22 June, 2009

Once upon a time in Scotland..

Oli and I went off for a wander around Edinburgh this last weekend. I say wander when really I mean we were on a quite specific mission to find and acquire "authentic Scottish tartans" to be mailed back to the U.S. in time for the annual McNabb family reunion. From Oundle the drive is about 5 hours, which is not bad for a girl from Texas, but to an English person it's clearly a feat, so Oli and I set off early that morning and arrived at about lunch time.
Whenever I venture to a new big city I look on HappyCow's Returaunt Guide to find a suitable and often off the beaten path place to eat. As usual HappyCow did not disappoint and we were able to grab a bite at the EngineShed restaurant, a vegetarian cafe/bakery/tofu processor housed in a converted train station. The daily menu was presented on a blackboard but the salad bar was to say the least imaginative; I love the idea of trying something completely new and the EngineShed presented me with plenty of options. I had the butternut squash soup and salad plate and Oli had the lemon and mushroom pasta (though I still regret not venturing for the savory nut pies).
After having grabbed our lunch and a package of fresh tofu we set off shopping, which was exhausting but fruitful. Once we loaded all of our goods in the car I quickly fell asleep after assigning Oli the task of finding a place to eat (as it was now 5pm) before heading back. As I woke up I was pleasantly surprised to see the coast ahead of me and a small village of North Queensferry to my right. We parked the car and set out for a bite and stumbled across the Ferrybridge Hotel, where we were greeted by a lovely bartender/waitress and a group of locals sitting in the corner. Service was quick and friendly and the food was top notch!

Above is a very blurry picture of my grilled mushrooms and blue cheese which was superb; I love English Stilton.

Oli had the haggis in filo dough with a beetroot chutney and liked it very much, I, of course, did not try it as it's quite clearly not vegetarian, but I did have Oli google haggis when we got home.. needless to say he was taken aback.

The hotel even had a lovely view of the new bridge being built, which Oli enjoyed quite a bit, even I have to admit, it was pretty cool.


1 comments:

Chris Stokes said...

Mmm butternut squash! Love Edinburgh too. There's a vegetarian baked potato place I always go to which does amazing veggie haggis.

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