I don't think you can really class Howie's as a chain, more like a restaurant with a couple of sites. IIRC they only do vegetarian food which would not be too great for a haggis lover .
You were probably unlucky, there have always been great restaurants in Edinburgh but also quite a few bad ones. In the last 10 years the standard has improved immensely so I doubt you would have to eat only haggis if yo went back.
Gimmie haggis, white and black pudding, gimmie it in honest down to earth Scottish cafes and B and B's. Gimmie smoked fish and poached egg, gimmie smiles and motherly figures.
God i think i need to go to Scotland again.
I'm going this summer, wahey! Shame I'll miss on the Calmac chicken curry with chips
Calmac curry and chips? please do share this unknown delight with me?
Hi, I'm still in New York City now, but I have to say the food is the one thing I'm really scared about when it comes to my upcoming move to Basel. I'm a vegetarian and I keep hearing about boiled meat and pork and, yuck, it just sounds vile.
Not only that, but I don't like beer.
Am I doomed or what?
Not true! As a vegetarian, there are plenty of opportunities to eat well in Switzerland, and the opportunities seem to be increasing rather than decreasing. There are quite a few restaurants offering decent selections of vegetarian dishes, but you may have to do a bit of education first...like explaining to the staff the use of chicken stock in a soup rules out the possibility of calling that soup vegetarian...Slowly, though, this is changing and restaurants are beginning to understand what is means to be vegetarian. On the plus side, there are very good opportunities to buy fresh fruits and vegetables in Switzerland. So, if you like preparing your own food and controlling your own destiny, then you won't be disappointed at all...
Good luck,
Jack
Something to watch out for? - I have a vegetarian gf who swears she can taste chicken broth in most salad dressings in Swiss restaurants. Can this really be? Using broth to make a salad dressing sounds crazy to me.
Regardsless of whether it contains it or not, I bet she's a nightmare to go out with...
dave
[quote=ExoticLatic;56964]For those who miss spam, go looking for "Fromage d'Italie" (not sure of the name in German know, something sounding like "headcheese"), it's the same stuff really although it does not cook well at all like Spam.quote]
Isn't that "fleischkase" .... I had it once in the canteen at work, now avoid it like the plague ......
This is the only spam I like : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODshB09FQ8w
Or chips & gravy with melted cheese .... yum
Cheesy peas ?
dave
They use Knorr or Maggi chicken stock cubes. No problem with that though because they've never been near a chicken. The label says "Chicken flavouring". I strongly suspect this means the flavour is from a factory source and is mostly MSG. The use of stock cubes in salad dressings is widely practiced in the USA too. (e.g. Good Seasons which is a sachet rather than a cube)
Now why haven't Nestlé come out with frozen "Cheesy Peas"? I'm sure it would be a big hit (Just like Tubby Custard)
Calmac is short for Caledonian McBraye, the ferry company that serves the western coast in Scotland. On the longuer routes (say Ullapool-Stornoway or Oban-Islay), I enjoy having their chicken curry (which is canteen standards) with greasy chips and a mug of tea. Not for the culinary qualities, it is rather awful, but it does work in the context. Amusingly, I share that habit with Ian Banks who talks about it in his book "The quest for the perfect dram".
[](https://www.englishforum.ch/attachments/complaints-corner/513d1178265129-food-switzerland-cheesy-peas.jpg)
Brilliant !!!!!!
different league, this is an Ayrshire after pub delicacy .... goes very well with a deep fried haggis or black pudding .....
Food...Switzerland... ah sod the hijacking. Anyone know where I can get pea wet and scrapes? (50p first and last time I had them in Sunderland man)
Mushy peas and batter bits uncle max? I cant go to my local market without getting meself a large portion of parched peas with lots of white pepper and malt vinegar and if i'm peckish on me way home a meat and potato pie.
Haddaway man, nothing so luxurious as the actual peas themselves, just the 'wet' water they sit in. Plus the scraped batter - no chips of course - a fine regional delicacy which made Sunderland great man.