Weekend in Edinburgh … brrr … brrr (it was cold)

When one of my closest friends decided to make full use of her creative talents, she left the job that she was in, and took up furniture-making in Scotland. Having had a look at the stuff she's come up with so far, I am so in awe and impressed that I wonder why she hadn't done it sooner.

So, the plot so far.

Place: Edinburgh, Scotland
Date: Easter weekend, April 2010
Cast: Me, the bf, and the good friend
Activities for the weekend: Lots and lots of food
Temperature: How cold is cold enough

Gotta be honest here. When I knew we were going to visit said friend, all I really wanted to eat while we were there were haggis and deep-fried Mars bars. Before you recoil in horror, I didn't actually get to eat the Mars bars, but I sure made a good attempt at eating everything else in my way.

(They deep fry anything and everything in Scotland, or so I've heard.)

The first thing we had was afternoon tea. Found a cute little bookshop in Haddington which had a cafe at the back of the shop - this really bright, airy space - and we had scones with jam, and tea. Like a taste of England in Scotland. The scones were buttery and full of fluff (ie fluffy) and it was huge! It seemed to go on forever, and when that was done, I ate my friend's half too.

Since I really, really (really) wanted to have haggis, we trawled the pubs around the Grassmarket area to find a pub which:

a) served haggis (nearly all of them, so no sweat)
b) wasn't completely full (not so easy)

Having found one (name escapes me) which seemed really popular with the tour groups, we settled down and ordered various Scottish dishes to begin our adventurous meal. Of course, that ended up with one order of sausage and mash (English), haggis, neeps and tatties (all part of a meal - Scottish), and chicken pie (not even sure where this originates from, but definitely not Scotland).

What you see above is the haggis. Tatties and neeps basically mean potatoes (po-tah-toes, p-tah-tees) and swede, and tastes like mash potatoes and mash swede.

Haggis - after waiting all this time to try haggis - I can only describe it as insides wrapped with insides. Taste-wise, it's like peppery mince. But mince with a drier texture, almost as though it had been dried out with some breadcrumbs. Altogether very nice though, with a slightly gamey note to the aftertaste. Might not be liked by all, but certainly liked by me.

The next day, we met up for breakfast. Not knowing where to go, we looked for a cafe type place with just the right amount of people (not empty enough to be tellingly bad, yet not crowded enough to have to wait for a table) for brunch. Found an Italian cafe along Lothian Road, settled in, and was served by one of the friendliest waitresses in Scotland (albeit one who didn't understand us much, but she was very friendly so that's OK).

Had toasted cheese and tomato (may-toes?) croissant, along with an egg roll, a chicken sandwich, and some afternoon relaxation.

My egg roll, which was egg mayonnaise served in a soft, chewy bun (or bap). Nothing fancy, but it was cheap and it was very satisfying.

The cheese and may-toes croissant.

Chicken sandwich, which, for the price of £3.50, was possible the hugest sandwich I've ever had.

Back to the may-toes again. After one bite.

So, after brunch, we went around town, went to watch a film (Shutter Island - kinda tensed, confusing, and a bit of a let down) and then shopped around a bit, before going to a ceilidh (pronounced cay-lee) at the Student Union. One of my friend's friends was playing the accordion in the band that day, and since ceilidh sounded like so much fun, we thought, why not.

For those of you unfamiliar with what this caylee thing is, it's pretty much a lot of people in a room, dancing (to moves which everyone but you will have been familiar with) and it's just a lot of fun. Partly fun in trying to dodge the elbows coming your way, partly fun because you get thrown around a room with the sounds of the accordion in the background.

It's no good me trying to describe it because from my point of view (elbow-height), all I saw were elbows coming my way, people being flung about the other way, and every so often, I'd get swung along the line past lots of grinning people, before being swung round the other direction again. Oh, and the helicopter dance.

So, after an interesting, tiring, and very kilt-filled dance night at the Student Union, we were ready for a big breakfast the next day, prior to heading out to Loch Lomond. As we'd kipped at the Premier Inn (everything's premier but the price, and I'm SO sold, I would sell Premier Inn to anyone if only they'd ask), we opted for the all-you-can-eat breakfast at the Brewers Fayre next door to the hotel. For £7.50, you could have as much porridge, sausages, bacon, eggs, mushroom, baked beans, croissants, tea and coffee (not to mention jam and Marmite) as you wished.

Whenever the words 'all-you-can-eat' come into play, I know I will rise to the challenge.

Croissant AND toast. When one bit of floury product is simply not enough.

The works, I'll have everything but the bacon (because I just don't like bacon). Must have eaten enough for the other tables, and I have not looked at a croissant the same way since.

