You’ve probably gathered by now that I really like food, and so it will come as no surprise that in the lead up to my trip to Edinburgh I spent a reasonable amount of time researching places to eat. However, we ended up going to none of the places that I had looked at – choosing instead to follow our stomachs on the day, rather than plan everything in advance.
On the first night, we decided we wanted something fairly chilled and fuss free, so we looked for a pub. As it was my boyfriend’s first trip to Scotland, unless you count a quick hop across the border to Gretna, he fancied some traditional Scottish food. Our hotel was just off the Royal Mile so finding pubs which served Haggis was no problem – deciding on which one was the tricky bit!
Haggis, neeps and tatties tower
In the end we decided to eat at No.1 High Street, which looked clean and smart, but was still relaxed and pub like. The service was good, prices were reasonable and the food was tasty – we had made a good choice. We both had some home-made iced tea to drink, which was being advertised quite heavily. This was very refreshing after a walk up Arthur’s Seat in the full sun! We then had some focaccia to share – not very Scottish I know, but it was very tasty nonetheless. For main course we both had the traditional haggis, neeps and tatties tower with a whisky sauce. I won’t lie, the haggis wasn’t the best I have had, but it was still good and it was nice to try something traditional whilst visiting Edinburgh.
We had originally decided to go somewhere a little fancier for the second night, but on recommendation from the hotel concierge, instead we bought a picnic to eat at the top of Calton Hill and watched the sun set over the sea. I’m afraid my photo doesn’t quite do justice to the colours of the sunset, but we had a wonderful evening and I would strongly recommend it to anyone who is going to visit the city. It was relaxed and romantic, and the perfect way to end a wonderful visit.
Sunset view from Calton Hill
