Lunch at The Stables Kitchen, Hopetoun House

When Terry and I headed to Hopetoun House, in South Queensferry, last week, we WERE just intending to take some photos for a blog campaign I was working on at the time. No we were, really, I swear!

But then, of course, The Stables Kitchen pulled us in – which shouldn’t really have come as a surprise really, because, well, that’s what always happens. We’ve been there for afternoon tea in the past, (Which I really recommend, by the way…) but this time we decided to try out the lunch menu – which turned out to be just as good.

I started off with a strawberry lemonade, which tasted every bit as good as it looked, them moved on to the Club Sandwich, while Terry had a tasty little chickpea wrap with salad. We shared the Scotch Egg in the middle of the table (Yeah, I know what I’ve said in the past about sharing food, and I stand by it, but Terry’s the one person I’m happy to share with – mostly because we don’t have to be polite with each other, and be all, “WHY NO, OF COURSE I DON’T MIND YOU HAVING THAT LAST PIECE!” when actually? We totally DO mind. Oh, and also because he lets me steal his chips, and always gets a second spoon when he orders desert – there’s not many men would do that, let me tell you…), although, honestly, I’d have happily have eaten it all by myself, too.

(In other news, my weight-loss attempt stalled a bit this week, I WONDER WHY? I currently have just four pounds left to go until I’m back to my pre-pregnancy weight, and, somewhat unsurprisingly, those final few pounds are proving the hardest to shift. Er, partly because places like The Stables WILL insist on luring me in, obviously, but also because I just want to eat ALL THE THINGS right now. Woe!)

Anyways! I’m no foodie, so I’m not going to pretend to give you some in-depth review here, but I do really love this place, and not just for the food: the building is, as the name suggests, the old stable block for Hopetoun House, and it’s been really nicely converted, with lots of the original features retained, so it’s just a much nicer than average cafe-attached-to-a-stately-home, basically.

Speaking of stately homes, we didn’t go into the house itself this time, because we’ve seen it before –  we like to visit Hopetoun a few times a year, mostly just to walk around the beautiful grounds – but it’s also worth a visit if you’re in the area: and especially if you’re an Outlander fan, because it’s yet another one of the Outlander filming locations dotted around central Scotland, and Lallybroch itself is also located on the Hopetoun estate. (We’ve not been yet, but it’s definitely on the list for this spring/summer, and has been every since I found out it was so close!) This time, as we were paying to get into the grounds, I noticed the visitor book had a section asking people where they’d heard about the house, and every single person who’d signed it had just written, “OUTLANDER”, so, yeah – it’s a must-see if you’re a fan of the show. And, you know, if you’re just a fan of really good club sandwiches and strawberry lemonade, it’s probably a must-see for you, too…