My Encounter with Haggis

When people think of Scotland a few things may immediately come to mind. Rain, Brave Heart, Kilts, Bagpipes, and Haggis. The day finally came for me to try it, no not wear a kilt while playing the theme some of Braveheart on the bagpipes out in the rain. It was time to try some true genuine Scottish Haggis. For those of you who don't know Haggis is a dish traditionally made of sheep's offal, minced onions, suet, mixed with stock and spices typically encased in an animal's stomach and boiled. Yummy, just the description is enough to make you salivate, or maybe not.

One night me and Rachel decided to try a place down by campus called The Schoolhouse. It is a nicer restaurant within an older building, appearing large from the outside but it isn't until you get into the place you see just how spacious and big it actually is. They even give a 10% discount to students, awesome! We go in, get seated, and order. I wanted badly to try their fish n' chips, as I have made a point to try this dish all across Scotland at the places we have gone, but no, tonight it was time to try something different. I see they have a traditional Scottish Haggis dinner reasonably priced (cheaper than the fish n' chips that is) so I decide to go for it, along with a pint of Guinness. Rachel orders a baked potato garnished with chili and the likes, probably what I should have ordered...

The Schoolhouse, they had a nice big outdoor covered patio as well.

Our food comes, I take a big gulp of Guinness and begin.

Here is my plate, Haggis with Nepes and Tatties, along with some biscuits and whiskey flavored brown gravy.

I go for the Haggis first, since this is the center of the dish. Initially it kind of reminded me of stuffing, especially in terms of the consistency. A grainy stuffing with a funny aftertaste. After a couple of bites I felt fine, and I was impressed I actually was liking it! The nepes (mashed turnips and rutabaga) and tatties (mashed potatoes) were okay, the biscuits were similar to cardboard, and the gravy had a funny aroma and with that an even funnier taste. I continue to eat the Haggis, and so far surprisingly it is my favorite part of the whole dish, but then it begins to set it. Maybe I had just psyched myself so much at first that it took a bit for me to come to realize how nauseous I was beginning to feel. What was once good and like grainy stuffing to me was now very quickly becoming nasty. I couldn't swallow more than 2 more bites of the stuff before I had to throw in the towel. What started out so great ended so poorly.

All around the dish wasn't all that good, maybe it was the combination of Guinness with the meal (since Guinness has a very bold distinct taste to it) or perhaps this just wasn't the best place to get Haggis. Whichever, I was embarrassed by how little I ate so I did the old move the food around the plate to one side and cover it with your napkin technique to give the illusion that I had eaten far more of the meal than I actually had. I had even put some on Rachel's plate, just to make mine look less full, I needed all the help I could get covering this up. Rachel loved her baked potato and was content, I on the other hand was still very hungry but happy I finally gave Haggis a shot! We left and I ended up going back to the dorm to make something to eat. That's another one to take off my bucket list.