Mac and Wild | Great Titchfield St, W1W

So...I am kind of obsessed with Haggis. I just wanted to get that out of the way because, without this knowledge, the fervent romanticism woven throughout this little review would perhaps come as some sort of shock. And my (embarrassingly) strong feelings for Haggis are not the kind of thing I would like to shock anyone with - such is the power of my feels. 

This love bloomed while I was studying at St Andrews, where I first tried Haggis and ended up as a founding and integral member of the Haggis Appreciation Society. I know. Get me. The society essentially consisted of my friends who then cooked Haggis. It was basically my way of making sure that I was getting enough Haggis in my diet, and in many ways, validating the love I had for it by gathering a group of people around me who supposedly felt the same way. Though, their love was no competition for mine. Let's just make that clear. 

And I'll tell you what, it breaks my little heart when people are put off by the mere notion of what Haggis is. If you like sausages, you can eat a fucking Haggis. Similar principle, except that Haggis is manna sent from the gods (AKA, the butcher), delivered on a pillow of euphoric, foodie bliss. 

And this, my friends, is why I suggested heading on down to Mac and Wild for a monthly brunch we hold with my lovely lady pals. Mac and Wild, in Fitzrovia, apparently brings 'the best of Scotland's product South of the border'. Music to my ears, my friend, music to my ears. They are the proud purveyors of the Veni-Moo burger (one beef, one venison patty) which was voted the UK and London's Best Burger in 2016. They serve over 200 whiskies if that tickles your pickle and, aside from Haggis being showcased in various forms, they serve Tattie Scones with their Scottish Breakfast. Tattie Scones are a potato based griddle scone, always served in the shape of a quarter of a circle. They're great. And quite heavy. 

Not only this, but Mac and Wild are keen on sharing the story of where all of their meat comes from, we have Salmon from Loch Duart and Pork from Petley Farm. Which, I feel is so important now, in our desensitised times, where meat comes ready-plastic-wrapped in the supermarket and some people can't even touch the meat that they cook with, or to eat meat off the bone - I have touched on this previously. N.B. Their Haggis is from John M Munro in Dingwall in case you were wondering (and I know you were). 

Before I even got there, there were issues with our booking - apparently, it hadn't been made...Which brings me on to another point, when you make a booking here, a couple days before they send you an email with a link to click in order to confirm your booking - which I assure you, I had done. How much nicer is it to receive a call, confirming your booking? And that way, you can avoid the potential issue which occurred when the girls arrived. Luckily they did have a table free for us and the staff were very nice. Although, due to the 'adverse weather conditions', everyone's favourite phrase from last week, they were unable to do their roast as their meat delivery was stranded elsewhere. Slightly disappointing as they had advertised the roast on their Instagram page, literally 3 hours before we got there, but what do I know...?

I ordered the famous Veni-Moo Burger without the bun, but with extra Haggis on the side, fries and a side salad.  The burger was good, with a fab cheese to burger ratio, meaning that there wasn't a dry bite throughout the meal. The venison obviously elevates this burger and it is deliciously rich, despite being a leaner meat. The cheese is melted onto caramelised onions atop of each patty and, bunless, is served with bearnaise sauce on the side - perfect for dipping chips into. The slab of haggis I ordered was a tad dry...which deflates my haggis-related joy. I know its tricky to keep it moist when its cut into a disk and serving haggis by the spoonful on a burger is highly impractical but, if they did I would rejoice - nothing beats a forkful of steaming, peppery haggis.

To wash it all down, I had bottomless prosecco - we were eating early enough in the day that I figured it would not entirely effect my performance on Monday. The jury is still out on this one. The staff weren't the quickest with re-filling our glasses and we ran down to the bottom of our glasses a couple of times - I feel like when you go bottomless, you want to see less of the bottom of your glass...

I ended my meal with a blue cheese from Highland Fine Cheeses, to be honest by this time, I was a little wavy and the actual name of this blue has escaped me. A delightfully heavy way to end an equally heavy meal.

The damage for 4 (with 2 of us doing bottomless at £18 a pop for 2 hours):

About £135...I forgot to take a piccy of the bill...

Mac and Wild

65 Great Titchfield St, 

Fitzrovia, 

London 

W1W 7PS