Our flight from Paris to Edinburgh left and arrived on time, something that is often not the norm in this day and age. We'd be spending one evening in the city before our driver would be picking us up for a private tour. We'd be staying on York Place which was quite convenient, since the last stop of the airport tram is on St Andrew Square. From there it was a short walk to our hotel.
Once we settled in….well, the Missus was ready to do a bit of exploring, so we headed out.
The really friendly folks at the hotel suggested that we take Leith Street over to Princes Street and take a walk in the New Town.
The first thing that struck us was all the signs and "stories"….it seemed that every corner, crook, and building had one!
And there seemed to be monuments on every block.
I read that there are over 200 monuments in Edinburgh alone!
That's the statue of the Duke of Wellington below, in front of the National Archives, which was unveiled in 1852 to mark the anniversary of Wellington helping to lead the armies of the Seventh Coalition to victory over Napoleon at Waterloo.
We decided to just walk along Princes Street and the huge Princes Street Garden which was created by the draining of Nor Loch and was completed in 1820.
We could see the towering spire of the Scott Monument, the second largest monument to a writer in the world. I'm sure folks my age would have had to read one of the classics by Sir Walter Scott in school. I recall reading Ivanhoe.
It's quite amazing to see places like this….they have a way of bringing history "alive" for me.
And of course one cannot ignore all of the classic architecture, like the Jenners Building.
Which housed the Jenner Department Store, which sadly closed permanently in December 2020 partially due to the Covid lockdown. I recently read that the department store will be renovated and hopefully reopen in 2025.
The views along Princes Street of Edinburgh Castle are quite stunning.
As are those of the gardens below.
This is the Royal Scots Grey Memorial.
There was one memorial that I had on my list, so we entered the park, passing the Scottish American War Memorial.
The inscription reads:
"The Call 1914. A Tribute From Men and Women of Scottish Blood and Sympathies In the United States of America to Scotland. A People that jeoparded their lives unto the Death in the High Places of the Field."
Right pass that was the monument I wanted to see.
This is the statue of Wojtek the Bear, whose story I read years ago. In short Wojtek was purchased as a cub in Iran by soldiers of the Polish army. He was trained to transport ammunition and other supplies. Because pets were not allowed and to make sure he got rations, he was given the rank of private in the Polish army. Eventually, he was promoted to corporal!
So, why is his statue now in Edinburgh? Well, in 1945 his Company was moved to Scotland….and so was he. In the end, he lived out his years in the Edinburgh Zoo. You know I love stuff like this, right?
Soon it was getting close to our dinner time, so I had to find the "close" where our dinner destination was located. We headed down the Mound and onto the Royal Mile and High Street. Right across St Giles' Cathedral (photo above which I'll cover in a future post), is Advocate's Close an alleyway with wonderful views. There's something somewhat dark and mysterious about these narrow streets. I'd come to learn the difference between a a Close and a Wynd during our stay in Edinburgh.
Down this narrow street is a Gastropub/Restaurant named the Devil's Advocate, which I'd made reservations at. We found the place; but then, we had to actually find the entrance….and this wasn't it.
Folks inside waved us to the actual entrance where we were greeted by a Hostess…..people in Edinburgh and Scotland for that matter, were so very friendly….really fun and nice. We were led to a table on the upper level. Where we were seated and handed menus. The place is dark and somewhat funky….but what do you expect here! After all, who knows who walked along the path in this close? It might have been the "real" Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde or perhaps even Burke and Hare! One's imagination can run wild!
The menu seemed kind of what I'd call "hipster – Scottish"….or perhaps more politically correct, modern gastropub fare? We placed our order and as is the way we do things, we went with mostly items off the 'Starters' and 'Sharing' portion of the menu. Like I've said many times before, these dishes seem to be the most interesting.
I'd been really wanting to try some Haggis….and really couldn't wait. So the first dish up was the Crispy Black Haggis (£8 – about $10 at time of visit).
It looks so "gastro-pubby" don't you think. It was perfectly fried, but was bland and doughy…….folks I know had always made so much of haggis, but this was so mild in flavor, I was sure that this wasn't what they were talking about, right?
