Tags
candy, churros, cider, food festival, foodies festival, jerk chicken, mark greenaway, oyster, oysters, seafood
The sun shone on Inverleith Park for this year’s Foodies Festival. After an initial wander around the labyrinth of stalls, which offered everything from Arbroath smokies to homemade lemonade, I decided to pay a visit to Mark Greenaway’s stand for a spot of lunch.
The choices were lightly smoked pan seared hake fillet, pea salad and tarragon dressing OR 11 hour slow roasted pork belly puffed crackling pomme puree and toffee apple jus. I opted for the latter and happily devoured it whilst lounging on one of the deck chairs in the sun. My friends tucked into some deep fried chocolate yumminess thanks to our old pals Churrio.
To cleanse the palate I treated myself to an award winning Black Dragon cider, courtesy of the Natural Cider Company. Although the tipple wasn’t to everyone’s taste, I enjoyed the aromatic, strong oaky flavour. With 16 different types of cider to choose from, it would have been rude not to, so I followed this up with a Pheasant Plucker, which was cloudy, bubbly and sweet.
I spotted an old chum Emma, who I used to work with at a retro sweetie shop many light years ago. Turns out Emma’s taken the helm at Love Candy, and if you fancy a Refresher Bar, Sherbet Dib Dab or some blueberry liquorice, get yourself down to her cutesy little shop on Hanover Street.
As someone who a) writes a food blog and b) loves all forms of seafood, I probably shouldn’t be admitting this. But I will – I’d never had an oyster before. So I jumped at the chance when I spotted the Caledonian Oyster Co. Farmed in Loch Creran, I don’t think I could have found a better one to lose my oyster virginity too. It tasted exactly as I’d imagined – salty – but the consistency was much softer, and the aftertaste was truly exquisite.
We finished the day with some Jerk Chicken from the Backyard Company, whose stall pumped infectious reggae beats into the late afternoon.
Compared to the Foodies I’d visited a few years ago, the festival really seems to be coming from strength to strength – with more stalls, more variety and more people visiting.
thepopesmobile said:
Brilliant, wish I had gone now!
wanderingloulou said:
There’s always Christmas Foodies 🙂
noel55 said:
Damn, wish I went to that too, I only live around the corner. What did I eat yesterday? A Boots sandwich and McDonalds chicken selects. Bah.
Bahhhh.
Oh, I love your writing style, Louise. Must go and peruse your previous posts now.
wanderingloulou said:
Thanks for reading Noel. I’ll try and get some tasty lunch ideas up here for you – no more McDonalds!!
asmallinsight said:
We’ve taken all the same photos………..haha!! I had such a great day too. I’m seriously thinking about doing the whole weekend next year to try and soak it all up xx
wanderingloulou said:
Me too Lucy! Definitely worth the investment I reckon…
asmallinsight said:
I know, one day definitely wasn’t long enough to try all the food I wanted too!!
Kathryn said:
I love this post! I spent 5 years of my life in Edinburgh and it’s amazing to see how the foodie scene has grown and evolved. Looks so exciting! You must have been full by the end of the day!
wanderingloulou said:
Yeah I couldn’t believe how much bigger the festival was than the Foodies in Holyrood Park only a few years ago! Exciting times!