prince gastronome. i know what you’re thinking.
no, this is not the location which inspired the film.
there are in actually at least three pubs called the world’s end in the uk (probably more). they’re not a franchise from what i can tell—i guess it’s something people in the uk just do. it sure feels like a franchise given the amount of memorabilia sold inside, reminiscent of hard rock cafes and planet hollywoods. it is claimed that the world’s end is a landmark. it sure tries to make that argument.
i found myself wandering the royal mile for most of this november afternoon, stumbling past the titled pub late in the afternoon. i hadn’t planned on a pub to be honest, but one look at the name convinced me. inside, tables are packed tighter than chickens in an industrial farm. pictures, books, plaques, and statuettes pack the walls to such a degree, they spill onto the ceilings (t-shirts are actually stapled to the ceiling). chalkboards are scattered about with various specials. this felt like a hoarder’s open house.
like a complete gastronomic philistine, i failed to fill my role of a pub patron and just asked for a coke.
the world’s end is considered a tourist attraction strategically and iconically (it’s a word) located at the junction of st mary’s and high street, marking the outer rim of edinburghbackin the sixteenth century. to those that lived in the citybackthen, the outer wall of edinburgh marked the end of their world. in that, one can assume the world’s end can own some metaphorical claim to the name. it makes me wonder if any of the other similarly named pubs can make such a connection.
the more i read up on the history of the pub, the more i came to believe it earned its reputation as a landmark. and if you don’t care about that, they still have wifi. when it came to the food, i’m surprised how productive they are considering that their kitchen looked about the size of a broom closet. given that, i still received my dish in a timely fashion. of course, being a proper pub, the menu was jammed with sandwiches and pasta with a headline reserved for fish and chips. i was instantly hooked on their “haggis, neeps, and tatties”—locally caught macsween’s haggis served with creamy mashed potatoes and bashed neeps (turnips). the delivered plate was simple and delectable. the prices are a little on the expensive side mind you, an obvious inflation for eating at a tourist hot-spot. there also isn’t a lot of variety, which i wouldn’t normally complain about except that only four options on the general menu offers a vegetarian variation. and if you think i’m talking about the salads, you’d be wrong—those all have meat on them. remember this is scotland—their traditional breakfast is five types of meat.
i was asked if i wanted their signature whisky cream sauce and by reflex i said yes. this dish as prepared felt more suited for a proper restaurant, so i appreciated the attention to detail. it also felt properly scottish, though i won’t claim it was authentic in any way on the off chance i get lynched by manic clansmen and beaten to a pulp with bagpipe chanter reeds (that happens, doesn’t it?). all i am saying is that of the twenty six or so options on the main menu, all but six would never been found on a menu in north america.
let’s put things into perspective for a moment; if the worlds end was transplanted brick by brick, word for word to my home town, it would instantly be my favorite pub by such a degree, it would reside in the tallest tower with second place reduced to begging for crumbs and sleeping in the slop drain. however, if such a pub were to be “translated” to canada, it would be larger and hopefully not be plastered with so many self-serving product advertisements. on the other hand, a canadian pub would be a shill for a dozen different brands of alcoholic cooler. take the good with the bad and i would see about the world’s end a thousand times before welcoming a new dawn inside a canadian pub.
food: 4/5
service: 3/5
presentation: 3.5/5
value: 4/5
recommendation: 3.75/5