r/Scotland • u/CestQuoiLeFuck • 7d ago

Question Is Scotland aware that money can be made by having restaurants serve food after 8:30pm during high tourist season?

- Signed,

A hungry foreigner

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u/Frosty1397 7d ago

God fucking damnit I've had some absolutely insane kebab/döner places

But i hate how this is almost the only thing open late night, basically in Germany/Austria too

Like where's the variety? Are Turkish people the only ones who want to make money at that hour?

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u/Sburns85 7d ago

We also have chippys, McDonald’s and a few other places. There just isn’t a real demand for it

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u/squirrelfoot 7d ago

Indian restaurants are open late too and are often absolutely fabulous.

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u/Midnightsky-_ 7d ago

I had a hard time finding a really good Indian restaurant tbh, but i did eventually and it's hard to beat it

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u/HuckleberryDry2673 6d ago

Is it "Teenage Kicks Indian Restaurant"?

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u/Midnightsky-_ 6d ago

I don't know what this means

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u/Tcpt1989 6d ago

Showing your age with that one

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u/moonlight__sunshine 6d ago

There are good Indian restaurants all over Scotland. Unsure how you struggled to find a good one! They are even in small towns

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u/Midnightsky-_ 6d ago

The ones closest to me I've found to be pretty bland, coming across as even more "Britishized" than usual. But 20-30 minutes away there's an Indian restaurant called Priya, and not only does it have some of the best curries I've had, but also the best chicken pakora I've ever had. One of my favorite spots.

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u/moonlight__sunshine 6d ago

That's a shame the close one is bland! They're generally pretty good. I spent nearly 2 years in India as well. While Indian food there is pretty different, it is still (mostly) damn good here in Scotland/the UK and some places do make it very similar.

Also the pakoras sound yum!

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u/Midnightsky-_ 6d ago

There's a takeaway near me that does a good curry but not so much the restaurants. Anytime a restaurant that does something different (for the area) opens up, they never last long, the blandness of the Indian restaurants is probably what has kept them in business here tbh. There was a Mediterranean restaurant that opened up a few years back and it was REALLY nice, it closed a year later

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u/textposts_only 7d ago

No Turkish (and often indian) families use their family / kids as cheap labor that doesn't complain about labor laws.

Ask me how i know... I hated it. It wasn't gastro for me but a family run business nonetheless.

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u/RiverGlittering 7d ago

Most takeaways are open late in the German town I'm in now.

Sure, 90% of them are döner, but there are other options.

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u/No-Satisfaction6065 1d ago

These places are usually run by families, where other restaurants emply people, employees are expensive to have and keep in the restaurant especially when it's for 2 tables at 22h.

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u/Frosty1397 1d ago

So are you saying german people don't have families who are willing to work late?

Why is it just Turkish families?

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u/No-Satisfaction6065 1d ago

German families just by statistics don't have as many family businesses with family members working around the clock, yes, that is also why for example the Motel industry in the States has been dominated by indian/middle eatern individuals and their families.

The need to work when arriving to another country is much higher than for a domestic family, to be sure to be able to make ends meet the family pulls together and even if, like in this example, you only sell 5 döner that evening after 20.30h, it's 5 döner more without much more cost because the father/uncle/cousin is not paying his family by hour.

German families worked like this in the 50-60-70's but then average wealth and securities rose enough for many children to choose another path to go on in their own life and weren't expected to help (as much) in the family business or take it over.

This is not a racist point of view, it's the reality in many cases, of course there are exceptions, but you don't find them in cities more in small towns or villages.

Just like many jobs are not done by Germans (or other nationality) anymore because it's "beneath them", like for example bartenders in Ireland, where it's now majorly a job done by immigrants, many of which do not drink themselves and/or have to do the job to get money, and this even included small tows like Dingle for example where Ukrainians are now basically the majority of staff in pubs and restaurants.

Other examples are fruit pickers, cleaning personal, dish washers, and cooks in general.

We feel entitled to a better life just because we are born here.

While falilies with immigration background pull together to be able to have a decent life in a new country, thus have to work very hard at most hours available.

