Haggis Bon Bons
OX184

OX184

184186 Cowgate, EH1 1NA, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Cafés • British • Burgers • Vegetarian


"Time to cast ourselves back. That is, I must confess that s.o. and I made this visit some time ago. But life gets in the way, and blog posts are put on hold. But now, with nothing but the dregs of the summer ahead of me, it's time to get going again. I'll make things simple for the both of us. OX 184 is great. When I first moved to Edinburgh in 2011, I was living on the Cowgate. *shock*, *horror*, I hear you say, and, well, it was. But now that OX have moved in, and are capitalizing on a distinct lack of trendy and contemporary bars on the road, I'm not sure that I wouldn't move back there. (N.B. notice the double negative). But in all seriousness, OX is a great joint. I really felt that both the atmosphere and the service hit the proverbial nail on the head and, having just got back from NYC, I think this place keeps up with the best of them. What's more is that I LOVE the fact that OX serve their full menu well into the night, which means if you are among those who like to hit the Hive every now and again, you can always jump out for a bite between disco dancing to One Direction and Nicky Minaj. S.O. and I ate a burger, a strip of pork belly, a plate of fries, some coleslaw, and a couple of lobster buns, because honestly, why wouldn't you? All of the above was really great, and was what it said on the tin. We both agreed that the lobster buns were particularly tasty, and that we could have just had a plate of those. But, for there is a but, we were well aware that this menu caters for a particular kind of clientele. Separate friends of ours have lamented both the non-vegetarian friendliness of the place and the trendiness. But from our point of view, these were the two things we liked most about OX. I really think OX is a game changer for the Cowgate, and in a very good way. The food falls right between fine dining and 3 o'clock in the morning sopping-up-my-mistakes. That is to say, it's neither, but it's pretty tasty fare for a knees up."

The Southern

The Southern

22-26 S Clerk St, Edinburgh, EH89PR, EH8 9PR, United Kingdom

Cafés • Kebab • Sushi • Seafood


"The Southern, located in Newington, forms part of the FullerThomson chain who also own Holyrood 9a and Red Squirrel. The pub is full of dark surfaces but is warmly lit and has a cosy feel. The place wasn’t very lively but we had arrived relatively early in the evening on a Tuesday. The Southern’s main offerings are burger based. However, there are other options such as hotdogs, salads and other light bites. There is also a breakfast section and a special section for children. To be honest though, you would be a fool not to pick one of their burgers. I went for the Southern burger with the brioche bun and non-seasoned fries. The Southern burger is a 6oz beef burger with red onion, rocket, Hereford Hop cheese, beer mustard mayo and caramelised onion mayo. There were skewers in all of the burgers with a massive bit of pickled cucumber on top. The cucumber seemed a bit weird as it wasn’t even a gherkin and was way too massive for decoration. I also hate cucumber, so that probably didn’t help. The fries came in a cup, which works well for me as I like to slather mine in vinegar. They were great fries, crispy and fluffy, just how I like them. My burger oozed with the rather delicious mustard mayo. The salad was generally quite nice but the tomato had a bit of that fuzzy texture rather than being firm and fresh, but that can often be the case with large beef tomatoes. The beef burger itself was firm, juicy and packed full of flavour. The whole thing was a slightly messy affair in the process of eating but it was worth it. If you like a good burger, I can recommend the Southern as a satisfying fix."