Mr. Selfish and I had heard horror stories about haggis, so we knew that we had to try it. Haggis is the national dish of Scotland. It is prepared from sheep’s parts (heart, liver and lungs) and minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt. Although traditionally it is encased in the animal’s stomach, it is now typically encased in sausage casing.
We first tried Haggis at Nicholson’s, a traditional Scottish pub, located in Haymarket. It was served traditionally here – with neeps and tatties (mashed turnip and potatoes). It was quite yummy. We also got the sausage and mash in case we didn’t like the haggis. Fortunately, we enjoyed both.
Our delightful waitress at Nicholson’s Pub informed us that we could get deep-fried haggis and Mars bars at a chipper called the City Restaurant. It was indeed deep-fried. Mr. Selfish ordered the spicy haggis, and I got the regular kind. Both were good but the deep-fried-ness may be a little much. On the other hand, the deep-fried Mars bars was heavenly.
And that was all of the haggis we could handle in two days, so we knew that we had to have something else to eat in Edinburgh. Mr. Selfish has become obsessed with pork sandwiches ever since we had the porchetta sandwich from Roli Roti at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. So, when we saw a roasting pig in the window of Oink, Mr. Selfish insisted that we lunch there. It was a very yummy pulled pork sandwich, not as good as Roli Roti but definitely worth a visit.
We also decided to splurge and enjoy afternoon tea at the Balmoral Hotel, which is a five-star hotel. The afternoon tea include a selection of sandwiches, scones with cream and jam, a selection of cakes and candies from the dessert cart, and of course, tea or coffee.
We definitely enjoyed the food in Scotland. But most of all, the Scottish were the friendliest and nicest people we met in the U.K. We will definitely come back to Scotland!
Filed under: Edinburgh, Europe, Food & Drinks, United Kingdom Tagged: Afternoon Tea, Balmoral, Chipper, Deep-Fried, Edinburgh, Food & Drinks, Haggis, Mars Bars, Oink
