My first blog post from outside England. It's north of the border for this post. Destination: Edinburgh, Scotland - home of the brilliantly named Illegal Jack's.



I first became aware of Illegal Jack's South West Grill earlier this year when I came across some online reviews about Mexican inspired food in Edinburgh. The reviews were both positive and negative, so I tweeted such together with a link to the Illegal Jack's website.

I soon received an @ reply from the man behind Illegal Jack's via Twitter and have followed them on the social networking site ever since. They are into social media in big way and are well worth following via Twitter ( @illegaljacks ) for a take on a whole range of topics.

With some annual leave and a short notice trip to Glasgow and the Isle of Mull, I decided to book a flight home to London from Edinburgh in order to check out Illegal Jack's. In fact, the majority of this blog post is being typed on my iPad aboard a British Airways flight from Edinburgh to London City Airport.

Catching a train from Glasgow Queen Street in the early afternoon of Friday, July 16, 2010, I was soon at Edinburgh Haymarket station and taking the short stroll to the restaurant on Lothian Road. The large site, which was previously a badly maintained Pizza Hut, is unusually large for a burrito place and comes across as a sort of a fast-food / full-restaurant hybrid.

The menu is larger than almost all places I've been to before with Fajitas, Chilli Bowls and Buffalo Wings being additions to the standard fayre. I highly recommend the chilli by the way, it is really good!

I warned Illegal Jack's that I was coming and was greeted with this reserved table...!



This place, being Scottish and all, is a little different. Whilst food is ordered at the counter, it is usually brought to your table when ready. A different take to most production line burrito places (which I prefer to be honest) but it does give you time to relax and settle down. My burrito arrived promptly and it was huge! When I say huge I mean California huge and that's an impressive claim!
 


So what of my first Scottish burrito? It was pretty good. Tasty and satisfying but with maybe a little too much rice in proportion to the other ingredients. The salsa had a good combination of heat and flavour though it could have been a little hotter for my tastes. I was impressed by the choice of Louisiana hot sauce taking the place of the more usual Cholula. A good choice.

I'm really glad I took the time to visit Illegal Jack's. They do things a little differently in Scotland and they've got a good thing going. It's great to see Mexican inspired food available in Edinburgh and even better to know that they sell good burritos. They are currently gearing up for the Edinburgh Festival with hopes to feed some of the swollen population that the city gets at that time.

Based on my first visit I'll give Illegal Jack's a respectable 7/10. As a result I can now answer the big question... Yes, you can get a good burrito in Scotland! Next time you're in Edinburgh, do be sure to head up Lothian Road to check them out.