Battle of the Gilded Balloon’s food vans
Thankfully the Gilded Balloon’s outside bar has a good choice of takeaway food vans, which are extremely handy when rushing from show to show. Here are The Edinburgh Blog’s ratings for the three main contenders.
In 1st place we have “The Wee Hut”, which offers a range of traditional German sausages. In the name of research The Edinburgh Blog tried one each of their bratwurst and Bavarian smokie. Both were absolutely delicious and cooked to absolute perfection; surely helped by the German efficiency of using an electronic thermometer. Their sauerkraut is great too, which is a 50p supplement to the base cost of a sausage in bap for £3.50. A deserved winner.
In 2nd place is the “Well Hung and Tender” burger van, which always has the largest queues. It’s hard to fault the well cooked, pure Aberdeen Angus burgers they serve here. The cheese and onions are good additions. Even at £4 a burger it still seems ok value, considering the high fees burger vans like this must be charged to pitch their van.
In 3rd place is “The Scottish Scullery”, which was something of a disappointment. A venison burger, with cheese, was ordered for £4.40. Unfortunately they were out of burgers, but did offer venison sausages as a substitute. The end result were venison sausages which had been split into two - their exterior had a concrete like texture and the taste was nondescript. Very poor, although their range of shortbread and pies did look better.
For dessert, the crepe van, with their freshly made crepes, unlike their Grassmarket counterparts, is worth a look. The consistency is variable, but tasty nonetheless - as are the mini-doughnuts on offer from the doughnut van at the Gilded Balloon’s outside bar. All very more-ish!
Really glad Rhod Gilbert didn’t win the if.comedy award. He cancelled his show to attend the awards ceremony, only he forgot to tell the audience, who all turned up. He even let people buy tickets two days after the nominations were announced. This shows he is unreliable and cares more for awards than audiences so it is poetic justice that he didn’t win. Haha Rhod. Who’s laughing now?
Shame you didn’t get to taste the burgers at the Scottish Scullery tried one and they were amazing. The balloon was a great venue (even with the rain), looking forward to next year.
What! the creperie not at the number 1 spot what happened there??? Their crepes are huge and i have to say they definitely don’t skimp on the fillings, they were the best i ever had! and I’ve tried quite a few other places.
And they do great Belgian waffles too, all top quality stuff. I was at the Gilded Balloon for a while, so yes i did try all the other foods on offer. But the creperie beats them all hands down and im generally a burger kinda guy! my fave was the special of Roast Chicken with mozzarella, olives and pesto omg to die for!!!
And the guys who work there, what a top bunch of people. we had some top banter with them while waiting for our food to be cooked to order right in front of us! all fresh and the place was nice and clean too!
Check out their website www.eventfood.co.uk they’ve been at the Gilded balloon for 4 or 5 years i think? the place wouldn’t be the same without the creperie out the front, cant wait for this year!