Dining & Meals for "Week in Scotland"
Yes, I am a little OCD, and I admit it, and Yes, I plan to enjoy all the foods of Scotland. That said, I have battled my weight all my life and am currently at a good weight. Yay! Something that helps me succeed is planning ahead. That way I am not wasting calories on something dumb and replaceable, and getting to thoroughly enjoy all the good stuff!
So, we have three hotels, and none of them have any information online on what the heck they serve for breakfast. Does anyone have info on what the breakfast for the Kimpton Blyworth Square, Kingsmill Hotel, and the Intercontinental Edinburgh The George?
Then we have the tour group meals, including welcome and farewell dinners, along with other lunches and dinners. Insights into them?
Last category are things like Day #2 & 4 hotel dining "at your leisure". How the heck does this work? What menu are they working off of?
Beyond that, I would welcome recommendations for all the "on our own" meals. Any great finds out there?
Thanks for putting up with my OCD, and TIA for being kind. 
Comments
Sherill you are funny. Great idea to plan. Because I always put on weight on Tauck tours, I make myself eat a very small breakfast, which I do at home, however good it looks. I watch Ute slim people pile food on their plates with envy, but I, disgusted when they leave half of it. When the more unusual foods appear at lunchtime and dinner, I feel less full and guilty. Lunches are long and large, which is such a waste of valuable touring time. If it’s buffet it’s worse, if you are at the end of the line, you wait and wait while people stand in front of the food deciding what it is, whether they want to eat or try, it drives me crazy! I prefer the days where you chose lunch in advance and it’s served right away. Just my humble thoughts.
Sherrill, we did this tour in Jun and I wrote a long review that included a couple of recommendations for meals on your own in Edinburgh, but to answer your concerns:
All three hotels provided breakfast buffets with hot items either available or to order. They all had fresh fruit, yogurt, cereals, porridge, breads/pastries, eggs, various pork products, juice/coffee/tea, etc . The best was the Blythswood Square but all were adequate.
Our welcome dinner was in a private room at the Blythswood. Photo of menu below. It was excellent.
Farewell was also in a private dining room at the Intercontinental. Soso. We had family style salad. Beef and salmon served buffet style and I think vegetables. A dessert. Hopefully your tour will have a better meal.
The Scottish Highland evening in Kingsmill - photo of the menu below. You also got to sample haggis.
We had two lunches provided. Day 2 Creiff Hydro hotel - there were options. Lunch at Ballachulish on day 3 choices of chicken, fish fillet or a pasta. Dessert was either apple crumble or cheesecake. Lunch on Day 4 was Scottish High tea with sandwiches, savories, and sweets. Lunch Day 5 was soup, sandwiches and sweets at the cafeteria at Blair Castle.
When Tauck says hotel dining on your own you basically get to pick whatever you want from the hotel menu unless they have a special one just for Tauck. They didn't on this tour. Links below to the current menus. Both were excellent.
Menu for Blythswood Iasg
https://www.iasgrestaurant.com/menus/
Menu for Kingsmill
https://www.kingsmillshotel.com/dining/conservatory-restaurant/
Hope this helps.
Looks like lots of food coming my way.
One of my dining out tricks is to order an appetizer as a started, and then a second appetizer instead of the entree. Not sure how well that will work on this trip, but thank you both for sharing insights to give me a good head start.
Oh, and what will I find as "coffee" at breakfast?
I just drink regular coffee with hot milk which I didn't have trouble getting.
Sherrill, I went on the Week in Scotland a year ago. Every hotel has excellent service, food, bath products (no need to bring shampoos etc) hairdryers, dining, breakfasts, everything you need etc etc. It's a great first time to Scotland tour. I had excellent cell service, I have TMobile and got the international plan so could call anywhere and unlimited text and data. Cell service is good in Scotland. Have a nice trip.
@Cathy_B Thank you for your insights!