Author: wareontheglobe

Restaurant Review: Dinner at Dishoom, Edinbough

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I absolutely love, nay, LOVE, Indian food. Dan doesn’t enjoy it nearly as much as I do but luckily for me, someone recommended Dishoom to Dan before our trip to Scotland (and London), so I had an excuse to reserve a table. In sum, and while Dishoom has been written about many, many, many times, our meal was fantastic and it is absolutely worth the hype.

Dishoom – the UK’s most famous Indian restaurant

Dishoom is a chain of 13 (currently) Indian restaurants in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2010, Dishoom is often described as “Indian street food” and was designed to feel like “an Irani cafe popular in Mumbai in the 1960s”. The founders left the business in 2017, but Dishoom is still incredibly popular and totally delicious. And, rumor has it that Dishoom is opening a location in New York in 2026…

Edinburgh’s Dishoom.

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A Hogmanay Food Tour Through Glasgow On January 2nd!

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Our second stop on our Hogmanay tour of Scotland was Scotland’s largest city, Glasgow. Unlike Edinburgh, Glasgow is not a charming European city with castles and ancient things; rather, Glasgow is a fairly modern city with a large university and numerous factories. It struck me as a real working town, in a great way. Along those lines, Glasgow has a reputation as being gritty and, in places, somewhat dangerous, and I probably would have skipped Glasgow all together had we not (1) needed to catch the train to London from Glasgow Central and (2) our friend’s grandparents met in Glasgow before immigrating to North America and he wanted to see the city. These two points pushed me into staying two nights in Glasgow. Due to both of our evenings being public holidays (yes, January 1st and 2nd are public holidays in Scotland), I didn’t get the complete Glasgow experience, but I did take a food tour with a lovely local, ate lots of delicious food and learned a decent bit of Glasgow history. I enjoyed Glasgow quite a bit and would like to return and explore further. This post describes the food tour that we took through Glasgow – my favorite way to see a city!

At Glasgow’s Brown’s Brasserie on the food tour. I loved the little palms.

STOP ONE: VEGAN HAGGIS AT A LOCAL BREWERY

Our first stop on our Glasgow food tour was at one of Scotland’s most well-known breweries, Innis & Gunn, for a beer and, dun dun dun, Haggis! Before diving into the main event (i.e., the Haggis), Innis & Gunn is a well known Scottish Brewery that makes, most famously, a slightly sweet, velvety beer aged in Single Malt Whisky casks. And while I usually hate beer (or anything) aged in whisky barrels, I do enjoy this beer! The brand Innis & Gunn was created in Scotland way back in 2003 and its an OG craft beer. Of course, our meal began with a half-pint of Innis & Gunn’s original brew, called, appropriately, the “Original”. As expected, the Original was incredibly smooth and quite tasty (despite being aged in whisky casks)!

Innis & Gunn’s Glasgow City Centre location. It’s right near Glasgow Central.

Clearly had a big Hogmanay celebration.

Innis & Gunn’s Original.

Moving on from Innis & Gunn’s noteworthy beer, our tour guide advised that the first tasting of the tour would be … Haggis! I was not particularly excited to sample Haggis again, but this was a vegan version (i.e., no meat!), so I was game to sample it. The Vegan Haggis was served in fried ball form, paired with a homemade brown “chippy sauce”. Being honest, I much, much, much preferred the vegan version to the real Haggis that I tried back in Edinburgh. I would actually order this version again! Point one for the food tour, as I would have never ordered Vegan Haggis on my own. The Vegan Haggis paired very well with the Chippy Sauce. Definitely give this a try if you want to try Haggis but are scared…or even if you just find yourself at Innis & Gunn. Even the meat lovers on our tour praised the dish.

Vegan Haggis with a Brown Chippy Sauce.

The full sampling at Innis & Gunn.

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Eating Our Way Though Edinburugh During Hogmanay.

