Edinburgh, Scotland We took the train north to Edinburgh today, and it felt nice to be back in a place with so many memories.
We did a little walking around, just to say hello to Sir Walter Scott, and listen to all the bagpipers busking on Princes Street. There was even a well-dressed young man in our hotel lobby showing off his Scottiishness.
More about Edinburgh to come, but for now we are just enjoying a gorgeous hotel suite, thanks to Don’s clever manipulation of points. It’s nice to end on a high note!
There’s also clean laundry, which is always a treat.
Don’s Food Corner
The hotel where we’re staying is just around the corner from Edinburgh’s version of The Ivy. We wanted to go there for lunch after we first arrived, but they said they were fully booked at 2pm and couldn’t fit us in until 3pm. No thanks. But the place was completely empty. We went back to the hotel and had the concierge call up the Ivy and make a reservation for 6pm. He had a hard time getting through and then the Ivy said they couldn’t do 6 but they could do 6:15. It’s those 15 minutes that were going to make all the difference. We think the Ivy was just making sure we knew who was boss.
We were seated at about 6:10 with little hassle, although we took along a signed card from the hotel confirming our reservation.
Since we are pretty familiar with the Ivy menu, we jumped right in. Jo started with her favored duck liver parfait and went on to the duck salad. She was very pleased.
I started with a platter of smoked salmon. I’ll be trying a lot of salmon while we’re in Scotland. The salmon is great here, although not as fantastic as my favorite wild-caught Irish salmon.
I decided to then go to the Ivy’s fish and chips because of our experience with it at other Ivy locations. Top notch. Not greasy, as you often get it in pubs. Plus, it’s being served in a civilized atmosphere of a real dining room — and not a place smelling like stale beer with tables that are often sticky.
The fish and chips arrived. Sadly, for the first time at an Ivy, the crust was soggy. It hadn’t been fried crispy. The fish inside the coating tasted great, but it wasn’t the experience I had hoped for. I complained. They credited us for the drinks (a pale ale and a bottle of sparkling water). But, to be honest, I would have preferred a really good serving of fish and chips.
Sorry to say, we didn’t encounter any scones today. Tomorrow is another day; we’ll be looking.