Member Article

Pipers piping at TyneMet College to celebrate Burns Night

Catering staff and students at TyneMet College cooked and served a fully packed Retreat Bistro with an array of Scottish delicacies to celebrate Burns Night.

As tradition states, the Piper, piping ‘A Man’s A Man for A That’, a Robbie Burns song, lead the ‘Procession of the Haggis’.

The procession came to halt in the middle of the restaurant where Richard Young, The Master of the Haggis, enthralled the guests with the time honoured Burns poem ‘To a Haggis’ and as tradition states the haggis was dramatically cut open when he reached the line ‘an cut you up wi ready slight!’.

Following this spectacle the guests, serenaded by the Piper, tucked in their Haggis, neeps and tatties taster. The rich and tasty menu for the evening gave guests a choice of cock-a-leekie soup or Cullen skink for starters, smoked salmon or Scottish beef and vegetable pie for mains and Tipsy Laird trifle or steamed ‘clootie’ pudding with custard for dessert all finished off with coffee and traditional shortbread.

The Piper, Ian Nelson, and The Master of the Haggis, Richard Young, have performed this ceremony at TyneMet College for the last 4 years but actually have over 50 years’ experience each in performing this Burn’s tradition and have performed in countries such as Russia, India, South Africa and Thailand.

The students, who cooked, prepared and served the food during the evening included apprentices, all were supervised by industry expert teachers who closely monitored the students’ performance as part of their on-going assessment.

The Retreat Bistro and Coffee Shop at the Coast Road Campus is open to the public, pop in for coffee and lunch or book to enjoy a three or five course fine dining experience on regular Thursday themed evenings. All food is prepared, cooked and served by our supervised students.

To sample delicious cuisine at affordable prices, to make a reservation, or to book the restaurant as a private venue, please telephone 0191 229 5237.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lisa Dawson .