Garfunkel's Restaurant @ Edinburgh, Scotland

We were surprised to find Garfunkel's in Scotland as we saw posters all over London proclaiming its "Any 2 for £11 Breakfast" promotion (they now seem to have a different breakfast deal). We thought breakfast at £6.50 per person is a steal. In any case, its homepage states that it has outlets in Edinburgh and Bath too so if you're in one of these cities, you can just hop in for nice, warm and affordable British fare.

      

Garfunkel's

   
Garfunkel's caters for breakfast, lunch and dinner and after perusing the separate menus for each meal, I quite regretted not having more proper British dishes for each meal since it will be a while before I return T_T You can preview their drool-worthy offerings here.

     

Breakfast Menu

    

Garfunkel's Legendary "Full House" Breakfast (GBP 12.50 for 2)

   
The "Any 2 for £11 Breakfast" deal mentioned above was only valid for all breakfast choices except for the Garfunkel's Legendary "Full House" Breakfast which requires an additional £1.50 top-up for the meal deal. Still, the total price wasn't too bad with such a huge portion and bear in mind, the above picture shows the portion for 1 person. 
     
The legendary plate came filled to the brim with TWO rashers of bacon, a pork and leek sausage, fried egg, half a grilled tomato, baked beans, a grilled large flat mushroom, TWO hash browns and black pudding <big grin> Well now that I'm quoting the items from the menu and looking at the picture above, I seem to have been shortchanged a hash brown hmmpf.
     
Well, fried egg and baked beans are usual everyday items and these were done very well. The grilled tomato was perfectly done with a nice slightly crisp skin and insides that were slightly mushy but did not spill over when cut. The bacon was good, very meaty with the layer of fat just seared nicely whereas the sausage was grilled to a crisp and really juicy. The black pudding was addictive and crisp but the mushroom was a tad too salty. I love the super crispy hash brown with fluffy potato insides.
      
It was rather windy in Edinburgh but it felt so good chowing down a plate of big Scottish breakfast with a steaming cup of hot tea while dining outside the restaurant alfresco style with the (strong) breeze whipping about your face. I highly recommend Garfunkel's as a relatively cheap alternative to good British fare. Wish I had found out about its existence sooner though.
            

PawPoints: 4 Paws
    
http://www.garfunkels.co.uk/
     
Garfunkel's Restaurant

130 High Street
Edinburgh
Scotland
Tel: +44 0131 220 4445
Daily: 8am - 11pm

Full Scottish Breakfast @ Craigmore Guesthouse, St Andrews

Now I know people seldom think of St Andrews of Scotland as a tourist destination but it is home to one of the most important cathedral ruins and prestigious universities in UK. It is also very famous for golf so please don't come during the summer as all the guesthouses and hotels will be full and the prices exorbitant =.= The university itself hardly needs introduction as Kate and William famously met there as students. If you fancy some sea breeze, do make a trip to St Andrews too as it's a coastal city.
   
Anyway what I wanted to highlight in this post is... <drum roll> ...Scottish breakfast!!! =D

       

Menu

   
I stayed at Craigmore Guesthouse (which I highly recommend) and they offer a choice of full Scottish breakfast, Scottish kippers or porridge (otherwise known as oatmeal). No prizes for guessing which one I ordered =P
     

L-R: Marmalade, Butter Cubes, Strawberry Jam

   
I usually do not like toast with jam and butter as I had it every single day when I was still schooling and now I'm sick of it but I love the butter cubes, marmalade and strawberry jam served here - they all tasted really fresh as if they were just processed from milk and pureed from fresh fruit.

     

I also had a rack of toast to accompany my huge platter. Oh how I miss British bread! It is just so much fluffier even though the bread is compact with a nice bready aroma. It went so well with the preserves and butter that I was tempted to eat more than a slice.

   

Ham & Fresh Fruit

   
There was also a tray of ham, cheese, fresh fruit, yoghurt and muesli to choose from. I had a slice of ham and some summer fruits. The ham was really fresh and sweet and superior to any ham in KL; I could have had more but I was saving space for the porky platter and also there were limited slices on the breakfast trolley =P The rock melon, blueberry and raspberry were really sweet and juicy and a great appetiser.

      

Full Scottish Breakfast

   
The Full Scottish Breakfast consisted of, clockwise, sunny side-up, grilled mushrooms, grilled tomato, pork bacon, pork sausage, potato scone and black pudding. The fried egg, mushrooms and tomatoes were yummy as usual. The pork bacon was a little on the salty side though and not as crisp as I like it to be but it was really meaty. The pork sausage was a real winner with its crisp skin yet juicy filling. The potato scone was rather bland and tasteless - that's a miss. 

      

Now I bet most will be wondering how does black pudding taste or even, what it is. For the uninitiated, black pudding is a type of sausage made by cooking (pig's) blood with some filler such as oatmeal until it is congealed. It probably sounds like Fear Factor material and I was initially kind of apprehensive about its taste too so I had a tiny nibble and...it was nice! The black pudding was grilled to a crisp texture and if you don't dwell too much on the fact that it's congealed blood, it actually tastes like sausage but with a gamier taste. It's slightly crunchy too from the crisp exterior. All I can say is, if you like innards, give it a try. If you dislike innards, try at your own risk =)

And if you're curious, here's a view of my cosy room =)

   

Cosy double bed

Love the curtains

PawPoints: 4 Paws

 
http://standrewscraigmore.com/
      

Craigmore Guesthouse

Murray Park
St Andrews
Scotland

Tel: +44 01334 472 142