Scotland has a hearty culinary tradition, born of a cold climate and a land of pastures, rivers and rich seas, and today renewed by a generation of chefs who champion local produce. Edinburgh is the best place to discover it, together with whisky and pub culture.
Dishes to try
- Haggis, neeps and tatties: the national dish, made of sheep's heart, liver and lungs minced with oats, onion and spices, served with mashed swede and potatoes. The flavour recalls a spiced sausage, and many restaurants also offer a vegetarian version.
- Cullen skink: a creamy soup of smoked haddock, potatoes and onions.
- Scottish salmon, smoked or grilled, scallops, oysters, mussels and langoustines from the west coast.
- Aberdeen Angus beef and game such as venison, pheasant and partridge.
- Full Scottish breakfast: eggs, bacon, sausages, haggis, black pudding, tattie scones (potato scones) and porridge.
- Desserts: cranachan (cream, raspberries, toasted oats, honey and whisky), shortbread, tablet, a kind of crumbly fudge, and clootie dumpling.
Where to eat
Edinburgh has several Michelin-starred restaurants, concentrated especially in Leith, along The Shore, and in the New Town. For seafood Leith is unbeatable; for modern Scottish cooking there are bistros all over the city; for a quick lunch the cafés of Stockbridge and Bruntsfield. The Grassmarket and the Royal Mile offer pubs with traditional food. The Saturday market beneath the castle and the Sunday market in Stockbridge are perfect for tasting local produce. Italian visitors will appreciate the ice-cream parlours and restaurants of Italian-Scottish families.
Pubs and whisky
Pub culture is very strong. Try the historic pubs of the Grassmarket and the Old Town, some with Victorian interiors, those on Rose Street in the New Town and venues with live traditional music, where fiddles and pipes are played in the evening. For whisky, many bars have lists of hundreds of labels and staff will help you choose: island malts such as Islay are intense and peaty, Speyside malts smoother and fruitier, Highland malts varied. The Scotch Whisky Experience on the Royal Mile and several urban distilleries offer tours and tastings. Scottish gin is also booming, with several distilleries in the city.
Beer and Irn-Bru
As well as Scottish craft beers, there is a soft drink many Scots consider their "other national drink": Irn-Bru, orange and very sweet, invented in 1901.
Tips
The most popular restaurants must be booked, especially in August. The legal drinking age is 18. Scotland has a minimum price per unit of alcohol, which makes the cheapest drinks less of a bargain. See also British food, the neighbourhoods and the Edinburgh guide.