It appears like I spend a lot of time in Scotland, and the truth of the matter is, I really do. I’m absolutely obsessed, and after recently finding out that my DNA is 20% Scottish, I think I’m more infatuated with Scotland than ever, well, the highlands are officially in my blood!
If you follow me on socials, then you may have seen our whistle stop tour of Edinburgh. We explored this historic city morning noon and night, and left no bridge, alleyway, staircase or vault left unturned. We got spooked on the famous ghastly bus tour, we devoured our weight in veggie haggis and inhaled as much history on this wonderful wee adventure as was humanly possible, so here are a few places we would certainly recommend.
Moxy Hotels
As any well-established traveller will tell you, the most important part of a trip is finding the perfect base. A place to rest your head in comfort and a place where you can toddle back and forth, refresh and re-energise (freshening up with a good shower is always an essential). The base needs to feel cosy, especially after walking your feet to stumps along those historic cobbled streets and a place you can call home during your stay, and this place was Moxy Edinburgh.
If you haven’t heard of Moxy hotels, then I’ll just assume you’ve been hiding under a rock for a quite a while, because these vibrant hotels are EVERYWHERE!
Created by Marriott, Moxy hotels have been designed to be a playful, affordable and stylish hotel which has removed all the typical hotel ‘faff’ and instead give guests more of what they really want.
Hotel check-ins are based at the bar and the small but beautiful bedrooms are more than ideal plus you get a fun boutique stay, without breaking the bank. The Moxy design concept is fresh but cosy and a hell of a lot of fun. It’s packed full of fun messages written in colourful ink across mirrors and elevators, spreading love and positivity and pushing guests to have the best time possible, it really is a lush place to stay.
To match the Moxy’s fun and vibrant ethos, the staff are an integral part to the hotel’s success. In every Moxy I have visited so far (and I’ve been to a few), the staff are always smiling from ear to ear and Moxy Edinburgh was no exception. The staff were unbelievable. They were upbeat, bouncy and knowledgeable about the surrounding area and brilliant at multitasking, it’s a skill to check in a guest, pour a cocktail and recommend places to see all at the same time, and these guys can do it all.
If you fancy having breakfast, they offer a £12.50 continental buffet breakfast, which gives you choice of cereals, pastries, toast, fresh fruit and even some scrambled eggs and sausages (perfect if you spent a little too long on the roof top terrace the night before). We always made sure we had a feast every morning, giving us the energy we needed to explore the wonderful city of Edinburgh.
I genuinely cannot recommend Moxy Hotels highly enough, the fact they are also dog friendly just makes it one of my go-to hotels wherever I travel in the UK (including worldwide) New York is certainly next on my list!
To check the latest room rates and to find a Moxy hotel near you, check out https://www.marriott.co.uk/default.mi
Another huge part of our trip was the food (and we ate A LOT)! Well, after walking 14 hours a day to absorb as much of the city as possible, we really did need our fuel. So, here’s some of my top eateries:
Vapiano
We headed to Vapiano after 12 hours of running around the city of Edinburgh and absorbing as much of the sights as we could. We were genuinely excited to try this laid-back Italian restaurant and if there is one-way to our hearts it’s most definitely through pasta and pizza.
We ordered a bowl of fresh “Crema Di Funghi” and we had to try the Funghi pizza too (well we are pizza fiends) and we sipped some delicious cocktails whilst we waited. It was a treat to watch the fresh pasta being made in front of us and see the chefs rustling up our personalised dishes (you can add extra garlic, less chilli, whatever you like, they will sort out), and it was fantastic to see. We literally had a bowl of tasty and hearty comfort food delivered to our table in a matter of minutes, from pan to table, it was a pure delight and so tasty!
Vapiano is so different from other chain restaurants because they know what they’re good at, there’s no faff, just cosy and delicious Italian food. The bowls are brimming with pasta goodness and the pizzas are to die for. It’s simplicity at its finest, meaning the chefs focus on what is important; the flavours and lord do they know their flavours. It was one of my favourite Italian restaurants to date and with dishes starting at £9.35 they’re also spot on with value as well.
