Edinburgh Street Historians

30/01/2025

I fell in love with Vietnamese food when in the Czech Republic, which has one of the highest Vietnamese populations in the world outside Vietnam. Fortunately we now have a place that does it right in Edinburgh!

Pho is a restaurant with multiple locations in Edinburgh; one on Lothian Road and another in the St James Quarter. I had their pho (typical) and brought my kids who got meat on skewers which was well balanced as it had some rice and vegetables, too.

I also had the pork spring rolls which were delicious (wonder if they could do a haggis though?). One of my favourite things? Pho is dog-friendly and Augie approved.

Have you been yet?

24/01/2025

In anticipation of Burns Night tomorrow night, I decided to answer the question of why he's our National Poet. Give it a read and share and also, tell me what Burns poems you like

Burns portrait by Alexander Nasmyth French philosopher Voltaire once commented on Dante that he’s one of these writers that most people are aware of but nobody actually reads. Robbie Burns is fortu…

23/01/2025

Remember everyone with the high winds tomorrow, we have been through tougher storms!

Hurricane Bawbag, also known as Cyclone Friedhelm[1][nb 1] was an intense extratropical cyclone which brought hurricane-force winds to Scotland at the beginning of December 2011. The storm also brought prolonged gales and rough seas to the rest of the British Isles, as well as parts of Scandinavia.....

17/01/2025

You’ll see a million photos of Edinburgh in the snow and ice but I wanted to show off a real gem of Winter. The sky is so gorgeous! It’s blue perfection like a sapphire full of diamonds.

It’s a great time to be here and an even better time to book a tour with me (jokes, hardly anybody comes at this time because they are scared).

But if you aren’t scared… link in profile.

14/01/2025

Having been known as Haggis Pope for two years now, I have decided to change my handle to . It’s been a hefty decision but every marketing minded person I talked to basically said it makes more sense to have an Instagram name which matches my website than it does to have one which is separate, and though my beloved former tour guests know exactly why I go by Haggis Pope, it did confuse newcomers.

I remain as ever committed to the ideals of my haggis based cult/religion. The content and the team on here will not change, still regular stories of what’s happening in Edinburgh, semi-regular posts about what we’re eating or recommendations for stuff to do in town.

DMs remain open for anyone who needs help during this time. We are excited for this new move! Do check out my website by the way, link in profile

08/12/2024

Today I’m announcing something special! I will be doing a walking tour for charity for Edinburgh’s Hospital for Children and Young People on Sunday 15th December, meeting at the High Street Wellhead (in the photo behind me) at 11am and again at 1:30pm. You can book now on my website (link in bio).

This is to commemorate 20 years of survival. I was hit by a van back then and wound up in a coma over Christmas. It was hard, my family suffered immeasurably, and when I eventually woke I could neither walk nor talk. Today, in a supreme irony, I do both professionally for my income. It took a lot of help from the NHS and also from the hospital’s charity to recover. I want to give back and I’d like you all to join me.

I’m giving all proceeds from my tours on the 15th of December to the charity. Our current donation goal is £1000 but even the donation link on Facebook (also in bio) is already at £300 so let’s see what we can do! For ways to help out - you can attend the tour by booking at the link (it’s free to join, pay to leave, but space is limited), you can share this post far and wide, you can donate via the link, and you can follow me here on insta for more updates!

I look forward to seeing you all!

05/12/2024

It's Christmastime, which means we're in the market for a tree to live in our flat and get battered by the Wee Haggises. This is our third year in a row picking our tree from Tollcross Tree Works. They're big, they're full, the pricing is very reasonable, delivery is free, and the owner is perfectly charming (and just like some of you, has noticed me around in short sleeves in the winter and wondered what's wrong with me).

Now time to put the lights on the tree!

08/11/2024

Last month I won two free hot chocolates courtesy of and and today we got to eat them! I got milk chocolate hot chocolate with 99 gelato, my wife got milk/dark with marshmallow fluff, and the Wee Haggises each had a scoop of gelato. The whole family loves Moo Pie Gelato and it's even better when it's free!

17/10/2024

Yes, yes, yes, it's my autumn almanac

11/10/2024

“Nothing feels better than going home, and nothing feels better than leaving home — the bittersweet curse.” Anthony Bourdain

I was born in Edinburgh and have lived here for more than anywhere else in my life, but for a time in my youth I lived in a small suburban village close to South Queensferry, where I returned to have ice cream.

