Tuesday 2 November 2010

MoFo Day 2 - Edinburgh

Hey! It's a bit of a late one today as I was without any kind if phone signal or internet connection for over 24 hours & as soon as we arrived at our hotel in central Edinburgh we went out to eat & sight see.

As I mentioned yesterday we've been at a friends wedding which was in this stunning 15th century castle.


Early this afternoon after waving off the bride & groom we headed straight into town to hunt for food, as always I was armed with a list of places I wanted to check out & some handy google map printouts - a must for any trip. Firstly we went to The Baked Potato Shop.


Unsurprisingly this place sells baked potatoes & they have a tonne of fillings to choose from.



Everything's vegetarian and there are always plenty if vegan options - boringly we both went for the potato with baked beans & vegan margarine.


Yup, that's right your order gets you not one but two potatoes! We were very glad the dude behind the counter advised us against our choice of a large potato & steered us towards this, the medium potato, which was almost impossible to finish!

The Baked Potato Shop also sell a selection of cakes & flapjacks - the British oat flapjack, not the US pancake version!


The carrot cake I went for was dense but incredibly moist, untraditionally full of seeds & the buttercream icing was delicious.

The Baked Potato Shop is tiny with only one small table but the staff were really friendly & the food was great so it's definitely a must visit if you get the chance.

After a spot of sightseeing & a guided tour of Edinburgh Castle we found room for dinner at vegetarian restaurant Black Bo's.


I'm going to apologise now for the lack of pictures here & for the terrible quality of the photos I'm actually using, I'm having to take all my photos with my iPhone so I can upload them & the restaurant was candle lit!

To start we ordered garlic bread, Nick's was plain & mine with mushrooms. We followed that with (Nick) a kidney bean & almond burger and (me) the haggis & turnip roulade.


This came with a side of salsa & mashed potato.


Nick enjoyed his burger & was excited that it came on a bagel rather than the usual bun & whilst I'm sure most people would've loved my haggis roulade I just found it far too spicy - have I mentioned before that I can't even handle black pepper?! The atmosphere was lovely though & the one lady working there was ridiculously nice, if you're in Edinburgh they do definitely have a decent amount of options for vegans.

We're now back at our hotel...


...and I'll be back tomorrow with more picture's of our Scottish adventure!

If anyone has any Edinburgh favourites, foodie or not, please post a comment & tell me all about it!

18 comments:

  1. I've never been to Edinburgh (unfortunately), but if I ever go there I definitely want to visit that potato shop! I've read good things about them elsewhere, too. And your meal looks so delicious and filling!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I say there is nothing boring about that potato. It looks great.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh wow. That haggis & turnip roulad looks fabulous.

    I definitely have a fondness for everything involving potato. That place sounds sound great. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. If you have time, take a walk to Dean Village (in the New Town)and follow the path along the river - gorgeous! And check out the veggie sausages at Greyfriar's Bobby pub, near the Grassmarket, they're awesome...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Please try the Engine Shed cafe. It's meant to be really good!! and i am dying to see what it is like.:)

    ReplyDelete
  6. The Chocolate Tree is a must too. The cardomon and bramble and slated caramel are my favourites!
    http://www.the-chocolate-tree.co.uk/

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey JoJo, it's Mat. I really like David Bann in Edinburgh, it's t he other side of the Royal Mile.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oooh! That potato looks fantastic!
    As simple as it might be, I've never combined baked potato & baked beans. Thanks for making my dinner plans for me! ;))

    ReplyDelete
  9. Henderson's in Edinburgh has a bistro and a restaurant, both serving nommy vegetarian and vegan fare. I always head there for food when I'm in Edinburgh.

    By contrast, the worst meal I ever had as a vegan was in Edinburgh at the EICC (International Conference Centre) which consisted of a plate of mashed potato sprinked with chickpeas. And yes, the chef did actually have the cheek to send that out as a meal for someone to eat.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh and non-food wise there is an awesome hat shop there, if you like hats: http://www.fabhatrix.com/
    13 Cowgatehead, Edinburgh, EH1 1JY

    ReplyDelete
  11. If you get a spare amount of time, take the #26 bus out to Portobello take a walk along the prom (if the waether isn't too bad) and say Hi to my old neighbourhood from me! I miss Edinburgh sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
  12. A restaurant specializing in baked potatoes and mushroom garlic bread!? I am drooling with envy!

    ReplyDelete
  13. A Baked Potato Shop!!! Everything vegetarian!
    *swoons*

    ReplyDelete
  14. I really liked climbing Arthur's Seat, it's really close to the Royal Mile and it'll only take you a couple of hours to scamper up/take photos/scamper down. It is an amazing view and you'll be standing on top of a volcano (extinct but still neat). I wrote up my walk if you want to see some photos of it - http://101ofawolf.blogspot.com/2010/10/day-0632-climbing-arthurs-seat.html.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Ha! I love the idea of a baked potato shop! That sounds so cozy and happy and adorable.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks for all the Edinburgh suggestions! Catherine, Dean Village was close to our hotel & we managed to take a walk around the area - the streets are so beautiful especially with all the autumn leaves on the trees.

    PixieRoseDresses, we did manage to pop to The Engine Shed I'll be writing about it shortly...

    Tea and Sympatico - sadly we didn't get the chance to go to the chocolate shop you suggested but I did have a look at their website & hopefully next time I'm up there I'll be able to find them at the weekly Edinburgh farmer's market.

    Mat, hey! We decided not to visit David Bann this time, we went last time we were up there and there seem to be a lot less vegan options this time around!

    Beablogs, as you can see Henderson's was on our list & we loved it!

    Carla & Ms Alex I wish we'd had time to go out to Portobello or up Arthur's seat - next time!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Beautiful shot of the castle! And The Baked Potato Shop sounds so frickin awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  18. omg! we were only in edinburgh for one day, and the 2 restaurants we went to were baked potato shop and black bos! great minds think alike. :)

    i love your post, and i love edinburgh. i seriously can't wait to go back.

    ReplyDelete

Talk to me!