Festival In The Sky ... photos!

It was over a month ago I dined 100 feet in the air and really can't believe I have taken so long to share the finer details with you. It's been a hectic Summer to say the least.

So one drizzly Saturday back in August, the other half and I went on a little jolly through to Edinburgh to take in the sights of the Festival and unleash the daredevil within by taking part in Festival in the Sky.

Festival in the sky is the 100ft dining experience that some of you may have watched on this years Big Brother and for the period of the Edinburgh Festival it graced West Princes Street Gardens available for any brave foodies to take on!

I was lucky to get quite a special 'flight' on the crane as it was a 45 minute session with Hotel Du Vin chef Matt Powell (who spookily resembles Heston Blumenthal). Before the flight took off we were given a safety chat then we were shown to our seat and strapped in securely. Fortunately the sun split from the skies by the time we were seated and ready to go - perfect weather conditions.

As we took off, I was surprised at how smooth lift off was and how quickly we reached our 100ft limit. We already had a plate of food in front us but we weren't allowed to uncover it until we had reached the sky. In the centre of the table Matt Powell and another chef (can't remember his name for the life of me but he was a lovely man) prepared the main dish and chatted to us about what he was doing. We were also joined on the flight by our host Ben who was there to keep us amused with facts about Edinburgh and make sure our (plastic) glasses were overflowing with Cava :)

Our starter dish was a smoked salmon salad with a selection of cheeses, pate and chutney. It looks delicious, it tasted delicious. Matt then went onto prepare a pork sausage salad which again was very tasty. Despite the good food, nothing took away from the gorgeous views of Edinburgh Castle and the rest of the city.

Before I knew it our 45 minutes had ended and we were on our way back down, satisfyingly full and a little bit tipsy on Cava ... so obviously that called for obligatory post flight cocktails at nearby Tigerlilly.

Festival in the sky was a great experience, much less scary than i had imagined and double the fun.

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