I had the opportunity to accompany my young friend, Jane, back to college and thus visited St. Andrews for the first time. The winter term had not yet begun and so it seemed eerily empty as we explored the town’s three main streets, South, Market and North, which are normally full of students mulling about. It was a frosty morning – but fortunately not raining — and the shearling boots, extra scarf and heavy coat felt good.
We arrived after dark (which comes early in Scotland in January!) and quickly deposited luggage at Rusacks Hotel which would be home for the next two nights, and strolled the hallowed cobbled streets to dinner at The Seafood Restaurant, a contemporary glass cube enviably perched on a knoll overlooking the sea. During the summer they have an outdoor seating option (which would be preferable based on the smoke produced from its open kitchen on a near empty night). It was a tasting menu and I started with a delicious half dozen oysters with a shallot & sherry sauce followed by a roasted filet of cod.
I stayed in Room #125 which was spacious with 2 queen beds (a rarity in Europe). The hotel has quite a variety of room sizes, views and a few are quirky, so be sure to ask for details! I was assured I would awake to a great view – their best rooms face the 18th hole of the Old Couse and the North Sea beyond. We took a peek at a few other properties – the legendary Old Course Hotel which is definitely where you want to stay if golf is the priority – but has a sprawling corporate feel. Rusacks is right next door to Hotel du Vin so they share the same views, and have a bit more charm but I thought Five Pilmour Place, a small B&B (closed at the moment for winter restoration) also looked promising.
St. Andrews, perhaps best known as a Mecca for golfers, is also a renowned university whose most recent notable alumni include the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. It lies 90 minutes north of Edinburgh and has 7000 students, a third of whom are international. The university is the third oldest in the English speaking world (behind Oxford & Cambridge) and was also the first university in Scotland to admit women in 1892 (although Jane tells me that current enrollment statistics are 70% female and just 30% men!).
When it finally got light around 8 AM, I looked out over the rocky coast of the North Sea- a scene straight out of Chariots of Fire. Everything is within walking distance and so set off to explore not only the college campus but also the town’s 12th Century Cathedral ruins, once the largest building in Scotland for over 700 years.
Hand-masoned stone walls concealed verdant secret gardens and most historic buildings house lecture halls for classes or are sub-let to student flats.
We popped into a local pub, The Criterion, for a warming drink and were tempted to stay for lunch – the atmosphere was cozy but alas our lunch reservations were at The Doll’s House, which is an adorable option with a classic selection such as asparagus with poached eggs and hollandaise, fish & chips and a bacon club sandwich. As you might suspect, I opted for the latter (everything’s better with bacon!).
Another evening we chose The Adamson which was a highlight and highly recommended for outstanding steaks with classic accompaniments. Various cuts of meat are on offer and each was fantastic. Jane, who is quite the budding gourmet and contributing writer to the food blog, Spoon, also suggests: Little Italy and Forgans for great meals in St. Andrew’s.
London:
We bid farewell to St. Andrews for a quick 36 hour layover in London which began with a visit over lunch with friends, Helen and Louise from Original Travel, our amazingly well-connected onsite in The British Isles. They have oodles of cool ideas for visiting London whether it’s your first or 51st visit… highlights from our conversation include: explore the city in vintage Mini Coopers (also available in Edinburgh), a fabulous new cooking school near St. Paul’s Cathedral, estate-to-estate equestrian tours, Glen Close is opening in a remake of “Sunset Boulevard” in April, several good new exhibits opening at the V&A this spring, encounters with the landed gentry in Norfolk and Devon, and a walking tour in the Lake District.
We returned to the “Gorgeous Goring,” my beloved favorite London hotel, where the GM, David Morgan Hewitt welcomed us with a giant bear hug that only he can deliver. A cool new addition to the Goring is the “St. Moritz” verandah bar, an outdoor winter venue with a half dozen tables with white faux fur throws and vintage ski adornments…. so fun and a perfect place for a night cap!
We dined at Nobu, where we savored some of chef/owner, Mark Edwards’ signature dishes like tempura rock shrimp, yellowtail with jalapeno slivers, melt-in-your-mouth wagyu beef and the famous miso black cod. After a morning of catching up on email and other work, we ventured to a more distant neighborhood called Wapping to check out a new exhibit of celebrity-photographer, Annie Leibovitz’s “Portraits: New Women,” that just opened. It’s well worth the 45- minute taxi ride to get there; admission is free and it’s only there until February 7th! (But if you miss it in London, the exhibit will travel to Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Frankfurt, Zurich, Mexico City, San Francisco and New York… see ubs.com/annieleibovitz ). It was a very cool industrial warehouse space (a former hydraulic power station) that had about 20 metal folding chairs and the portraits were presented on two huge screens as a slide show. The new portraits unveiled in London reflect the changes in the roles of women today and feature women of outstanding achievement including artists, musicians, CEOs, politicians, writers and philanthropists. Many of the subjects were recognizable (Barbra Streisand, Jerry Hall, Meryl Streep, Queen Elizabeth, Aung San Suu Kyi) and other ordinary people- but all fascinating as seen through Annie’s lens.
We checked out the oh-so-hot Chiltern Firehouse Hotel and its trendy restaurant which, unexpectedly, featured a lot of southern comfort food items like bacon cornbread with maple syrup compote and shrimp and grits… A Chinese restaurant I’d loved on a previous visit, Kai, in Mayfair was a bit disappointing this go around, but conversely, we were pleasantly surprised by Smiths, a seafood specialty restaurant near our Wapping event venue, which is not known as culinary corner of London. A tian of shrimp and crab and a fresh filet of John Dory made for a fine repast.
As always, we have our finger on the pulse beat and look forward to helping you explore the enchanted British Isles, which hold particular allure for the US traveler.