To the Grassmarket in Edinburgh to be exact.
WELCOME TO MY FIRST POST.
I cannot imagine a more befitting start than an homage to the mouthwatering hog roasts from OINK in Edinburgh. Accordingly, it will be featured as item number one on my ongoing ‘sexy Scottish eats’ menu. Yes, Gerard Butler is not the only sexy thing that the country has to offer.
Rain or shine, heels or flats, I will climb that clunky cobblestone slope to get my meat. October 2013.
So how did I come to discover this ‘last meal on earth’ contender? While living in Edinburgh and subsequently during my visits from Toronto to meet up with my academic supervisors, I’ve made it a habit of dashing off campus in search of all the local culinary delights that the city has to offer: low end, high end, far out, you name it. Oink tops the list.
Owned and operated by farmers, this elbow-to-elbow two table shop opens its doors at around lunch time and closes when the not so little piggy has been devoured down to its bones. I’m talking about their Victoria Street location which is in the hipster hood of the city. If sitting next to a stranger in a ‘tolerably’ claustrophobic space drives you mental, grab your roast and enjoy it in the square downhill. Or check out their Holyrood location if the palace is in your itinerary.
Half gone by 2:00 pm.
Fresh off the rack
Statement mission from their website:
We simply serve Hog Roast Rolls – freshly carved hog roast, served in a white or brown roll with a choice of sage & onion, apple sauce, chili relish or haggis.
A ‘Crackling’ Hog Roast – freshly carved hog roast, served in a white or brown roll with a choice of sage & onion, apple sauce, cheese sauce, chilli relish or haggis and topped with crispy crackling.
The Piglet – for the smaller eater £2.80
The Oink – Our Classic hog roast roll £3.80 (my size of choice to maintain my BMI – seriously)
The Grunter – for the larger appetite £4.80
My weekly fat and protein quota all in three unforgettable bites. October 2013
My weekly fat and protein quota all in three unforgettable bites. October 2013
With chili sauce. November 2012
The pulled pork is pillowy soft and perfectly smokey.Portions are amble and eating them is a joyous mess. The drippings divine. Above all, the pièce de résistance is the CRACKLING: pig skin and nothing more. Envision luscious, layers of molten melt-in-your-mouth fat alternating with the crispy crunch of the skin itself – kind of like a savoury golden millefeuille. Lovers of Argentinean suckling pig, Hawaiian Luaus and Chinese storefront BBQ can taste it right now. In essence, crackling is to pork rinds what the macaron is to macaroons. The former princely, the latter pedestrian.
A joyous mess to eat. October 2013.
If congenital heart disease were not in my gene pool and I wasn’t such a lady, I would forgo the bun, and sandwich all that meaty goodness in between two large pieces of crackling.
Two weeks later, I returned home with a 2% body fat increase. Yup, my personal trainer’s been kickin’ this rump of mine ever since. But still…
Remember: no trip to Edinburgh is complete without a pilgrimage to OINK
34 Victoria St, Old Town, Edinburgh: where I hope to be sitting sometime soon in the New Year.
Thoughts on my first blog post: WOW! these things take work. Now on to some long overdue ”real work’… Whistler, Mallarmé et al. Sigh…
the distracted phd 
Looks delish!!
It really is the best bite in the city and just for a few bucks. I’d pick OINK over Greggs anyday!
Thanks for the recommendation, will definitely try it when I’m in the area.