Review: Dune Surfer and Just Burgers & Beers.

A while ago (ahem, November!!) I was invited to my first Blogger Event from the lovely girls at LUX. As life has been pretty chaotic I've only just got round to finishing this post (bad blogger!)

The event was taking place in Just Burger & Beers up in the Royal Mile and was to promote a new low-cal refreshing beer - Dune Surfer. Now I LOVE burgers and I LOVE beer, so yeah, there wasn't really any part of me saying no - apart from the small nervous part about meeting a bunch of strangers. Now I'm no stranger to the blogging world, having had this one since 2009 (although the lack of older posts doesn't make this clear, I had a bit of a radge moment and deleted all my old posts and wish I never had), but this was my first meet up, other than nods of acknowledgement from others when I've been out and around town. So I was a little nervous about that, but really shouldn't have been, everyone I spoke to was lovely.

So back to the beer and burger.

We were firstly spoken to by the owner of Just Beer & Burgers who explained we would given a small sample of their 'sides', home-made 'slaw, pulled pork, chicken wing, chili and nachos, - god it was all so tasty but so filling, I wasn't actually sure I'd be able to manage my burger afterwards. 

We then had a chat from the owner of Dune Surfer, a gentleman with years of brewery experience. The beer is marketed as refreshing, hydrating, low-cal and low- alcohol (around 2%). The beers I tend to drink are ones like Heineken, Innis & Gunn lager, a few choice Williams Bros and Black Isle. So this was probably a fair bit away from my 'norm'. However, I did find it refreshing, fruity and very light, as to not suffer from the beer bubbles. I could quite imagine sitting in a beer garden in the Summer having a few of these.

Next we tried a beer cocktail, they added gin, watermelon and something limey, it was delish, something I would certainly attempt to recreate at home. 

During this part our burgers arrived!

I'd gone for their 'Anna Nicole Smith' burger, a lovely burger but a bit of a mess, (too harsh?...maybe). But it was one of the best burgers I've had. Served on a seeded bun with the Wee Mans fiery beef chilli, melted Monty Jack cheese & jalapenos. 

There were also fries and onion rings the size of your hand, I was stuffed by the end, and we got chocolate brownie to take home. Chocolate isn't high on my list of 'like's but the brownie was superb.

Marcos Returns

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Lucy at Hot Tin Roof, a PR agency in Edinburgh, to see if I fancied popping along to the reopening of Marcos Pizza & Pool Hall (previously Marcos Leisure) on Grove Street. I immediately jumped at the chance!

You see, back when I was 19 I worked in the old Marcos part-time and loved it so much I quit my government job a year later to work in Marcos full-time. I was mainly on reception or bar and eventually I ended up doing Little Marcos too, dressing up as Marco Bear and doing the hokey cokey. But it was by far the most fun job I've ever had. Marcos used to host 2 pool rooms (31 tables), a full-size competition snooker table, 2 private snooker rooms. Fitness classes, squash courts, a sports bar, a cafe, Little Marcos and the first free weight gym of it's kind in Edinburgh. I remember one night we had Snow Patrol playing downstairs, KT Tunstall playing upstairs and XFM DJs Paul and Fraser playing in the main bar - not too shabby. 

I was absolutely gutted when the main building was demolished and student accommodation built, I had long since left to pastures new but it was a huge part of my life (cheesy I know) so hearing it was returning was just fantastic news.

So yesterday whilst standing in what was the old kitchen looking into the new bar it was quite surreal. The new bar is nice, clean, fresh, and a decent selection of beer starting from £3 a pint which isn't bad at all for being in town. There's even Goose! 

There's also a good selection of bar food, pizza, nachos, chips, again all reasonably priced. Although I did miss the mini TVs on the bar taps that the old place had, those were ingenious. 

The new pool hall is situation downstairs underneath the bar, make sure you stop for a 'selfie' with Marco Bear on your way down.

And also check out the history of Marcos on the walls. 

Did you know Bruce 'The Boss' Springsteen trained in the gym at once!? 

The new hall is hugely different from the old ones, and hugely different from any pool hall I've been in before. 

We had a few games, ending  in a 2-1 victory to Jamie, was pretty cool being the first people to ever play on table #1 though. I think there are about 17 pool tables and prices start at just £5 an hour. So in all honesty, get yourself and your mates along for some eats, drinks and pool stat! 
The official opening is Wednesday 5th November.

One of my favorite parts of the night - this picture. 

I would honestly have a copy in my flat if I knew who the illustrator was. 

Guts, Ghosts & Gore Oh My! Edinburgh Dungeons Review

When I was asked recently if I fancied popping along to Edinburgh Dungeons I absolutely jumped at the chance. I LOVE all things scary (we're currently watching 'Would You Rather' on NetFlix) so couldn't wait to sample the guts, ghosts and gore of Auld Reekie.

Being a local I have been to the Dungeons before but it was a very, very long time ago so I was looking forward to seeing how much it had changed. I wasn't disappointed.  From the first few steps inside I was feeling a little nervous. The ambience, the creepy music, the decor, all fantastic.  

The tour was filled with Scottish history, from Burke & Hare to William Wallace, the Cannibalistic Bean family and much, much more. 

I don't want to give too much away, there were certainly more than a couple of jumps & screams from our group, myself & Jamie included and you have to go in with an open mind because they do pick on members of the audience. Jamie ended up in front of the judge and one of Sawney Beans creepy-as sons wanted me to be his girlfriend. It was a great laugh. The staff were fantastic and it's definitely something I'd recommend. 

Our whole tour lasted about 1.5hrs and with tickets costing from just £9.50 for kids and £10.95 for adults (online pre-booking), there's also special offers for Family and Group tickets - it's definitely worth it. 

After the tour you do have an opportunity to buy some pictures that are taken of you during the tour. We got a picture from the final part of tour, the Drop Dead, it wasn't the most flattering of me but I think it captured exactly how I felt. 

Maybe if enough of you lovely people click through to the Dungeons link I'll share it with you all. Until then it's staying safely on the fridge. 

*disclaimer: I was given two free tickets for the purpose of reviewing the Edinburgh Dungeons. All views are my own and all reviews are 100% honest.