Check out what's in the window of Oink, a small storefront in Edinburgh's Grassmarket.
The place seats about two people at a table in the front and three people at a counter in the back. Sitting at the counter and savoring a hog roast roll, I noticed plenty of passers-by stopping at the window and gawking, some with a look of disgust (vegetarians? carnivores who don't like to see what their food looks like before it gets to their plate?), others with the heavy-lidded eyes of a Homer Simpson thinking, "mmmm...pig...". And mmmmmm, pig, is the right response.
The hog roast roll comes in three sizes: the piglet, the smallest, kid-sized portion; the regular sized oink; and the supersized grunter. I went for the oink - after considering a piglet for a microsecond - and got a generously sized sandwich with heaps of shredded moist pork on a potato roll. But wait, there's more: three layers, including a savory sage and onion stuffing, apple sauce, and bronzed crispy crackling the size of a large mailing label. (Chili relish was one of the other options.) A ginger beer from Australia - go figure - provided a bit of snap.
I'm not entirely sure what makes for a Scottish hog roast, but I'm guessing that the pork here tastes so good because the owners raise the pigs themselves. (Boy, if I could get a hold of some of that pork back in NYC, I'd eat it with some white rice, a sauteed vegetable like baby bok choi, and a Thai condiment of fish sauce, lime juice, and chili peppers - that would be terrific, sigh.) Definitely a place to return to the next time I'm in Ediburgh, and a two greasy thumbs up recommendation to all you non-vegetarians.
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