[Edinburgh, Royal Mile and surroundings] Leading up to the Fringe

[gnuf (Eric Fung)]

We’re on a little European holiday for a month, and just wrapped up our first leg, a few days in Edinburgh. It was the days leading up to the Fringe Festival, and while we didn’t plan our trip around this massive event, we nevertheless experienced it. We are visiting from Toronto, Canada, and our group is two adults, and two kids, 14 and 11, so a lot of our meals were compromises in tastes, convenience, hunger, and cost.

I’ll post some highlights and lowlights of meals and food-related activities in the thread.

[gnuf (Eric Fung)]

We stayed in the south part of Leith, off the beaten path, about 25 minutes walk to the Royal Mile.

On the first morning, my kids and I breakfasted at a nearby restaurant called Word of Mouth. We had Belgian waffles, Croque Monsieur, eggs Benedict. Everything was okay, and a serviceable option if you’re in the area.

Much better is the coffee shop across the street, Coffee Tepuy. Here, the focus is on Colombian coffee (indeed, the only food items on offer were a few pieces of cake, and three alfajores). There was a choice of six beans, and single doses are ground to order.

Dinner on our first night was at Gordon’s Trattoria on High St. This was incredibly bland Italian food: everything was under-salted: the pasta, the pasta sauce, the vegetables and shrimp in my dish. But, we were hungry, it was late, and most places were full.

Twelve Triangles on Brunswick St is only open from 07:00 to 14:00 every day. We sampled some nice pastries one morning, and I liked my apricot, custard and cardamom danish. Takeaway only, no seating.

[gnuf (Eric Fung)]

Afternoon Tea at Edinburgh Castle was very fun. It’s very casual, and was a weird vibe due to the pop music blasting in the room. The room itself is quite nice, with huge textiles hanging on the walls and lots of natural light.

Adults got the following (copied from the Castle website)

• Cranley Farm coronation chicken finger with a cucumber ribbon
• Heatherfield smoked beetroot gravlax blini, salmon roe, fresh dill
• Borders free-range egg mayonnaise brioche with spinach and sun-dried tomato
• Campbells of Linlithgow vegetarian Haggis Bon Bon with vegan mayonnaise and chives
• Breadwinner toasted rye bread, Highland crowdie soft cheese, sliced radish, chives
• Freshly baked buttermilk fruit and plain scones, with Galloway Lodge jam and clotted cream
• Lemon curd pavlova with fresh Tayside berries, and micro basil
• Citrus macaron with white chocolate ganache and Cranachan butter cream
• Perthshire strawberry tart with vanilla custard, strawberry pearls and micro mint
• Edinburgh Castle sponge cake, with Bonaly Farm cream and dried raspberries

Kids version had plainer sandwiches.

[linguafood (Natascha)]

@small_h

[gnuf (Eric Fung)]

While waiting to attend a Fringe show, my daughter and I ate at the food trucks parked in Assembly George Square Gardens. There weren’t too many interesting choices in the Astroturf area and I only realized later there were half a dozen more trucks in the surrounding paths. She had a rice bowl with pork belly and teriyaki sauce, and I had a salt-and-chili fried chicken with chips. Both were pretty good.

On another morning, we were back on the Royal Mile to do a walking tour. Just off Market St is a coffee shop called The Milkman on Cockburn St. Decent coffee and pastries. I think I had an almond croissant.

We booked the Tour of Chocolate experience at The Chocolatarium. Despite some reservations about it being a tourist trap, I was pleasantly surprised. It starts with an explanation of how chocolate is made from bean to bar, with samplings of a warm chocolate beverage, and various single origin chocolate pieces. Then, we went into their kitchen to make our own chocolate bars, with various mixins. Finally, we went into their tasting room to sample bars that they sell, some with really interesting flavours (pho spice, carrot cake, nordic berries).

Our final meal on the Royal Mile was one I was strenuously against (I didn’t come across the Atlantic to eat Chinese food when I eat excellent Chinese food all the time in Toronto). But Noodles Home won me over. It’s across the street from the Festival Theatre and a few doors from the former coffee shop where a few Harry Potter books were written (now also a Chinese restaurant!)

This restaurant was absolutely packed when we got there around 19:00 on a weeknight. There’s seating both on the ground level and first floor. We had hand-sliced noodles with beef and garlic, chicken fried rice, broccoli with garlic, and some fried dumplings (juicy, and plump). The standout was definitely the noodles, the texture different with each ribbon due to the uneven thickness. They were a bit stingy with the thinly sliced braised beef, but generous with the dollop of jarred garlic.

Heh, I decided to try an Irn Bru with this meal, seeing that I was in Scotland. Big mistake. It’s the brightest, orangiest, non-citrusy soft drink I’ve ever had. Tasted more like cream soda that Crush.

[gnuf (Eric Fung)]

On our final full day in Edinburgh, we started at the Royal Botanical Gardens. On the way, I found a wonderful coffee shop called Hata on Rodney St. I had their “Go Awesome” porridge (that day, it was gingered poached pears, with dark chocolate, pumpkin seeds and crumbs). My son had the overnight oats with berry compote. My wife had a Vietnamese tofu sandwich with an incredibly yummy pea and mint soup. And my daughter had the generously portioned avocado toast with an elderflower-strawberry cooler. It was our best breakfast meal on this trip.

And, after a disaster of a lunch on the Royal Mile, and a long day of watching buskers, we were able to snag a late 20:45 reservation at a restaurant on Leith Walk (technically its address is on Croall Pl)

The Walnut is a small restaurant that looks like a little neighbourhood bistro. But it really wowed us with both presentation and flavour.

There was only a 2- or 3-course prix fixe, so we were worried the kids wouldn’t find something to their liking. But it worked out just fine.

For the starters, I had the terrine with what seemed like deconstructed accompaniments. The meat was mildly seasoned, and I liked the textural contrasts of the chopped egg, crouton crumbs, and pickled shallots. I didn’t try the fried cheese, but it oozed out of its breaded shell when my daughter cracked it open, and she pronounced it delicious. The one bite I tried of the prawn wonton was good, but red curry sauce was a bit heavy on coconut.

Between the four of us, we had all of the mains. My daugher and I had the lamb pithivier, a tall tart of very tender, finely shredded lamb encased in flaky pastry. The accompanying vegetables were cutely arranged in a circle around the dish, and the jus and romesco made every bite moist and flavourful. I had a few bites of the fish and its incredibly flavourful slow roasted tomato sauce. Both my son and wife loved the Israeli couscous side.

We could only manage room for one dessert shared amongst us. It was one of those plates with a little bit of everything. Overall, a nice tribute to strawberries, but the lime pastry cream was all citrus zest and no pucker, and the maple granola just seemed out of place.

Again, this was our most delicious, most memorable meal in Edinburgh, and I would not hesitate to recommend it. Service was friendly and efficient.

[linguafood (Natascha)]

Great trip report, @gnuf! We’re possibly visiting Edinburgh and surroundings next July, so I bookmarked it for future reference.

Looks like you ate rather well