This is the place to check out all the food we ate - all on one page! I couldn't try all the Scottish food in this trip, but I think I hit a few good ones. I especially liked haggis (yes!) and cullen skink. And if you're not sure what that is, read on to find who, what, when, where, & why!
Traveler Tip: Day-of Reservations
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Glasgow.For our group dinner on night one, we enjoyed dinner at Mharsanta. We even got our own Rick Steves menus!
Let's address the elephant in the room. Haggis is the national dish of Scotland and it's a meal consisting of sheep offal (the not-so-nice pieces of animals not often consumed like heart, liver, lungs, etc.) and oatmeal with all kinds of seasonings. A bit intimidating when you lay it out like that! But when in Scotland and all, I wanted to try haggis on this trip. As a reformed picky eater, I was a little nervous to try it for a full meal. Well, chicken balmoral saved the day! Chicken balmoral is stuffed with haggis, so I figured I could scoop it out if needed (a known picky eater trick). But I actually enjoyed the whole chicken balmoral - haggis included! It was very flavorful. To round out the first tour dinner, I also enjoyed the salmon and dill terrine appetizer and sticky toffee pudding for dessert - yum! On Day 2, we enjoyed a massive afternoon tea at the Willow Tea Rooms on Buchanan Street. (While not the original location, we got to enjoy some of the ambiance - and china and furniture - as Charles Rennie Mackintosh intended.) We stopped in for dinner at Ubiquitous Chip ("The Chip") on Ashton Lane.
(To view larger images, click on any of the pictures below.) |
Oban. |
If you're a seafood lover, Oban is the place! We enjoyed so much unbelievable delicious (and fresh!) seafood here. I was in heaven.
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Inverness.
Sadly, we had to move on from Oban even if I could have stayed there for 2 weeks enjoying all the seafood! Luckily, we enjoyed delicious food on the whole trip, so we got to explore much more. On the way to Inverness, we enjoyed lunch canal-side at Neptune's Staircase, including soup and sandwiches. We had a little difficulty finding a place to eat in Inverness our first night (it was busy and you can't always rely on those day-of reservations!). Eventually, we were able to scoot into a corner of Black Isle Bar and grab a few chairs. We enjoyed some delicious pizza and grabbed a few gelato cones from Miele's Gelateria down the street afterwards.
Our second day in Inverness, included grabbing lunch from wherever we could find after visiting Culloden and Clava Cairns to hold us over for a group dinner at the Mustard Seed that evening.
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Cairngorms.Oh, boy! Our visit to the Rothiemurcus Estate in the Cairngorms featured my favorite meal of the whole trip. Beef casserole, sweet potato & chick pea curry, fresh steamed green beans, boiled potatoes, fresh crusty bread, and a homemade brownie with fresh berries & whipped cream. (Are you hungry yet?) Dinner at the Boat of Garten Inn was also good that night, but it was hard to top such an incredible lunch!
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Dunkeld.
On our way from the sheepdog demonstration to Dunkeld, we stopped in Pitlochry for a quick lunch, and we finished that day with a great group dinner at the Dunkeld House Hotel that evening.
Our second day in Dunkeld included an incredible lunch at the hole-in-the-wall Scottish Deli. Highly recommended - my sandwich was delicious! (It was the #5 with cheddar cheese and caramelized onion confit.) The store also serves as a quick stop if you'd rather have a sandwich or other supplies to-go. They also had tapas in the evening, which definitely sounded fun! We had a birthday in our group, so a group of us made a reservation at the hotel restaurant for a special birthday meal, which did NOT disappoint! I finally got some lamb, which was hard to find despite all the sheep we saw! (Go figure - especially since wool is not easy to sell.)
(To enlarge any image, just click on the picture below.)
(To enlarge any image, just click on the picture below.)
Edinburgh.On our way to our final tour stop in Edinburgh, we had the morning and early afternoon to explore St. Andrews. This included lunch at Mitchell's (wow). And of course I couldn't turn down dessert at Jannetta's Gelateria, which was included in the Rick Steves guidebook. We didn't quite have a lot of time for the busy gelateria shop (and the myriad flavors to choose from), so we got our gelato and hurried to bus. Mark likes to keep a clean bus, so we couldn't eat on the bus. I was taking huge bites of my gelato on the sidewalk to finish just before we drove off. Brain freeze! (Also not a recommended way to enjoy gelato - or ice cream, which should be savored!)
We were on our own for dinner that night and popped into a restaurant near where Alasdair ended our New Town walking tour that evening. |
On our last full day of the tour, I finally got to try the Scottish soup, cullen skink, at lunchtime. The name sounds a little strange, but this soup is anything but! Full of smoked fish, potatoes, and onions, it hit the spot after a chilly Edinburgh walking tour. (I can only blame myself for not grabbing my jacket or wanting to walk back up 5 flights of stairs to get it before we left in the morning.) I loved our lunch spot, another recommendation courtesy of our Rick Steves guidebook - the Little Larder. It's right next door to The Larder, but it was much quieter and allowed us to enjoy our lunch - and my hot cocoa - and warm up a bit (and rest our feet).
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Alasdair organized our final group dinner that evening at Harvey Nichols. Harvey Nichols is an upscale department store visited frequently by celebs like Princess Diana, but the location in Edinburgh has a delightful restaurant on the top floor with amazing views of St. Andrews Square and Edinburgh. We got our own fancy menu again, and I enjoyed by soup, tomato risotto with wild garlic pesto, and a Valrohna chocolate tart. It was definitely bittersweet to say goodbye to everyone on our last night over such a delicious meal!
(Click on any image below to enlarge.)
(Click on any image below to enlarge.)