Old Penang Restaurant, 21 Dalziel Place Abbeyhill, Edinburgh EH7 5TP, Scotland

Being one of those adventurous types (never afraid to try new things and all that), we decided to seek out Malaysian food while we were in Edinburgh.

Oh come on, I did try traditional local cuisine the day before … haggis was niiiiiice. But after we’d had enough of haggis - and don’t even mention tatties and neeps, or was it neeps and tatties? EVERYTHING is served with those neeps and tatties – anyway, back to what I was saying, after we’d had enough of that, we decided to try out the Malaysian restaurant in Edinburgh. Just to check out what it’s like, you know.

Took this picture from our parking spot. Almost like eating from a drive-thru, but with tables and chairs.

The menu was one impressive leather-bound affair. Each page had a sketch of a famous Malaysian landmark, with the dishes described quite aptly; neatly categorised into starters, main meals and dessert.

There was one page at the end of the menu with ‘specials’, which also had those three sections in it. I guess the chef had new inspiration (but couldn’t be bothered re-printing the menu). It’s kinda like hiding a bonus bit of the movie in the credits – a bonus for those (losers) who stay on after the film has ended.

This entire restaurant is managed by one nice lady who manages to take orders, clear up tables, welcome the diners, set the tables, take the phone orders, bring out the food, take the drinks orders, make the drinks, manage the table bookings – all at the same time. She is quite the capable one, not to mention extremely friendly.

You would have thought that someone in her position would be just grouchy beyond belief (if they found the time), but she was good service personified. If we could have nominated her for the Best Service Award, we would have done. But then she would have had to process that too.

OK, I’ll be the first to say that the lighting on the photos could have been better, but come on, all I had to work with was a very dim area of the restaurant, a few tea lights, and some very hungry people not wanting to wait while I snapped my photos.

There was supposed to be four of us for dinner, but one of the guys was delayed so while the three of us waited, we decided to do what all friends do. Eat while you wait. We couldn’t decide what to order so chickened out and asked for the mixed platter (a little bit of everything).

The sharper ones amongst you would have noticed how the fish cakes are Conflict Fish Cakes. Three to be shared between two? Impossible.

I’m not one who likes spring roll. What you usually get when you order spring rolls are a few little deep-fried, soggy, bland pastries filled with bland, soggy vegetables.

But this spring roll was completely different to what I had before. Not only was the wrapping quite thick (almost like it was battered with something lovely and crunchy), but the filling had all sorts of goodies in it. Wood ear fungus (mook yee), tasty vegetables and a great pastry made these two spring rolls one of the best I’ve had.

When my friend told me that the food in this restaurant was really good, a part of me doubted her (terrible, I know). I thought she’d been away from authentic Malaysian food too long to be a good judge of authenticity, but it turns out she was spot on. The food in this place is really surprisingly authentic for a tiny, unassuming restaurant all the way up north.

This satay was really very good. Tender pieces of chicken just loving the fact that they were in peanut sauce. Absolutely loving it.

Fight-worthy fish cakes. Chewy, delicate, quivering little morsels of fish, with a taste of Thailand in the spice. It began with:

‘I’ll just cut this in half, just want to taste it.’
‘No, you go for it. Go on, have that half’.
‘Oh OK then, I’ll have that last piece.’

Chilli padi chicken £9.90

From just reading the menu, it was difficult to guess what this would be like, as I’d never heard of this dish before. When it came, everyone kinda breathed a sigh of relief as this was in no way as spicy as we feared it would be. Deep fried tender pieces of chicken, drizzled with some tangy, sweet, spicy sticky sauce. Tasted almost like lemon chicken, but not as lemony, and with a slight bit of spice. Surprisingly tasty dish, and one that I would like to have again.

It’s getting kinda orange in here

Sambal chicken £9.90

The reason I chose this dish was not because the description but because it seemed to be the one with the most number of items on the plate. So I’m more of a quantity person, so what. Crispy deep-fried pieces of chicken cooked in sambal (slightly spicy and sweet) with onions, served along side very well-battered deep fried squid rings, some sweet and sour (nicely chilled) achar (pickled vegetables), and lovely flavoured rice. Really delicious, the chicken pieces were tender and perfectly marinated, and just a lovely dish on the whole.

The well-battered deep fried squid rings.

Hainanese chicken rice £9.90

Although this might not have been THE most authentic Hainanese chicken rice I’ve tasted, it sure came close to being the real thing. The fried chicken was lovely and tasted of all the soy sauce and spices it was meant to have, the rice was chicken-flavoured as it should be, and this dish was another winner.

Would I recommend this place? Well, not having been to another Malaysian restaurant in Edinburgh, I can’t really compare this to any other place there, but if you’re craving some Malaysian dishes, this place does it as well as anywhere else so yes, I would definitely recommend this place.

Google Maps to here!

View Larger Map