O perfil de lilmizfriz

Valvona and Crolla is just one of those Edinburgh places you have to visit. It’s one of the oldest delis in the UK and is still family owned. Long and thin, the whole places is an absolute assault on the senses - the moment you walk in you can smell the cheeses and sausages and bread and biscuits and coffee… all piled on shelves that reach right up to the high ceilings. There’s a giant wine section; gifts; fresh produce; a bakery section; shelf upon shelf of pasta… Really good-quality stuff, with staff who miraculously seem to know everything about the place, despite its size and complexity. Things for students to look out for: free bread samples, so that you can try the delicious balsamic vinegar and olive oil. There’s also a rather posh cafe right at the back, which I’ve only been to once and long ago, but I can still remember the mouthwatering pastry I had. A word of warning - for Christmas presents go now - the narrow walkway just gets too busy in December!

So far, Edinburgh Property Management have been pretty excellent! They’ve sorted everything out as soon as we’ve brought it to their attention and they were really helpful in all the pre-moving in arrangements. I always feel that people only show their true colours in a crisis, however. So, of course, to benefit the Qype network at large, I thought I would test them. I left a tap on all night (the waterboard had turned the water off, and then turned it back on again at like 4am!) and managed to flood three floors of my building. All in the name of science, of course… yes….
So, the result? Well, on the negative side, Edinburgh Property Management had not given us an emergency contact number, and directory enquiries tells us the one they have is ex-directory. Not helpful. BUT, on the positive side, once we got hold of them they were excellent! Really calm and surprisingly friendly, they sent someone round right away, who was really positive about the situation. And the best news? Their insurance covers and damage, and they’re not going to fine us! What a nice letting agency!

So, I just got back from my first Edinburgh tea-house experience. And how do I feel? Relaxed. Soooo relaxed. Chai Teahouse is such a calming place: it smells delicately of flowers, it's very clean and light, the music playing was some quiet Nina Simone (which won me over immediately) and the tea was just amazing! I had the strawberry lotus tea, which came in a glass tea-pot so you could see the flower unfold as it brewed. I can definitely recommend it! The guy working there was very calm and helpful, too. There's a massive tea menu with everything you could possibly want on it, they do take-away and they also sell beautiful boxes of the teas, as well as tea equipment - special teapots and spoons and stuff. I had a perfectly lovely afternoon there.

One portion at Noor really is enough for two very hungry people! It's delicious, the service is good and they just keep filling your bag with free extras - watch out for the spicy onions though, my friend LOVES spice and always wolfs them down before remembering a stand-by fire-quenching glass of milk is necessary! Much to my amusement, of course...

I've been to a good few 21st birthdays here recently - the best being those who had ceilidh bands, as the function room has a good stage and a big dance floor. Apparently it's £150 to rent the function room for a night, but it's a nice, clean, well-decorated place that's been recently refurbished, and the private bar is good, with really excellent staff. The only problem we had was that a buffet would cost a whopping £6 a head and that there was little or no air conditioning - a big problem for sweaty ceilidh-ers! Our favourite part is the giant toy polar bear that greets guests at the door, although I know several people who intend to make him a feature of their flat! I hear the hotel is decent, as is the restaurant. Go soon, or miss out on polar bear action!

I thought I knew all the vintage places in Edinburgh, but somehow I had managed to miss Herman Brown! A tragedy! I'll have to make up for lost time, how awful ;) ! The place is totally amazing - it's all really good-quality vintage and wonderfully wearable. The accessories are my favourite bit so far, I think. There are cases and cases of gorgeous jewelery and beautiful unusual objects: I've been dreaming of the mother of pearl purse... there are bags and hats and shoes everywhere, scarves and handkerchiefs and purses... The only downside of this place is its position: it's right on "the pubic triangle", the place that is home to many of edinburgh's seediest strip clubs.

The front room of Godiva is full of wonderful vintage-style clothing and accessories by brand new designers: generally beautifully cut and a lot more interesting than the high street, while still being really wearable, and the prices aren't too bad at all - similar to high street price tags, in fact! The back room is a great vintage collection: unlike Armstrongs and the like the items have been well selected, so while there's not much space, every item is something covetable. The prices are actually a fair amount lower than Armstrong's too, especially with the 10% student discount, and if you're a textiles student you've got it made - there are good deals especially for you! Definitely worth a visit.

Thai Lemongrass is where my flatmate and I go for a very special treat. This is partly because the staff care for you like you're some sort of extra-special royalty, and partly because the food is just so good. I first went to 'Lemongrass when I was freshly back from having spent the Summer in Vietnam and Thailand, and was missing the cuisine badly, and this place was still impressive! You know you're onto a good thing when the food tastes as good as it does it its place of origin. It's a really beautiful place, too, with a real sense of the famous Thai hospitality, and the bar is very well stocked. Great for dates or indulgent occasions.

Admittedly, our time here did start on a bit of a bad foot. We were loudly asked for ID in front of all the other customers when we had already ordered our drinks and sat down, which was a bit embarrassing, especially as I was the youngest, at age 21. It was also not between 5pm-8pm, so our cocktails were pretty damned expensive. The cocktails themselves weren't too great either, with the gin mojito being just horrible. The service was, however, pretty good, although somewhat cold at the bar, and ID fiasco aside. I can imagine this place would be just right for besuited individuals, but it just wasn't our scene: we were all very glad we were serendipitously dressed in a staid manner with respectable black dresses and such. The decor was dull and dark and the whole thing felt a bit like an 80s yuppie experience. Perhaps we were just there on a bad night, as I've heard a few other good reviews of the place, and the review below sounds like a totally different place, but we're certainly not going to risk going back.

Bristo Square is Edinburgh's unofficial skate park. It has absolutely no facilities whatsoever, it's just a paving-stoned square with walls that are good for doing tricks on. I'm not exactly sure why all the cool skate kids choose to hang about here, except that I think the nearest real skate park is in Musselburgh, but they do. Always. You'd think the almost-constant stream of students (it's part of the university campus) or the scary drunks that sit at the edge would put them off, but it doesn't. It is THE place to skate, or to set up bmx jumps, or to sit moodily watching. I should imagine it's a great place for skater-types to meet like-minded folk. However, it's also a place of great entertainment value for the students wandering around: "Look, look, he's gonna fall, he's gonna fall -oh - ooooooow Nice." Ah, the happy / sadistic sport of guess-the-broken-bone. Thankfully, the university medical centre is just next door.