
Pros: Lunch buffet is good value for money
Cons: Terrible dosa
Guest
Goththing
Points +92
fantastic vegan food! - Edit
Beautiful restaurant, warm and welcoming.
Read moreI've been here a few times now and I'm never disappointed.
The staff are lovely. Cheerful and friendly.
The food was beautiful. Lots of depth to the flavours. They even prepared our vegan food gluten free at our request.
No other curry house comes close to this one. My all time favourite.
Guest
ahuyton
Points +52
Nice atmosphere - Edit
The vegan choice is not huge, but there is a delicious vegan thali, served in beautiful bowls and a tray. Really worth going for, just for this. Lovely decor and atmosphere.
Read morePros: vegan dish, atmosphere
Cons: little vegan choice
Guest
lastx
Points +38
The best Indian food ANYWHERE! - Edit
I first visited over Kalpna 20 years ago and recently returned after a very long absence. I must say that the food is as good as ever and thoroughly enjoyed the excellent value vegan thali (£13.95). It was just as I remember it and when the food is as good as this you can't criticise a lack of innovation. To summarise, the food is perfectly spiced, fresh and the assortment of dishes was intelligently considered. The Gujurati dishes on offer show most Indian restaurants up as pale imitations of authentic cuisine. The decor is clean and bright but nothing to get excited about. Service was attentive but not overbearing. I have no qualms about recommending Kalpna if you are looking for a top class vegetarian meal in Edinburgh.
Read morePros: Superb food, Good value, Attentive staff
Cons: Relatively limited vagan choice
Guest
kittenwithawhip
Points +26
I HEART Kalpna - Edit
Went here on Sunday the 8th, had the vegan thaali, 6 courses for 13.95 a serious bargain. we were both completely stuffed. 2 meals and 2 beers for 35 incl tip. This was the best indian I've had in my life (even when I used to eat meat!) Service was quick. Only let down was 1 of the waiters we had was really nice, but the other a bit cold.
Read morePros: taste, volume, value
Cons: 1 grumpy staff member
Guest
Stevie
Points +11765
Kalpna, Edinburgh - Edit
I went here for lunch on the first Saturday in June. It was a self serve buffet set up with various starters and a choice of three curries none of which I am pleased to say were overly chillied. All of the dishes were vegan vego friendly apart from the one of the dips made with yoghurt. The potato pakora starter was delicious as were the curries and the biryani rice offered with them. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing and at £7 it seems very good value for hard earned dosh.
Read moreThe settings are pleasantly done out and the atmo is relaxed. All in all a massive winner for me. I rocked along with a bunch of omnivorous friends for whom it was also clean plates and thumbs up all round.
I look forward to returning.
Pros: Vegan vego friendly, Great food, Great value
Guest
hack_man
Points +26642
Great Traditional Food - Edit
A super restaurant, very well run and established in Edinburgh. Not the typical meals one might expect in an Indian restaurant such as madras, bhuna etc but wonderful regional dishes from the area of the owner's homeland (southern Indian I think). Reminds me very much of the excellent Hansas vegetarian Gujarati restaurant in Leeds (see my review for that). The Dosa's are fabulous. Service is quick and friendly, but make sure you go early if you want to enjoy a dining experience to remember as they do like guests to leave promptly when it's closing time (although this may have changed since our visit in August 2007). Overall, a fine place, if you like Indian food and are vegetarian it is essential when in Edinburgh. All types of palate a catered for ranging from very mild fragrant dishes to the more spicy ones.
Read morePros: food, staff
Guest
mrukz
Points +58
Great Indian Food - Edit
Well, not that much to say except that the food is great and surely worth trying. I went there with a group of non-vegetarians, some not very well versed in Indian food and everyone enjoyed it.
Read morePros: Food, Atmosphere
Guest
proudveggie
Points +21
Quality Veggie Indian food - Edit
Was pleasantly surprised to find such a beautifully decorated Indian Veggie restaurant in the heart of Edinburgh. Menu was well planned. Starters were good but the portions could have been slightly bigger. Lassi was the finest I've ever had in the UK. Mains were very delicious too and the portions were decent. Pricing was slightly on the higher side but can't complain much about that.
Read morePros: authentic taste, nice decor, central location
Cons: pricey
Guest
feorag
Points +553
Posh Indian - Edit
I recently visited Kalpna for the first time since the redecoration, and the new look is superb. If you are familiar with Indian mirrored embroidery, imagine that in cream-coloured plasterwork.
Read moreI'd been putting off my return because the prices have gone up quite steeply - £13.50 for the vegan thali - but I had something to celebrate. I opted for the thali; my (omni) partner for one of the seasonal specials - paneer dumplings with pomegranate and other fruits in a creamy sauce.
And soon we learned that the increase in quality far outweighed the increase in price - the food was stunning in both flavour and presentation. The thali starter came first, and was presented with a fresh fruit and mint chutney, and sev, delicately scattered on the plate. The thali itself included three curries, bread, rice, mango pulp, tamarind sauce, and a dessert, none of them your conventional curry house fare.
The green-vegetable averse and omni partner complained that he didn't think he had that much choice, but he enjoyed what he did have.
Pros: spectacular food, good vegan choices, interesting menu
Cons: expensive (but worth it!)
Guest
For Members
Why was my review removed? Guidelines for writing a review View our privacy policyFor Business Owners
Claim this business See inaccurate information? Submit an update here Link to this page from your site See an unfair review? View full terms & conditionsThis page has been viewed 0 times.