I grew up in Quebec (a little town called Aylmer, to be precise), and so I have a pretty good idea of what ‘a lot’ of snow looks like, thanks to my formative first 9 winters spent in this oft-frozen eastern province of Canada. I remember learning to skate on double-runnered baby bob-skates, marching up and then skiing down any closed road with a decent incline, and the annual tradition of skating along Ottawa’s frozen Rideau Canal whilst munching sweet cinnamon dusted ‘Beaver Tail’ pastries.
Fast forward a couple of decades and here my fellow Edinburghers and I found ourselves in the middle of a proper doozie of a winter. It meant there was snow. The real stuff so that proper igloos could be built out of on Leith Links, welly boot sales went through the roof, and I was on a paranoid 17 times a day weather forecast check of the met office ahead of my sisters’ return home for the hols.
For most of December, it wasn’t looking good, but thankfully we lucked out and Sarah arrived in from Bahrain via Amsterdam on 17th and Mim arrived in from Vancouver via Gatwick on Christmas eve. Breathe and relax…now for the food fest to commence in earnest!
The week before Mim got back, we had a family lunch catching up with some other Vancouver-based friends – Kath and Sam. Originally an Edinburger and one of Mim’s old school buddies, Kath met Sam and has settled in BC, and is the voice behind the blog Go Haggis. We met up for a lunch up at Hanover Street’s The Dogs, which I’d picked as I’d had it on my ‘dance card’ for ages and still hadn’t managed to get in despite its being all of a two minute walk from my work.
We marched up the stairs and into the street-side dining room, with a good corner table by the bar. Most impressed by the ceiling height, even on this upper floor. Décor is minimalist sort of, with the odd nod to the canine in the form of a portrait or two, and some kitsch paraphernalia. Nothing too over the top though as compared with the owner’s previous pet project Rogue (which I dined in once with a D-list celeb), this place is positively sparse in designer touches.
The Dogs has been open for a couple of years, and has gained a loyal (how apt) following for its simple gastro-pubby style British eats, often using inexpensive cuts of meat They were awarded a Bib Gourmand from Michelin, for well priced, quality food. I have to say that for the diner, the good news is that really does translate to an affordable lunch option for the city centre. I’d had a peek at the menu online before coming along and was really impressed at the affordability-factor. Also, for the Canadian visitors, I’m always hyper-aware of how expensive it is to eat out here, compared to the wonderful food that’s available in big cities like Vancouver at a relatively lesser price.
Service was commendably smiley from the Aussie waitress; no mean feat as this was the 22nd December and the panto-horse’s back end of a no-doubt busy Christmas season. We got stuck into the house rosé (an easy drinking Italian from the Venetto region £14.85) and looked through the functional, short menu.
Nothing was priced at over £5.90 and collectively we all went for pies, apart from Sam who had the fish and chips.
My pie was designed to get me in the festive mood – turkey and ham. A great stew with chunks of celery, and a sweet mash was a welcome relief to what were some pretty salty bites thanks to the ham, but hey, I hate when things are under-seasoned and so it saved me a few shakes of the wrist. Only minor gripe with the whole meal was that I would have preferred this to have been pie in the more traditional sense i.e. in a pastry case, rather than just a bowl of stew with a small square of puff pastry on top. But for less than £6, this was a good plate of food. Sister Sarah was maybe trying to re-connect with GB and had the ‘cor blimey’ steak and kidney pie which flew down her gullet much like the one with 4 and 20 blackbirds might be able to. Meanwhile, mum and Kath fiddled around with mussels and various little tidbits in their seafood pie. Sam had his first ever Scottish fish’n’chips, complete with mushy peas. I stole a wee taste of what I think was hake and it was superb, a great batter, and probably cheaper than you’d pay for a supper in the chippie these days.
I was the wee fattie of the day, being the only one who ordered dessert (losers!) and got stuck into a supersoft melty dod of chocolate cake with what was billed as spiced berry compote. Didn’t pick up too much spice, but it was packed with tasty raspberries and kept me busy whilst everyone else stirred and then drank their coffees.
We were most definitely ‘the noisy table’ this lunchtime, having a ball, happy to be catching up over some good food, looking forward to the rest of everyone’s’ hols and continuing the good cheer.
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