YouTube food stars SORTED take on Edinburgh food marathon

And now the first of the two part episode has aired on their YouTube food channel, which attracts a gluttonous 2.2 million viewers.

Four old school friends from Hertfordshire – Ben Ebbrell, Mike Huttlestone, Jamie Spafford and Barry Taylor – who launched the UK’s most subscribed YouTube food channel in 2010, started at the crack of dawn on Victoria Street asking locals where the marathon line should start.

First suggestion saw them chow down on a full locally sourced Scottish at Edinburgh Larder on Blackfriar’s Street before heading to Marchmont’s specialist porridge and grains cafe Brochan for a jaffa cake porridge bowl.

Starting at 8am and finishing at 8am the following day, the group also sampled Loudons’ Fair fa’ ‘benny’ from the newly opened cafe at New Waverley made from haggis, caramelised onion and cheddar cheese topped with poached eggs and a tammy of chilli jam.

The team then ambled to Makar’s Mash Bar for Irn Bru pulled pork and wild boar and pork sausages before stopping off at Gardener’s Cottage for some light relief with a high-end plate of mackerel, lovage, quinoa, asparagus and rhubarb.

They were wowed by whisky and marmalade ice cream at Mary’s Milk Bar before savoury chicken and ginger hit at Spoon on Nicolson Street.

Some veggie aubergine and tamarind and date tabbouleh treats at Ransacked Black Oven were followed by Aurora’s braised pork cheek with langostine, burnt apple and scampi with potato glass before a cocktail break at Panda and Sons and a cheeseboard.

SORTED’s Jamie Spafford said the marathons are always tough going. “When you’re presented with such great food, it’s difficult to hold yourself back from eating it all, but you have to remember to take it easy.

“Given the massive response and sheer number of recommendations from our audience when we first announced we were going to Edinburgh, we knew we were in for something special.

“Having said that, I think we were all surprised at how the combination of innovative food, passionate people and incredible views came together to create such amazing experiences.

“Everyone told us that it is one of the most foodie cities in the UK – I’m incredibly happy to say that they were completely right.”

And their favourite meal?

“It has to be the Presa pork dish from Tapa in Leith,” Jamie added. “None of us had ever had anything like it before, it completely blew our minds.

“We can’t wait to come back. A number of the restaurants we featured have signed up to the Sorted Club, so members can get extra special experiences when they visit. If that’s not a good reason to come back I don’t know what is.”

Part two of the marathon will be live on the SORTED YouTube channel at 4pm on Sunday.

The basis for creating accessible recipes on YouTube came when Ben, the only member with any culinary training, started suggesting simple and cheap recipes for the others to try instead of eating only ready meals. They have since been joined by their friend and fellow chef James Currie in the majority of their videos.

With over 2.2 million subscribers and over 440 million video views the Sorted Food crew has won a host of accolades including The Guardians "30 Under 30: The Top Young People in Digital Media" in 2014, New Media Award 2014 from Guild of Food Writers awards and Best Online Content 2017 at UK Blog Awards.

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