Wholesome and affordable tatties hit the spot

Submitted by edg on Mon, 23 Aug '10 8.34pm
Rating
4

Filled tatties seem like a particularly British addition to the fast food universe. I seem to remember a period in the Eighties where Edinburgh was dotted with jacket potato shops. The Baked Potato shop at the top of Cockburn street is one of the survivors, mainly thanks to the hundreds of grated cheese, pineapple, and onion potatoes I lived off when working just round the corner from here.

Ok, so there's quite a few other fans of the hearty, homely fare that you can find here. It's very central being just off the High Street, in the Old Town. Vegetarians are naturally drawn here, not so much because of the complete absence of once living, breathing beasties, but because of the impressive selection of fillings to choose from - including (among my favourites) veggie haggis, chilli, spanish armada (a tomato based salad), cottage cheese, grated cheddar and aforementioned "CPO", which are tucked into the jackets of spuds whose innards have already been mashed to a cream with either garlic or plain butter. You can also mix and match fillings.

This is no epicurean feast, merely a way of filling up if you're out on the town. Lesser appetites might even find the normal portion - a large, or two medium sized filled potoatoes - too much. You can also sit in, if there are not too many of you (well, more than two), or if the weather's nice you can wander down to Prince Street Gardens or up to Hunter Square to eat el fresco. At busy times of day, it's not unknown for there to be queues to the Baked Potato Shop.