Out and About - Edinburgh Tea Break

A classic girly weekend - Tea, cake, banoffee pie, Prosecco, Cava, shopping...

I just had a lovely girly weekend with one of my very best friends in Edinburgh - my first trip to this fair City and a very pleasant one!  

We shopped 'til we dropped, both admiring all that the city has to offer and doing some window shopping, as well as making some fabulous bargain purchases!  

We were were well set up for our long days of shopping by staying at the delightful Rick's on Frederick Street - a comfy, luxurious twin room with a well-stocked mini bar, organic tea and coffee, a fantastic power shower and White Company toiletries - fabulous!  I particularly liked the purple colour scheme and copious plump pillows on the beds!  

The breakfasts at Rick's were hearty and traditional, providing plenty of energy for our adventures!  Yesterday I had yummy Eggs Benedict with Scottish Smoked Salmon, tea (of course!) and freshly squeezed orange juice, and today a wonderfully filling full Scottish breakfast with grilled bacon, sausage, poached eggs, mushrooms, tomato, potato scone and wholemeal toast - along with two pots of tea and more orange juice, setting me up for the long journey back to Richmond!

We booked using Rick's Sunday Escape Offer - with dinner and a (very good) bottle of Prosecco included in the price of Sunday night's stay, as well as breakfast.  Dinner was also excellent - I had haddock fishcakes which were meaty and filling, served with a light balsamic salad.  Main course was chicken in mushroom and Marsala sauce with sweet potato mash - fresh, comforting and downright delicious!  For dessert we shared a slice of melt-in-the-mouth lemon curd cheesecake with a home-made shortcake base.  

After all our shopping on Saturday, we ate a late lunch in the bar at Rick's, where we munched on a very generous charcuterie and cheese platter with salad, olives, hummus and wholemeal pitta bread, a selection of cheeses (including the creamiest Feta I have ever tasted!) and Parma Ham, Bresaola and Salami.  

We were impressed by the relaxed yet trendy decor and the hotel/bar/restaurant all have a laid-back, fun atmosphere.  The staff were incredibly helpful and friendly and we were impressed by the excellent value of the offer.  We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and will definitely return to Rick's.  We highly recommend it and are both also keen to try their other establishment, Tigerlily.  

On Saturday, we had another tasty meal - this time dinner - at Whigham's Wine Cellars on Hope Street.  I ate home-made chicken liver pate served with Scottish oatcakes, which was meaty and had a lovely taste of fresh herbs.  For main course I had rare roast beef salad, with wonderfully pink slices of the finest Buccleuch Scotch beef.  My friend had a very generous portion of roasted pepper risotto (I sadly couldn't sample it as I'm allergic to peppers) but it looked and smelled delicious and my friend agreed!  We washed it all down with an incredible rose Cava, which was also an appropriately girly shade of pink, and followed the meal with yet more tea!  Thoroughly recommended for the great food and wine, cosy atmosphere and attractive decor.

On Sunday, after walking around Edinburgh all day and lots and lots of shopping, we stopped off at Frederick's Coffee House on Frederick's Street for their famous banoffee pie and a pot of tea.  It was very tasty indeed, and Frederick's Cafe has a lovely, relaxed atmosphere, with a fashionable turquoise/teal interior, comfy sofas and large windows that let in plenty of light.  
I rate each of these establishments very highly and would definitely recommend - I am keen to return with other friends and my husband in the future.

H&M nude heels with metallic toe

Lovely turquoise handbag from Dune

And now on to the shopping!  My friend bought a fabulous turquoise bag from Dune, which fits very nicely into the bright colours trend I talked about in my previous blog post, Personal Shopper- Sunshine and Rainbows.  Recommended by Grazia magazine, no less, we think it's a beauty - I took a photo (top right) of the bag in our lovely room at Rick's!

We also took time to admire the wonderful bright colours in the current Mulberry range - my favourites are the fuchsia pink Bayswater, the fuchsia pink Effie Tote, and the patent yellow Holiday Bayswater.

We got some very on-trend ballerina flats from H&M - combining neutrals/nude colour with a metallic toe - another massive trend this Spring/Summer (featuring at Louis Vuitton, for example) and the theme of my next Personal Shopper post!  Here's a picture of the very pretty and practical shoes (above right).

I also fell in love with (and bought!) this beautiful green blouse from Miss Selfridge, successfully brightening up my wardrobe as well!

It would take a very long blog post to list everything that we saw, loved and purchased, but I hope you enjoyed the highlights and reviews of my favourites, and some thoughts on all the great places to stay, eat and drink.  I look forward to trying more new places and taking many more tea breaks in Edinburgh...

Until next time - hope you enjoy your tea break as much as I did this weekend!

Rachael X