Check these guys out whenever you can, there’s not booking needed, just walk in eat and enjoy!
Stack & Still
After a historic tour of Old Edinburgh, both myself and Tom were desperate for something sweet, (we really fancied pancakes) and Stack & Still came to the rescue.
Situated on Rose Street (in the old assembly rooms), this incredible pancake house prides itself on its size (I mean, its one of the biggest venues I’ve seen for pancakes- which would be ideal for big family celebrations!) They also offer a phenomenal amount of choice for us pancake lovers, over 12 million different combinations of pancakes! Just by using the ingredients available in the menu you could eat a different combination of pancake every day for the next 35,000 years! I don’t know about you but I’m happy to invest my time trying, so sign me up!
Both myself and Tom chose to make our own pancakes, I created a huge protein triple stack, with crunchie bars, pecans, skinny white chocolate sauce, with caramelised apples and cinnamon piled on top and finished with coconut ice cream!
Tom on the other hand opted for a triple buttermilk stack, with a bucket load of melted chocolate, maple syrup, white chocolate and Bischoff spread- delicious and needless to say, our sugar cravings where well and truly satisfied. They were incredible and just the energy boost we needed to climb the next 5,000 steps and 50 miles worth of alleyways we had planned for the rest of the afternoon.
If like us you’re in desperate need for a sugar boost, or you fancy trying one of their savoury pancakes too (they even offer a tikka pancake), Stack & Still have something for everyone, whatever your pancake requirements.
https://www.stackandstill.co.uk/
Bonnie & Wild: Erpingham House
After we finished our tour of Edinburgh Castle, we made our way over to Bonnie & Wilde, a Scottish marketplace which is Edinburgh’s first ever food hall located in the new St James Quarter.
This amazing food hall has brought together the best independent food and drink producers Scotland has to offer and boy do they offer choice!
From Creel Caught (which served stunning Scottish seafood) to The Gannet East (which offered fine Scottish dining). Bonnie & Wilde was packed to the brim with like minded foodies who came looking for something in particular, or chose to try a little of everything.
As vegetarians, we were on the lookout for one restaurant in particular, “Erpinham House”. This beautiful eatery brought the power of plants to Bonnie & Wilde, showcasing a range of dishes which exploded with colour, taste and flavour and caters for vegans as well as veggies.
The menu was extensive and full of choice, so much so that we couldn’t choose, so we asked the wonderful chef to serve the dishes she was most proud of, and with that our table was laden with mouth-watering food.
We had the Superfood Buddha Bowl with roasted broccoli, hummus, glazed tempeh, black beans, lime marinated shredded cabbage, black quinoa, pomegranate, tahini and roasted spice cashew.
Then the miso charged aubergine, with whipped tahini, cashew cream, pickled radish, hoisin roasted beetroot, pea and ginger puree, pak choi, candied togarashi cashews and crispy spring onion, plus we tried the Erpingham burger (how we managed to fit all of this in, I’ll never know)!
We grazed between all the dishes, appreciating the myriad of flavours and textures, whilst sipping on a cold beer and enjoying the buzz around us. Bonnie & Wilde have an amazing bustling atmosphere, with loads of satisfied customers munching their way through incredible meals prepared by some of Scotland’s finest chefs and we thoroughly enjoyed being part of the experience.
From the moreish moving mountains burger to the tangy hoisin roasted beetroot and the taste bud tantalising glazed tempeh, I absolutely adored every mouthful.
Take it from me, if you visit Edinburgh, head over to Bonnie & Wilde, there is literally something for everybody here and if you don’t find it, I’ll eat my words! (If I can fit anything more in my belly that is)!
https://bonnieandwildmarket.com/
Words and images by Luke Williams (@stanleydru)