Next up was the Confit Pork Belly (£9.5 – about $11.50)
So, I think it's time for a reality check here…..when we visited, with the exchange rate, this was like $11.50. Can you imagine that? The pork belly was a bit over-fried, though the interior was nice and buttery. Both the Missus and I loved the celeriac remoulade, which was crisp and refreshing.
And then came the dish that made the dinner. We ordered a "small portion" of the Smoked Fish Platter (£14 – about $17.50/US). Could you imagine getting this for less than twenty bucks?
Oh man, this was so delici-yoso…..and drove our decisions during our entire stay in Scotland. Salmon smoked two ways; I gotta say, both the hot smoked, more buttery and rich and the cold smoked, great texture and wonderful on bread have an appeal. The smoked mussels were wonderful, the perfect balance of smokiness, great , almost buttery texture, the brininess adds character. The capers and cornichons provided relief and refreshment….this was so good!
And of course I had to have some "chips". The variety here were with truffle and parmesan ( £5 – about $6.25 on our visit).
Ok, so let's be real about this. Twice cooked, crisp on the exterior, creamy interior………flakes of truffle……really. We loved the flavor of potatoes in Scotland; there's an inherent sweet-starchiness to it.
And our meal here was a nice start to our trip!
Devil's Advocate
9 Advocates Close
Edinburgh, Scotland
Thanks for stopping by!
The smoked fish taco was pretty good….I had read in the Eater post that items had a "Asian" touch….I figure in the case of these tacos, it was the sesame seeds? Anyway, the fish was nice and moist, smoky, good savory hints, no off flavors, and the tortillas held up well. The cabbage added textural contrast and a touch of sweetness. 
This was actually pretty good; I mean it ain't 
There was a generous amount of shrimp in this; but we both thought this was a bit lacking in overall flavor and was really too salty. The texture of the shrimp was fine.
We got this with the "verde", the green sauce which was tangy and tart, a perfect foil for the spice. Loved the avocado which helped to quell whatever heat evolved from the dish, the cucumbers added a nice, crisp and "chlorophyllic" touch to the dish. The shrimp had spent the perfect amount of time in the sauce, being just toothsome enough. We'd have this again!
And then went and sat at a table. I took a look around the room and quickly noticed at the pile of children's toys stacked up on a freezer. I guess Covid has meant that there had to be options in place if childcare and school is not available?
My noodle soup and duck arrived. Over time, I'd resigned myself to the fact that 
As for how I eat this; well that's been that's 
And that couple was the folks from that new yellow Corvette. We were just going to take a stroll on the Devil's Bridge and maybe do a selfie. But the really nice guy told me; "I'm going to rest here a while, so why don't you walk on over and I'll take a picture of you!" And he didn't take just one photo, but an entire set! You know, people like him really do make travels just so much better!
It is a nice hike and I loved the rock formations. Now this is what I envision when I think of Sedona!
Looks however, were deceiving as the ground beef was really hard and chewy, this was quite bland, it really needed more fish sauce-oyster sauce-anything salty and savory. The rice was a bit too wet and mushy. The egg was a wonderful sunny side up; but had that "fishy" finish we don't enjoy. This was probably our least favorite dish of the meal.
First off, that quarter chicken was huge! It was nicely fried if on the bland side; but due to the size the meat was really dry and tough. This really needed more flavor. The rice, like on the basil beef was on the mushy side. The curry was too sweet and thin for our taste. I did enjoy the roti; while a tad on the greasy side did fine dipped into the curry.
Even though the egg wasn't sunny side up this time; the edges were crisp and it had no off flavors. The rice was perfect on this visit as well, fluffy and fragrant. The crisp pork belly was nicely crisp on the exterior; but perhaps a bit too hard and chewy It was also a bit on the mild side in terms of flavor. The gailan was chopped in somewhat ponderous chunks some of which hadn't been blanched enough and was super hard. It was nice and spicy, but lacked anything much of anything else in terms of flavor and definitely needed a salty-savory boost in my opinion. I prefer the 
