Fine Dining Street Food in Edinburgh

It has been 6 months since I have been isolated in Livingston town. But beginning of September I ventured out into the big wide world, back on my travels, even if it was for just one day. What a day it was. So there I was at Livingston North train station at 10am, waiting excitingly for the Train to Edinburgh. I was actually on my way to Pitlochry for a job interview at a hotel. Before I get on with this story, I just like to explain, this article is not about my trip to Pitlochry. It was a trip to Pitlochry for an interview a quick lunch and a pint then back on train back to Edinburgh. So I will not be going into full details about my visit to Pitlochry. This article is about my culinary experience in Edinburgh and my first impressions of the culinary culture that I saw while there, with still the coronavirus restrictions. Now I initially thought, ok I haven’t been out of Livingston for 6 months, so I didn’t know what to expect from the outside world, how it would be. I assumed there would be strict regulations to visiting pubs and eateries in Edinburgh, but to my surprise everything seemed almost normal, people out and about enjoying the stroll through the city and the weather. People sitting out in beer gardens and outside eateries enjoying food and drinks. They even had a pop up Gin Bar on top of Waverley market. I was going to go in and check it out, sit out on top Waverley Market pop up Gin bar, but I wasn’t in the mood for Gin so I went on my way strolling through the city, taking photos. So ok I am briefly going to mention my culinary time in Pitlochry and my train journey there. Then I will get back to the main story, Edinburgh. So There I was Boarding the train at Livingston North, when I got on the train everything was normal, apart from the safety covid 19 signs you expect to see during this time, and yes everyone, well mostly everyone was wearing masks. A quick change over at Haymarket onto the Inverness train to Pitlochry. Again everything seemed normal on the train. A nice train journey and it was especially nice to see the scenic views of Scotland’s East Coast from Fife to Perthshire again, and a chance to snap some fresh pics of the journey. Especially the views from the Forth Road Bridge.

So Finally I reach Pitlochry, go to the hotel, have the interview, get offered the job, and then I headed down to the small town centre to The Auld Smiddy Inn for a pint and a lunch munch.

The Auld Smiddy Inn, where I had a Pint of MòR beer, which is brewed at the Kellas Brewery in Dundee. MòR is the gaelic word for ‘Great.’ It was a great beer, very enjoyable with the Fish Platter.

After lunch I went for brief walk around town, and then back to the train station to get the train back to Edinburgh.

Finally back to Edinburgh and back to my main story, so yes there I was walking past the pop up Gin bar, and as I explained earlier I wasn’t in the mood for Gin so I went on my way taking photos of Edinburgh, street life.

I preceded to walk up through Cockburn street watching people go by and people sitting out in bar and cafes along the Cockburn side streets.

Then up through the Royal Mile, a pleasant stroll, with again same vibe of others strolling relaxingly and sitting out eating and drinking.

Then down Victoria street, a Harry Potter esq style cobbled street. Now before you all think that this was were a Harry Potter scene was filmed, it wasn’t, but JK Rowling did write some of the book while living in Edinburgh. There is the Harry Potter merchandise shop on Cockburn street, which is a must visit for any avid Harry potter fan, looking for some Harry Potter memorabilia.

As you can notice Victoria Street does look almost Harry Potteryish. You could imagine Harry Potter hanging out here in all the Wizardy shops situated along the side streets of Victoria street. Anyway Onwards I was down Victoria street and onto the Gassmarket, where you will find many old style medieval taverns and boutique bistro style French, and Italian eateries, which is where my culinary journey begins and ends. Ends because I only ate in one of the bistros.

So I chose Petit Paris, a small French style Bistro. Now every time I visit the Grassmarket, I always get this ambient French vibe feeling, when walking the cobbled streets. Especially at summer time, with the open street food market stalls they used to have before the pandemic, selling fresh made crepes. The smell the aroma, the atmosphere was Parisian.

