Next stop on the Edinburgh haggis hunt is an Old Town pub where the grub is burger and the beer is craft.
Hankering a bite on the late side of lunch and way too early side of supper, I moseyed into Holyrood 9A anticipating something yummy based on the search yield of online gushing praise for its gourmet burgers.
For midafternoon on a snowy midweek day, the place was doing a pretty decent trade catering to a mix of patrons: some students, a pair of European tourists, a double date, a businessman dining by the light of his laptop, a few elbow benders at the bar. The atmosphere was relaxed – soft volume indie rock muffled by wood panels and candlelight. But as laidback as the setting was, the service was on the ball. I got my burger so fast!
And that burger was The Original Two-Hander (6oz beef patty of Scottish beef sourced from Simon Howie butchery with fried onions, house burger sauce, gem lettuce, beefsteak tomato, and dill pickle on a brioche bun with sides of coleslaw and fries, £9.50). I had mine augmented with haggis and Cheddar (£1 extra each). The Holyrood does its own The Haggis and The Veggie Haggis burgers, but those don’t have actual beef patties. As much as I wanted the haggis, I really wanted a bona fide beef burger too.
The juicy and deeply flavoursome beef and haggis combo more than met my needs. It was one of the tastiest and most satisfying burgers I’ve scarfed down in ages. If I’d been in town any longer than my four-day itinerary, I’d have gone back for another and would not have strayed from my original order.
I washed my burger down with a ¾ pint of local lager, Paolozzi: a good all rounder and a beer I already knew I’d enjoy. Fries were tasty and crisp. Slaw was yummy too, if miniscule in portion (not that I left hungry at all).
Holyrood 9A is located at 9A Holyrood Road, EH8 8AE. Find out more at theholyrood.co.uk.
More Haggis Hunt highlights to follow soon.