It turns out the shore front has some great Halloween themed ice cream which is very photogenic plus delicious. The Little Parlour is a great place and worth the trip from the city centre.

We went for a wee walk which didn’t extend as far as the Big Tesco outside of which I used to underage drink, but which did take us to a familiar place.

We also went to The Stag while we were there, which is a pub I last remember coming in when I was 18 and it was my first time legal drinking with friends. The place has changed but I think largely for the better as their food menu has a lot of pub standards like gammon but also some great wings and haggis bon bons.

The Little Parlour is dog friendly and Augie approved. The Stag is dog friendly and Augie approved.

04/10/2024

We are now cosily entrenched in the cinna-months, which makes it very appropriate that today is National Cinnamon Roll Day. Cinnamon rolls are fairly ubiquitous in Edinburgh but often sell out early because of their squishy breakfast goodness. Below, in no particular order, is a list of some of my local favourites.

- (featuring a very appropriate book from )
-.uk (a new pop-up; regular cinnamon, banoffee, and tiramisu pictured but they have lots of others)
- (the same bakers as Bearded Baker, just down the street)
-
- (featuring a bonus chocolate bun)
-
- (a more tart, cream cheese-y frosting here)
[email protected] (They will offer to heat it up and add extra icing, which you should definitely agree to)
- (Nice Times also provides the cinnamon rolls at )
- (They also usually have bonus buns in other flavours)

14/09/2024

Today's photos are brought to you by my wife. She attended an afternoon tea mixer hosted by at for an afternoon of literary-themed nibbles and bookish conversation. I can report back on her behalf that she found the food and conversation a delightful way to spend the afternoon and walked away with lots of new book recommendations. She's looking forward to future events at Rare Birds, a bookshop we both thoroughly enjoy!

02/09/2024

Edinburgh was made for these dreich days.

23/08/2024

George Square food trucks tonight, in the rain. I had a sausage bao and hash box from Pablo Eggs-Go-Bao. Augie had a free sausage patty from the same lovely folks. The Haggis Babies ate a hot dog and chips in the drizzle without complaint like true Scots. It was delicious.

17/08/2024

Today we went to the weekly Saturday farmers market at Johnston Terrace. It’s a bit of a family favourite because they’ve got tremendous food quality and life is better with real butter, strong cheese, and fresh bread.

As a great plus, they have excellent sausage rolls , and also a view of the castle from the back which I think helps you understand how it’s such a strong fortification.

The farmers market is dog friendly and Augie approved

31/07/2024

We don't always get a lot of sun in Edinburgh, but we're currently on a hot streak (sure to end as soon as I write these words). In honour of these sunny summer days, I present my list of the top iced chocolates in Edinburgh. Iced chocolate isn't nearly as easy to find as its hot counterpart, but it's much more refreshing on those days when the weather manages to creep above 15 degrees and the streets become crowded with tourists and locals alike. All of the spots listed below are dog-friendly and I've added a note if I'm aware of vegan options.

-The Marshmallow Lady: The Marshmallow Lady's frozen hot chocolate is made with real Belgian chocolate and comes topped, of course, with a marshmallow of your choosing. In this photo I've gone with churro, but the selection changes regularly and there are a lot of different flavours to experiment with. As a bonus there are also always marshmallow samples to snack on while you wait! 

-SoftCore: SoftCore at Edinburgh Street Food has recently introduced a number of summer specials, including this iced chocolate. It's an appropriately refreshing and sweet drink to sip while you eat your way through the rest of the ESF menu. 

-Le Petit Bleu: Le Petit Bleu is a relatively new cafe in Newington with a long hot and iced chocolate menu. I went with just a regular iced chocolate to start, but there are so many intriguing options that I know I'll be back to try another iced chocolate before summer is over. 

-Love, Peace, and Coffee: Love, Peace, and Coffee is so conveniently located for me that I've already had at least four Nutella iced chocolates from there this summer, some to sit in and some takeaway. They do a regular iced chocolate as well, and there are other flavour syrups that I'm sure you can add, but in my opinion the Nutella is hard to beat. 

Continued in the comments!