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Of course when in Edinburgh, we had to take a food tour (it is one of our favorite things to do!). A few options exist in Edinburgh in terms of food tours; we selected Secret Food tours based on Hogmanay availability. Our tour was part Edinburgh history, part food tour. This tour was a good way to try some Scottish classics that I would not be keen to try on my own (like Haggis!).

Cullen skink – a Scottish classic.

STOP ONE: THE EDINBURGH CLASSICS

We met our a guide, who is a Scottish native, outside St. Giles Cathedral at 11 AM. We did not go inside (we went the next day – highly recommend), but listed to about 15 minutes of Scottish, Edinburgh and Hogmanay history. This was quite interesting, especially given the ongoing Hogmanay celebrations. After meeting at St. Giles Cathedral, we walked down to Grassmarket for our first stop at the famous pub called Maggie Dickson’s.

Maggie Dickson’s Pub. 

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Spending A Long Weekend in Edinburgh During Hogmanay!

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Dan, me and our friends flew to Edinburgh just after Christmas this year for Hogmanay. And what is Hogmanay you may ask and why did we spend it in cold, rainy Edinburgh? Hogmanay is the Scottish word for the last day of the year and its, practically speaking for tourists, a New Years Eve celebration, albeit with a lot of Scottish flair. I had wanted to do this for years, so we finally booked flights for the 2024 – 2025 new year.

Flying into Edinburgh in the early morning.

DAY 1: AN EARLY WALK AROUND EDINBURGH, A PUB DINNER & DELICIOUS COCKTAILS

We flew out from Newark on a Friday evening and after a 5.5 hour, rough winter flight, we arrived in Edinburgh in the wee hours of the morning. We taxied directly to our hotel which, unfortunately, could not get us into our rooms until right at 3:00 PM (the official checkin time). Due to Edinburgh’s popularity during this time of the year, checking in to a hotel early is probably not really feasible.

Victoria Street, Edinburgh.

Victoria Street. The pink building sells ridiculous pork sandwiches that sell out frequently and the brown (actually purple) building is a “wand” store, a la Harry Potter, and there would later be a line down the street.

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How to Celebrate Hogmanay in Edinburgh!

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I spent New Year’s Eve 2024/2025 in Edinburgh, Scotland for its grand, internationally renowned Hogmanay festival! Hogmanay in Edinburgh had long been on my “bucket list” and I was super pumped for all of the Hogmanay events. Unfortunately for me, most  Hogmanay events were cancelled in 2024/2025 at the last minute due to “extreme” winds… which did not really pan out. Regardless, I still had a wonderful time in Edinburgh celebrating Hogmanay.  And, I did A LOT of advance research on Hogmanay events available for the foreign public to attend. This post compiles my research for those attending Hogmanay next year. And full disclosure, I am no expert nor am I Scottish – I am simply sharing my research.

A Happy Hogmanay Cocktail from Edinburgh! This is at Cannonball Restaurant near the Castle.

HOGMANAY IN SCOTLAND!

Hogmanay is the Scottish word for New Year’s Eve, and Hogmanay is a BIG holiday in Scotland. Having been celebrated since at least the early 1600s, Hogmanay is now synonymous with festive merrymaking on December 31st in Scotland (not just Edinburgh). Scottish celebrate the arrival of the new year with family, parties, music and good fun. Trust me when I say this is more than a big New Years Eve celebration or party, Hogmanay is a legitimate holiday, similar to Christmas in my opinion, and its incredibly important to the Scottish people. We learned from our local tour guides that one important Hogmanay custom is “First Footing”, where family and friends celebrate the New Year at midnight and the following day by visiting each other’s homes with gifts of Scottish whisky and coal.

Edinburgh dressed festively for Hogmanay.

Hogmanay is celebrated across Scotland, but the largest celebration, and the most accessible to non-Scottish visitors, is in Edinburgh, Scotland’s gorgeous capital. Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebration generally lasts four days, with the biggest celebration being a grand street party on December 31st.  Edinburgh’s Hogmanay is welcoming and accessible to foreigners, but it requires advance planning, and most events require a ticket.

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