These days you may get that European mediteranean vibe atmosphere, but during the 17th century, the Grassmarket was a popular place for pubic executions. They even have a pub called The Last Drop which is situated near to where the hangings took place. I remember back in the 90’s when I was studying Media and Performing Arts at Stevenson College in Edinburgh, I think it was 1992. Anyway I remember sitting in The Last Drop pub in the Grassmarket with my fellow college students enjoying a pint of dark ale, while sitting in the pub I was told a story about half hangit maggie. Cant remember who told me the story, maybe it was some local in the pub or a fellow Edinburgh born student, who knows. Anyway the important thing is I learnt the story. So as far as I remember from the story. The story goes that a women named Maggie was sentenced to be hung for a crime of hiding her dead baby pregnancy. So there she was in the Grassmarket being hung for her supposed crimes. Her body was then transported by her family in a horse and cart along the cobbled streets. The motion of the cart along the cobbled streets revived the what was thought to be dead body of Maggie, and her family heard knocking in the coffin, so they naturally opened the coffin to find a revived Maggie alive. According to the law, a person could not be executed twice, so she was pardoned and proceeded to live another 40 years happily married. There you go that was the short version of the story, just to give you some idea of the unique history many of the Edinburgh pubs have to offer. So if you visit an old traditional pub in the Grassmarket and anywhere in Edinburgh, be ready to learn some interesting historical stories. That’s the great thing about visiting these types of pubs, you can drink and learn. A history lesson while getting drunk on beer and or whisky. Or maybe you get too drunk you wont remember the stories. So maybe just a few so you can remember, or better still why not film the story telling with your camcorder. A nice bit of video memorabilia to take home with you to show friends and family.

So there I was in a French bistro Petit Paris, it was a nice relaxing evening, with a slight warm breeze. Sitting at one of the outside tables, many of which were starting to fill up fairly quickly with passers by who were looking for a place to eat. The staff were busy running around serving as many tables as they could. It seemed like everything was normal. Yes we had to queue and wait for tables. But the queue didn’t take that long until seated. So apart from the coronavirus safety precautions and regulations, service operation was more or less normal. So to start with I ordered a thirst quenching bottle of Cider.

Then for starter I ordered, Les Escargots grilles facon Bouruignone, that’s Grilled Snails in parsley and pernod butter. Very tasty and morishly bread dipping deliciousness.

Main course I ordered La Cocotte traditionnelle du Petit Paris, that’s French Stew, which was rich with a omscious gravy sauce and tender fall apart melt in your mouth meatiness.

The simple red wine was served in a basic water glass, but that was ok, It all added to the informal but same time quality style of service and tasty rustic French cuisine. Sitting outside, it felt like quality street food style atmosphere. There was no overly 5 star fine dining opulence like you get from the big michelin restaurants, with their riedel wine glasses and flash crockery and cutlery. This was quality rustic French bistro food made to 5 star standards, in an informal relaxing easy setting. I guess this is the 5 star version of quality street food, as I was dining out on the side street, as opposed to inside a posh 5 star expensive interior decorated opulent restaurant. This was out in the side street. These are the kind of restaurants I enjoy to go on my own, and yes I would eve take a date there for a romantic meal, because what’s not romantic about sitting out in a side street area like the Grassmarket, in the late summer sun, enjoying the side cobbled street ambience, especially if the early evening summer moon and stars are out, with candle neon lit street around you. There is a time and a place for 5 star interior opulence in a posh Hotel restaurant, and there is a time and a place for quality 5 star street food bistro style dining. A romantic evening stroll together, passing by a street style restaurant. You look at each other and say, “you fancy sitting here for a informal really nice meal?” The wife or girlfriend, looks and says, “yeah why not looks nice to sit out.” There you go a passing by spur of the moment decision. Everyone is relaxed and feeling informally happy with life and the ambient surroundings. A hungry early evening stroll through The Grassmarket will bound to entice you into one of the Mediterranean street eateries along the cobbled street. Next time maybe I try the Italian eatery. hmmm a pizza and red wine, out in the Grassmarket sounds good to me.