Frankfurt (transit) and Edinburgh

Scotland and Ireland.... not particularly known as foodie destinations. However, the purpose of the trip is not food this time. It's whiskey (or "whisky" when referring to Scottish or Japanese spirits) and beer. Although Japanese whisky was my first interest in whiskey, I found that Japanese whisky originated from Scotland. Since Scotch whisky is a bit smoky (what I call "band-aidy"), I am more fond of Irish whiskey. So, my initial plan was to go to Scotland first to learn the basics of whiskey, then to Ireland to find my favorite whiskey. However, as I learned the history of whiskey, my interest and plan changed gradually. I will explain that as I continue the blog for this trip.

Anyway, my trip starts from Frankfurt, Germany. Because there were 5 hours of layover in Frankfurt, I decided to go to the city center, which is only 20 minutes from the airport by train.

I went to Salzkammer, which is close to Hauptwache station. It was a sunny and warm day. So, I took an outside table. I first ordered Apfelwein (apple wine) and the waiter suggested mixing it with club soda. It was a great choice for such a fine day.

I got to have sausage when in Frankfurt! Luckily they had a sampler with 4 kinds of sausage. One of them is Frankfurter, of course. The most interesting one is a cheese sausage, with small cheese pieces inside the casing. When I cut the sausage, the melted cheese oozes out. I've never seen anything like that. I don't think this is something standard in Germany...

The next dish is something I haven't had before, "Frankfurter Gruene Sosse", a regional dish in Frankfurt. Boiled eggs and potatoes on top of creamy green sauce, which resembles green goddess sauce but is less tangy. The sauce is made with a variety of different green herbs.

A very standard German (Austrian) dish, Wiener schnitzel. It was good but I've had something better in the US (possibly this could be more authentic, though). The accompanying sauce is cranberry but each piece is much smaller than what I usually see in the US. Probably European cranberries are smaller?

After having a nice lunch in Frankfurt, I continued my way to the first "real" destination, Edinburgh, Scotland. As soon as I checked in to the B&B, I headed to the pub restaurant that the owner of the flat recommended, called Teuchters. This place is divided into two sections, pub and restaurant. I went to the restaurant. I was expecting more "Pub food" but the restaurant serves some pretty fancy dishes. All the menu items included something Scottish but more upgraded.

Nonetheless, I started with my first glass of beer in Scotland! Since it's called Deuchars IPA, I thought at first that this might be a German beer. But it is indeed made by a Scottish brewer, Caledonian brewing company. IPA is getting popular in Europe but it's much less hoppy and obviously darker than most IPAs in the US.

I started the meal with Haggis on top of neeps and tatties (mashed rutabaga and potato) with mustard whiskey cream sauce. The top of haggis is crispy and it didn't have any gaminess. The sauce had a perfect balance of acid from mustard and richness of whiskey and cream. Perfect seasoning balance. Very good start.

The first entree is Parma ham wrapped chicken and black pudding. Since I'm in Scotland, I should have black pudding, but I'm not really into blood sausage. So, this was the perfect compromise for me. It was served on top of tomato and red pepper sauce. Because of red pepper, it wasn't too acidic and tasted very sophisticated. Unfortunately, the choice of chicken meat was breast and it was overcooked. Although the black pudding and the sauce gave some moistness, it was still dry... Flavor and seasoning were spot on, though.

The next entree is braised ox cheek. The Madeira jus was very rich and the ox cheek was very tender and moist. It could have had a little more salt, but very good dish otherwise.

This is a good start to the trip. I signed up for the tour to Loch Ness and a Highland distillery tomorrow!