UK Food #4: Edinburgh (Theatre Royal Pub, Fiddler's Arms, and YHA Edinburgh)

During my trip to the United Kingdom, I took a train to Scotland and stayed overnight in Edinburgh. My train arrived around noon. I found out I couldn't check into where I was staying until 2:00, so I decided to have lunch at the Theatre Royal Pub on the next block until I could drop off my bags.

Theatre Royal Pub:

As the name implies, they were next to Edinburgh's big theater. Unlike the pubs I visited in London where you ordered your food at the bar and then claimed a table, the Theatre Royal Pub was full service from start to finish. Just to confuse American tourists with variations of pub culture in different parts of the UK.

I ordered one of their daily specials, which was the Pork & Bacon Pie. I really liked pies like this after having a few of them in London so I couldn't resist ordering another. It was served over mashed potatoes in a gravy sauce.

This was the most boring of all the pies I tried in the UK. This was filled with not much else besides ground pork and bacon. It was almost a meatloaf wrapped in a pie crust. Still pretty tasty.

Fiddler's Arms:

I decided I needed to try haggis while in Scotland. This happened at another pub called Fiddler's Arms.

I knew exactly what I was going to order when I walked in. I had the Traditional Scottish Haggis, Neeps, & Tatties. The menu described this as haggis, mashed potatoes and turnips, drizzled in a homemade whisky cream sauce. My expectations weren't high for ordering offal meats in a bar, but what I was served far exceeded those expectations. The whole dish was constructed as a circular tower. There was a bottom layer of potatoes, topped with turnips, with the haggis above that, and then finally a sprinkling of greens at the top of the tower of food. The entire thing was drenched in the sauce which pooled at the bottom of the plate. Not only did it look good, but it was delicious too!

I did find it humorous how my server came over after I finished eating everything and started telling me what haggis is made from. Hurray for scaring the tourists with organ meats!


YHA Edinburgh:

I had breakfast at the hostel I was staying at the next morning. Unlike the other hostels I stayed at in the UK, this one was serving a hot breakfast. It came with a poached egg, beans, sausage, haggis, black pudding, a potato cake, roasted tomato, and a type of puffy bread. Plain haggis was interesting, reminding me of scrapple from the Pennsylvania area of the US. Of the plain meats, I did enjoy the black pudding. Blood sausage is always tasty!

I also bought a bottle of Irn Bru. I was told this was the national drink of Scotland and had to try it while I was there. It was soda...

UK Food #3: Train Food

Part Three of food from my trip to the United Kingdom. This post starts in London and ends somewhere in Scotland. I took a train to Edinburgh and there was food involved. My journey began at King's Cross Station.

While I was waiting for my train, I ate breakfast at a restaurant called Leon.

I had an egg pot consisting of a poached egg, smoked salmon, and sliced avocado. Small portion, but tasty.

I explored the train station for a while until it was time to board my train. It didn't look like the Hogwarts Express...

The UK has a somewhat complicated but simple train system. There are several different companies running their trains, but yet you buy your tickets from a centralized website. I ended up getting tickets with Virgin Trains. I guess they do more than airlines and spaceships. On board, they had a worker come through with a food trolley. In my head, this only happened on the Hogwarts Express. I'm glad there's reality behind food trolleys on British trains.

They were giving out samples of biscuits in the train station, so I didn't partake in the food trolley. Was basically a chocolate chip cookie.

After a wonderful train journey, I arrived in Edinburgh, explored the city (see the next post on the blog), and then it was time to take the train home. Without realizing it, I had accidently bought first class tickets for this trip. These first class tickets were cheaper than the coach tickets going to Edinburgh. I was good with my accidental upgrade.

My previous long distance train experience was on an Amtrak Acela between New York and Boston. They advertised that entire train as being first class, but that got you pretty much nothing. On Virgin, first class actually means something. There were attendants coming though constantly offering all sorts of foods. This started with a bag of crisps.

Cottage Pie with Root Vegetables came next. This was ground meat (beef or lamb?) topped with mashed potatoes cooked until crispy on top. The root vegetables included potatoes and beets.

Tea and biscuits.

Slice of cake.

The food was unexpected. Compared to the overpriced soggy frozen pizza I had when riding with Amtrak, the food here on this Virgin train was wonderful. I think I'd upgrade to first class again on a train in Britain. Overall, even without the food, I was really impressed with these trains. It was a quick, comfortable trip and the scenery outside the trains windows was beautiful. Whizzing past colorful farmland, cute little villages, and along cliffs on the edge of the North Sea made this my favorite train trip I've ever taken. The United States needs to learn a lot from trains like this...