Froo-froo Scottish Cuisine

As part of the grand adventure in London last week, we had dinner at Albannach Scottish Bar and Restaurant, which does indeed have haggis (quite good haggis, in fact), but it is not your run of the mill pub. This place becomes a dance-hall apparently on some nights. Luckily we were there on a Tuesday night. The waiters and waitresses are appropriately dressed in kilts (very short kilts for the lasses) and t-shirts. The service is good and pretty attentive (including not one, but two offers for coffee at the end of the meal!) and the food quite good. Besides the haggis, which comes as though from a ring mold, not a sheep's stomach, on a bed of potatoes and parsnips (sorry, neeps and tatties) in a whisky sauce, I had the wild bird terrine. Everyone enjoyed the food immensely. I also topped up with two whiskies:

The 20 year old Brora from the Rare Malts collection. Quite a nice dram, definitely a highland malt, with nice fruit and nose. Of course, at 20 pounds a dram, we're not talking a cheap indulgence.

Then I had the Ardbeg Uigeadail -- wow! After the Brora, which is indeed a nice dram, the Ardbeg's smoke and peat hit you like a freight train. It was incredibly smokey -- like being around a campfire on a crisp fall day. The sweetness comes forth after a bit -- I guess it is the sherry, but perhaps the bourbon cask has a moderating affect on it.

I skipped the desserts, though they looked good. In the end my dinner cost almost $130 at current exchange rates, but remember that nearly half that was for the whisky. But then, why would you eat scottish food without whisky. Seems a bit daft, don't you know!