At Makars we are all about authentic quality ! A good example of this is in our homemade haggis.

Unlike the majority of Scottish restaurants – that bizarrely boast about using supermarket industrial brand of haggis pudding made from cheap cuts, bulked out with oats and masked with spices – we make our own haggis (meat and veggie) each morning to a specific premium recipe.

Our haggis development is in memory of a wonderful Edinburgh Tour Guide called Alan Chalmers, who sadly died in 2023. Alan knew everything about traditional Scottish cooking, and the difference between romanticised Scottish historical nonsense and realism.

You might hear that haggis is only made from sheep,  but sheep farming was only introduced to Scotland on a large scale in the 1870s when landlords kicked tenant farmer of their land in pursuit of profit. This led to mass starvation and emigration to the new world (primarily USA/Canada) but was none too popular with the poor starving locals left behind.

Traditional Scottish haggis is really from the “pluck”: lung, heart and liver of any animal and according to Alan would have almost certainly originated with venison killed on hunting parties.

In this tradition, at Makars, we create a balanced mix that is not too gamey for our guests and does not need to be covered in heavy spices.

This is what goes into our haggis :

Ox Heart: Gives a deeper colour and beautiful meaty flavour. This is the heart of the recipe

Sheep lung: sheep lungs are tender and add lightness to the dish

Ox Liver: sheep liver is crumbly and requires more fat to be added. Ox Liver has a deep red colour

Porridge Oats: GF

Beef suet mince: from grass fed cattle

Buckwheat: to give a nutty flavour and it’s GF

Onion (not much though), salt, pepper, spices

WHAT’S BETTER THAN HUNTING DOWN THE BEST HAGGIS PROVIDER IN THE COUNTRY ?

CREATING OUR OWN FAVOURITE RECIPE !

with our Chief Makar John and our head chef Euan