A long, long time ago, in Scotland, lived a man who loved haggis so much, that he composed an ode to the Scottish delicacy. His name was Robert Burns, and he later became the country’s national poet.
Every year, on the 25th of January (the birthday of the poet), Scottish people around the world celebrate Burns night. Of course, haggis is central to the meal, and the person with the strongest poetic abilities recites the famous ode. But… I thought, what if we could celebrate Burns Night in Vienna? And here we are, less than a week away from the big night!
What?
Scottish Burns Night, a 5-course tasting menu that takes you on a journey through the modern food of Scotland.
When?
25th of January 2020.
Where?
Noble Savage Restaurant, 15 Salzgries, Vienna
How much?
€60 per person
A little background
Contrary to common belief, Scotland is an oasis of great food. Its geography (and the fact that only 20% of the land is inhabited) certainly helps. The animals have enough space to roam happily, and the 10,000km of coastline gives access to a wide variety of great fresh fish and seafood.
Haggis is one of those dishes that very few people attempt to make themselves. In Scotland, every gourmet has his favourite butcher, and so did I, back in my Edinburgh days. But no butcher in Vienna sells haggis, and anyway, the Scottish national dish is a little known delicacy here. Plus, isn’t joy about the sum of moments that take you out of your comfort zone, at least a little? Igor (chef and owner of Noble Savage) and I surely agree on that last point, which is why we decided to embark upon a culinary adventure and prepare everything from scratch, in his restaurant’s kitchen! We will be making haggis, black pudding and more, all with high quality produce, which is Igor’s central focus for Noble Savage.
This banquet is not one for purists. Igor and I will bring our own twist to Scottish classics, to (hopefully) lure you into loving this (sadly) underrated cuisine.
Burns night in Vienna. A Haggis feast: the menu
We’ll start our journey in the Scottish lochs, if not to find Nessie, at least to grab some rainbow trout that we will cure and serve next to a scone and lemon curd.
From the lochs, we go East, to Dundee, where they grow delicious apples for a refreshing tartare that will make its way into the second course. We’ll then travel all the way to Orkney, an archipelago famous for its scallops. The stop up north won’t be long, for what better pairing is there for this beautiful protein, other than black pudding? For that, we’ll go South-West, to Stornoway. And there it is, the second course.
Next stop: Glasgow. Legend says that sometime in the 70s, a customer of a curry house in Glasgow complained about the meat being too dry. To please the upset man, the chef mixed in some tomato soup and spices, and this is how the tikka masala was born. We have decided to replace the ubiquitous chicken with something far more precious: veal sweetbreads.
From Glasgow, we’ll go into the heart of Scotland, the Highlands, reaching the pinnacle of the feast: the glorious haggis, next to its neeps (turnips) and tatties (mashed potatoes), accompanied by a rich single malt whisky sauce.
We will end our culinary journey on the Royal Mile in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, admiring the bagpipe players and their beautiful kilts, indulging in butterscotch ice cream and melt-in-your-mouth shortbread. Sat between Edinburgh Castle, at one end of the Royal Mile, and the Queen’s Holyrood Palace at the other, won’t we each feel a little more of a… Noble Savage?
N.B.: As much as we would have liked to have access to the nice ingredients Scotland has to offer, they would have lost their freshness by the time they reached Vienna. Therefore, the origin of ingredients in our culinary journey is fictitious and has the sole purpose of giving you a better understanding of Scotland. We will source our ingredients locally and will only use the best and freshest produce.
Don’t forget to book your table
Noble Savage Restaurant can only host 25 guests, so be quick and book your table. You can reserve your seat right here.
Looking forward to feeding you,
Ioana
