Highlander Bar, Clark Quay

Decided to check out this place after seeing it mentioned in a blog. Highlander Bar ( #01-11, The Foundry) is located near the central junction of Clark Quay just beside Pump Room. This could be the first and probably for a long time, the only Scottish themed place. There aren't any others around that I know of. The "al fresco" seats at the bar/restaurant made use of pretty eye catching cross section tree trunk table tops which while was interesting to examine, didn't really function that effectively as a table.

Highlander serves Scottish ales/larger from the tab and a small selection of other bottled beers. Not forgetting also, a selection of whiskeys which can be had pretty steep looking prices. A bottle of Baileys here costs $210. We opted for an all entree dinner which featured some outlandish/highlandish sounding items.


haggis - This stuff was surprisingly addictive. Haggis is suppose to be a traditional Scottish dish that is made up of minced innards of sheep mixed with onion, oatmeal, spices, salt and stock. The result is a pudding that has a texture akin to minced meat and tastes a lot like pate and oats. Came with a cream based sauce and a scoop each of mashed carrots (although it says turnips on the menu) and potatoes. This was probably the most interesting item in the starters section of the menu. Definitely worth a try. The ingredients were probably not too far off from what sausages are made of anyways.


grampian stovies - which was essentially pan fried herbed beef with potato and onion cake. It was quite bland with mashed potatoes (real mashed potatoes) being the most recognisable ingredient along with tiny bits of beef. That was pretty much all there was.


scotch eggs - I've never tried scotch egg before. For $10 you get 2 hard boiled eggs encased in minced beef, breaded and deep fried. Chris thinks that this would make an excellent all in one option for breakfast. The carbs, meat and egg, all in one package. I don't disagree and as a hot snack was great with beer.


tattie scones - the menu describe these as potato patties. They tasted like fried tapioca cakes, albeit one that was not sweet. Another unremarkable dish which is saved solely by the cheese dip on the side.


smoked kipper toasties - this was nice. Fragrant and crispy cheese toasted with some fish. I couldn't get any texture of fish meat in there, but the flavours were definitely present. Salty and went well with drinks.