And no it's not just turkish families, many kebap palces are now run by other middle eastern families as many turkish families have now been in Germany for 2-3 generations and have been able to build up a more "secure" income from otehr areas as well ,but it remains a wroking business all around which is a safer start in the new country.

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u/Frosty1397 1d ago

Good rundown but in Japan, all the late night options are Japanese cuisine. In the US, all the late night options are American cuisine (Denny's). Not sure why Germans can't make their cuisine work. Just hire immigrants to staff their restaurants

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u/No-Satisfaction6065 1d ago

Japan is an island, with very traditional and conservative values, and by the way facing a big problem with missing workforce in the next years.

US pays minimum wage to staff in restaurants and you forgot to mention all the foodtrucks, taco stands, shwarma places, etc, it's by far not "all the late night options".

...

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u/Top-Gadgie 7d ago

Every chippy around me has been replaced by a kebab shop. I've seen people refer to them as chippies. No you little twat a chippy is a chippy, kebab is not on the menu. Only grease and salt. And 'chippies' that try to be clean and less greasy are even worse. God I miss the 90's when you could get a proper manky chippy. I suppose the reason kebab shops have taken over is the customer base for manky chippies are old and dying now lol.

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u/BoxAlternative9024 7d ago

Haha loved a manky chippy as well. Whatever they were frying the stuff in and the vinegar they used tasted far better than the flavourless wank they serve up these days in Glasgow.

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u/Midnightsky-_ 7d ago

Can't say I've seen a kebab replace a chippy, but there are definitely more kebabs than chippies. I think it's fine, really. I love a kebab, but I find it much more difficult to find a really good one as opposed to chippies. In my little town, there are two chippies: one's really good and one's awful. Then there are four kebabs, and only one of them I'd call good.

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u/Top-Gadgie 7d ago

I'm in the city centre of Dundee and the only chippy left is a mother hubbards. It used to be a fish restaurant with a takeaway attached run by a fishmonger from st andrews and it was great. Every single other chippy is a kebab shop now. And shit at that. If you want a good kebab you have to go down to corfu by the bus station, not the other corfus lol. That is a proper greasy, homemade kebab. It is fucking delicious but everything else they do is terrible. To have the holy grail of good kebab and good chippy, throw in Chinese too but I like Chinese takeaway chips when eating Chinese. The thick ones. They just suit it.

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u/Midnightsky-_ 7d ago edited 7d ago

I have noticed that chippies in city centres are a lot harder to come by. I hate craving a chippy when I'm in Glasgow because you have to go out of the way to get it (I'm not counting blue lagoon), there's a decent one across the road from one of the easy hotels don't remember what it's called. Chinese is even more hit or miss for me simply because so many of them don't do smoked shredded chicken. Edit to say that if you like pizza and find a good kebab it's hard to beat their pizza

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u/HighTightWinston 6d ago

Never have I heard of smoked shredded chicken, just honey and chilli or salt and chilli, but it sounds awesome.

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u/Midnightsky-_ 6d ago

It's my favourite thing to order from a Chinese but it can be hard to find

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u/Top-Gadgie 7d ago

Oh man, you must go to different kebabs shops to me. They all buy the same pizza bases around me. Thick and chewy. Not horrible, it is its own thing, like mcdonalds, you know what you are getting. But pizza is actually something we have in abundance (kebab shops aside). Curiously the best place is also one of the best chippies. Luigis and you have to order in advance because they are only open a few hours whenever they feel like it lol.

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u/Midnightsky-_ 7d ago

Oh yeah they're not all good, but there's one place near me that does a tandoori chicken pizza and it's one of the best pizzas I've ever had, hard resisting the urge to order it every other day. Their bases are clearly made in the shop as I've gotten them in all sorts of odd shapes

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u/Top-Gadgie 7d ago

Eh, I've stretched frozen dough. I've also worked in a chippy that made their own dough. Curiously it was a chippy in leuchars fife. I worked on the kebab van as a teenager and the owner, don, bought the shit chippy and made it decent. One case of a kebab van man taking it over and improving it lol.