Gastronomia

Eating out is a rare experience for one so accustomed to regular meals in Pollock halls. Whilst breakfasts and lunches are generally dreary affairs (the menu never changes), I have to admit that the dinners are quite a different story altogether. Behold a dinner from 2 weeks ago:



You can see how popular the salad bar is with me from my rather sparsely-filled plate in the right corner. Love the apple crumble with fresh cream though!

But hot and ready Pollock dinners aside, I would feel profoundly ashamed if I'd never ventured beyond the dining hall during my 8 weeks here! So here are photographs of my (modest) gastronomic experiences over the past 2 days.

Sunday: Pub Grub @ The Royal McGregor

Hosted friends from France last weekend. To satisfy their curiousity for strange Scottish food (ie: Haggis), we headed over to the Royal Mile in search of 'traditional' fare and ended up at the Royal McGregor.

The Royal McGregor advertises itself as one of the best pubs for Haggis. I don't know how true that is, but I have to say the Haggis dish was more than satisfactory. And now, the evidence!


This has got to be the prettiest Haggis I've ever seen. If you're not looking closely, it might pass off as a dessert. Well, that's actually layers of Haggis, Tatties (potatoes) and Neeps (Turnips) surrounded in a sea of gravy infused with rosemary. It tasted as good as it looks, and I liked how the rosemary offset the richness of the Haggis. Should've gotten a beer to wash it down.



A steak and ale pie. I was a little surprised to find the 'steak and ale' divorced completely from the 'pie' - the pastry itself actually sits ontop of the meat stuff below. Bizzare. Other than that, a nice, warm and hearty dish. Beef had a strong, pungent taste. A bit chewy and tough, but otherwise I enjoyed it.


This dish is named Crofter's Chicken and it's fab. To be more precise, the whisky cream sauce is great. We mopped it up with the chicken, potatoes and carrots...whatever was left on the plate! I didn't exactly taste the 'whisky' in it, or perhaps that might simply be a problem with my palate. But whatever it was, this was some sauce.

The chicken itself is a breast stuffed with bacon and haggis. It was alright. I don't think the stuffing actually added anything to the dish, but all the more Haggis to satisfy our strange-Scottish-cuisine craving.

And because this is the 21st-century, even avowedly 'traditional' Scottish pubs have gone high-tech with the internet! Check them out here http://home.freeuk.net/royalmcgregor/index.html

Monday: Chocolate Soup



Hunter Square is a spot near the Royal Mile where emo kids hang out and just generally be emo. Chocolate Soup faces the Square directly, and with its glass storefront, it's the perfect place to hang out and watch the colourful denizens of Hunter Square in action over a Hot Chocolate.

I'd heard a lot about the sinfully rich 'meals'/beverages at Chocolate Soup, and had been wanting to go for the longest time. So I finally decided to indulge myself on a lazy Monday afternoon.


So evidently they get absolutely Zero marks for presentation and originality - I seriously contemplated whether I should put up what looks like a bland and unappetizing protein shake on my blog. But they get image-space simply because oh my oh my what a concoction it was. This is a Banana Split Latte, and it is part of their dessert cocktail selection which also includes 'Tiramisu and 'Strawberry Sundae.' To give you an idea of what it's like, think of a moist banana chocolate cake. Now think about it in a liquified form and chilled.

Quite heavenly. And this is from someone who abhors Chocolate milk - or any flavoured milk for that matter. I thought it would take me a while to get through my cocktail, because too much chocolate tends to get cloying. However I gulped down about half of this mixture in a matter of seconds, and had to ration the rest. Read my book and took small sips in between. Mmmm, small pleasures in life.

Drop by if you get sick of your usual Starbucks or coffee joint. Chocolate Soup does a wide variety of hot drinks as well, but I'd recommend a chilled drink simply because it tends to be less overpowering. Alternatively, consider a drink with fruits in it, which I imagine would add a light balance to the 'heaviness' of melted chocolate!

So that sums up my rather modest gastronomical adventure since Sunday. I must profess myself to be quite, quite satisfied. When food cravings compel me to venture out of the Pollock again, you can be sure I'll blog about it!