Waitrose

Up until Friday night I had never stepped inside a Waitrose supermarket. This wasn’t though some kind of boycott but simply that I have never had the need to use a supermarket when a Waitrose was nearby. A new one has just been built in the centre of Stirling (next door to the mosque of all places) so we decided to give it a go.

Now, when I say I have never been in a Waitrose it isn’t strictly correct because when I lived in Newcastle I occasionally wandered into the food department at Bainbridges which is part of the John Lewis group. I didn’t often buy much and it tended to be occupied by rich Northumbianites and bemused foreigners (which I suppose included us). However most of the stories I have heard about Waitrose are that it is a tad expensive. I was curious to see if the Stirling shop would be inhabited by thrifty Caledonian stereotypes: Kenny from Grangemouth gasping, “HOW MUCH!” or the couple from Dunblane, keeping up appearances and whispering, “Morag, I believe we may have been a wee bit hasty with our purchases…”

As it was, the shop was inhabited by typically middle-class Stirlingshire people and, aside from the Waitrose branding, is almost entirely indistinguishable from Sainsbury’s - I was rather disappointed. However, the fresh fruit and veg section is rather thorough even if the meat section seems rather sparse aside from the standard beef, lamb, pork and poultry offerings. I was rather hoping that they would have a side of venison on display or grouse hung from the ceiling. What I did like was the cheese section. Initially, I was grumbling about the monoculture of cheddar but then realised that this was merely a single refrigerated cabinet and, in fact, they also stocked a wide collection of other British cheeses along with many of their European counterparts. I could spot the names of many rarities from my fondue recipe book. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the book with me as I would have stocked up on the spot.

Of the few things we bought, I was actually very impressed. Their own brand ginger beer is one of the best I’ve tasted and their grapefruit marmalade is a treat. We weren’t so impressed with their bread – it was nowhere near as good as the stuff from the Polish shop. However, one thing that I did buy was a 200g jar of Carte Noir coffee. It was £4.79 which was nearly £2 less than our local Asda at the moment – so much for Waitrose being expensive. The only thing which did amuse Nina was a packet of German sausage labelled “Extrawurst”. Clearly someone at Waitrose head office didn’t do their homework or maybe this was an in-joke for German customers (tip: stick it in Google translate).

As it was, we still ended up doing the bulk of the week's shop at Lidl. It’s all basic stuff but the quality of the produce is perfectly adequate and they do stock local Scottish produce alongside the German exotica: Waitrose probably source their milk locally as well but I know that if it says Graham’s on the carton that it will be supporting local business one way or another. I also think Lidl have an ace up their sleeve that I can’t believe other supermarkets haven’t followed: placing the bakery next to the front door makes the place smell heavenly. It is also much quieter with just a few bemused Germans wandering around (which I suppose includes us).