Welcome to the capital…

by stephanieseyes

On Tuesday night, a couple of girlfriends and I headed out to Edinburgh. Living in Fife means that I’m only an hour’s car journey to the capital – perfect for an impromptu night out of sushi and cocktails. It had been a beautiful day and I was feeling all happy and summery, so I opted for a maxi dress with my staple – a black fedora. I accessorised with a black suede, fringed bag and a vast array of jewellery.

One outfit, a big bridge and a load of roadworks later, we were in Edinburgh…

Since we were staying in Haymarket, we decided to stick around there for some sushi. There were two sushi restaurants just round the corner from where we were staying, Sushiya and Hay Sushi. We’d gone to the former the last time the three of us went out, so we opted for the latter. The service was lovely and they had a great selection, but I think Sushiya may have won in the battle of ‘Best Haymarket Sushi’. Once we’d filled our bellies with as much raw fish as we could handle, we headed along to the Grassmarket…

The Grassmarket is probably one of the coolest places in Edinburgh. There’s a mix of trendy bars, old man pubs, vintage shops, the castle in the background and the Edinburgh College of Art right round the corner. Not to mention it inspired Harry Potter author, JK Rowling’s series of boy-wizard books. AND YOU CAN TELL. The old buildings are set on narrow, windy streets with quirky shop fronts. These streets lead down to a wide, cobbled space that’s lined with a mixture of pubs and shops.

Above left is the view of the Grassmarket with the stadium getting set up for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, and on the right is a floodlit Edinburgh Castle overlooking the square.

Our first stop on the Grassmarket was the Dragonfly cocktail bar. It’s very narrow, with an even narrower mezzanine level. As the name would suggest, they specialise in cocktails. Cocktails that come in very large glasses. I like to call them ‘goblets’, but they’re probably more akin to a small goldfish bowl.

Next stop on our night out was another cocktail bar that none of us had been to before called Under the Stairs at the opposite end of the Grassmarket. On our way we passed one of the best-stocked hat shop EVER, Fabhatrix and a place that specialised in crystals called Mr Wood’s Fossils. I took some photos but I couldn’t use them. Unfortunately I only had my iPhone and, as you can see, some of my pictures aren’t great due to the lack of light. Sadface. Just means I’ll have to go back again through the day for a proper forage!

Anywhos, we continued on to our final destination and it didn’t disappoint! It literally was under the stairs.

It was all low ceilings, comfy seats, candlelight and laid-back music. My kinda place really. The bar staff had a great, chilled-out attitude and we were swiftly given wood-bound menus. I promptly decided on their version of a Bloody Mary called Mary Under the Stairs which literally had a salad in it. You were given the option of vodka or rum but I like neither, so I asked for gin instead. And for it to be SPICY. When it arrived it had a whole stalk of fresh basil sticking out of it, chopped tomatoes and an array of fresh herbs. It was a meal in a cup.  And when I’d finished, I was left with what looked like some fairly decent salsa!

Although we thoroughly enjoyed our cocktails, we were all feeling a bit cocktailed-out, and I don’t like mixing too many drinks which often happens, so we decided to finish our night out with a beer. THREE ERDINGER’S PLEASE! Nothing beats a beer, and nothing beats a pint of Erdinger. Looks so wrong, but tastes so right…

Cheers!

☮