Karen and I went out in Edinburgh this evening with my Sister and Brother and did one of the Capital’s longstanding walking tours. The Witchery Tour has been running as long as I can remember, but I’ve just never got round to doing it. It was Karen’s idea, as she’d seen an advert for it in the in-flight magazine during the trip up from Stanstead. So we booked ourselves on and also booked a vegetarian restaurant for after, but more about that later.
The Witchery Tour takes you through a load of Edinburgh’s old closes, which are long narrow and steep little passageways that run from the Royal Mile down either side to the roads at the bottom of Castle Hill. While you’re wandering after your guide, who just happens to be a ghost, you are regaled with tales of old murders and mad old women. Your are also surprised along the way at various stages, but if I told you where and how, it would spoilt your fun if you ever get round to doing it.
It’s definitely worth doing and takes between an hour and an hour and a half to complete. When you’re finished, especially in winter, you’re in dire need of a pint and a hot meal, so we hotfooted it round to Bann’s vegetarian restaurant on Hunter’s Square. Wow, is all I can say, why can’t we have veggie restaurants like that in Cambridge? You should have seen the menu; I could eat practically all of it! It got even better though, as they had some really cushty beer in bottles, so I didn’t even have to drink shite lager.
The food was so good that I had to go up to the chef at the end and thank her profusely for producing such excellent food. Apart from Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, I’ve never been to a restaurant where you can get vegetarian food of the highest calibre. It’s also made me even more set in my ways about good beer in restaurants as well, it’s not that hard and it improves the dinning experience for those who’d rather not drink wine.
If you’re ever in Edinburgh and you’re looking for a good place to eat, then you could do a lot worse than going to Bann’s. I know that next time I’m up, I’ll be doing everything in my power to get back there and see what’s on the menu.
Posted by fatboab at December 31, 2002 10:52 AM
