Almost exactly a year ago, I was the first of our merry band to roll into Edinburgh for BlogCon '22, allowing me almost a full day to explore the city before festivities formally commenced. I spent the time wandering both hither and thither in an enjoyably aimless fashion, climbing endless steps, stumbling over tricky cobbles and generally gawping at the sheer majesty of the place. Following an enjoyable dustcutter (™ John Medd) at The World's End on the corner of St Mary's Street, I veered off the Royal Mile and found myself outside a restaurant called Makars Gourmet Mash Company. I was intrigued enough to suggest it as a lunch destination to my comrades-in-blog the following day, but alas it was fully booked.
Finding myself back in Edinburgh on Springsteen business last week, I resolved to have another bash at getting into Makars for lunch and this time I was successful. The Makars premise is very straightforward. Choose from one of nine varieties of mashed potato (chilli, smoky, cheesy, horseradish etc), then one of ten toppings (wild boar, chicken, haggis, lamb etc) four of which are vegetarian or vegan, throw in the obligatory neeps, douse in lashings of delicious gravy and presto. How can a meal so apparently simple be so bloody tasty? I don't know, but believe me it was. I had the veggie haggis by the way, but my mate had the real thing and concurred completely with my thumbs-up assessment of the sumptuous repast.
A little later, while consulting my friend Mr Google, I was briefly elated to discover that there was a branch of Makars considerably closer to my own neck of the woods, on Shaftsbury Avenue in London. My joy was short-lived however, as further research revealed that in spite of wall to wall outstanding reviews, the London branch closed down earlier this year.
5 comments:
A fine mash-up indeed. I cannot claim ownership of the dustcutter but am glad you now adopt the parlance.
Looks like we're on the same York train this year for BlogCon23 so an early dustcutter in the buffet car is very much on the cards...
Sounds like a splendid way to kick off proceedings John.
Mmm, I love mashed potato, the underdog of the cooked potato world, it's time to elevate it to its rightful status!
Being Irish Mrs CC is also a big mash fan.
One of my favourite meals is haggis, neeps and tatties, at any time of the year not just Burns' Night. Unlike the meal in your picture we usually form each component into a perfect third of the plate. So simple yet absolutely delicious (others of course might disagree).
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