Eat

Eat, drink and be merry: Christmas food

13 Nov 2008

‘Christmas dinner on a budget is easy, and you don’t have to end up with a can of Spam and a tub of out-of-date potato salad, either. It should be a special meal; it should feel special, and the secret to that is really simple – get a table set…

La Vallée Blanche

27 Mar 2008

When rationalising business-speak began to creep into the way things were run at étain restaurant in Princes Square a couple of years back, chef Neil Clark knew it was time to pack up his pans. Not one to compromise on his creativity, he left the…

Nanakusa

28 Feb 2008

There’s no such thing as a Japanese restaurant. So David Wan concluded during a fact-finding mission to the Far East last year – just as he was planning to open up such an establishment in Glasgow. There was no shortage of specialist bars selling sushi…

R34 at India of Inchinnan

27 Nov 2008

Stand on the observation deck at Glasgow Airport, cast your eyes over the runway towards the mossy rise of the Campsie Hills and you will see a large white building. This is R34 at India of Inchinnan, a restored Art Deco factory where tyres were made…

Food For Thought: Jonathan Wilkes

22 May 2008

My eating routine when I’m working is shocking. When I’m on tour, I grab what I can when I can. For breakfast I’ll have a bacon sandwich, followed by a club sandwich for lunch , so it’s bread after bread after bread. As much as I love my bread there’s…

Scottish chef Martin Wishart to open second restaurant on Loch Lomond

27 Nov 2008

Happy days for food lovers following news that Michelin-starred Scottish chef Martin Wishart will open his second restaurant on 5 December at Cameron House, marking a return to a hotel where he worked successfully as a chef de partie early in his career…

Food For Thought

27 Nov 2008

I am on tour at the moment, and with all the travelling and late nights, we have to look after ourselves. There are eight of us on the bus, and after several years, we have fine tuned the rider so that it is a good balance of healthy food that you…

Bella Mbriana - restaurant review

20 Sep 2007

There are, probably, too many Italian restaurants around. Don’t take this the wrong way: Italian cuisine and, perhaps more importantly, the Italian attitude to food, bows to no-one on earth. Yet a month hardly passes without the appearance of another…

Christmas meal

16 Oct 2008

Let’s face it, someone’s got to book the office Christmas meal. Lots of brownie points if you get it right. Lots of reindeer manure if you get it wrong. The place Try to find a restaurant with a private room or a private area. A large party can…

Taste Test - Take-away margherita pizzas

19 Jun 2008

The Italian Kitchen •••• 64 Ingram Street, Glasgow, 0141 572 1472, www.italian-kitchen.co.uk Takeaway only. Pizza Margherita £6.95 Pizza is a simple thing, so getting the basics right is important. This one has a nicely chewy but crusty thin base…

Happy when it rains

27 Nov 2008

Going on holiday in Scotland? In the winter? Ach, you’ll have heard the jokes. You might have made some of them yourself. No, it probably won’t be that sunny. Or warm. However, as the pound plummets abroad and air fares shoot up, holidaying at home is…

Taste Test - Meat Pies

17 Jul 2008

Gregg’s Scotch Pie Gregg’s, various outlets, Scotland wide 70p We couldn’t do a meat pie test without saying ‘aye’ tae a pie – a traditional Scottish mutton pie, that is. The hot water crust pastry is crunchier and more robust than the flakier…

New venue brings downtown New York to Edinburgh

19 Nov 2008

Edinburgh’s art scene has another new addition. The Bowery on Roxburgh Place in the Southside, opened last Saturday and takes its name from one of the famous city's hippest streets. The venue aims to replicate the quirky and semi mod attitude of the…

Two Fat Ladies at the Buttery - review

29 Nov 2007

When you see the word ‘at’ (or the symbol ‘@’) in a restaurant name there’s always a bit of a suspicion that it’s something of a forced marriage. Like a double A-side or joint top billing it’s a rather clunky effort to tempt the public into believing…

Christmas secrets of the master chefs

15 Nov 2007

MARY CONTINI Our family traditions are tied up with the religious traditions that my grandparents brought across with them from Italy, and are to do with fasting and abstinence in the days leading up to a feast. So on Christmas Eve, we always have…

Cail Bruich West

Gael force

4 Sep 2008

No one quite expected the Gaelic renaissance to include food. Fiona Anderson took along her phrasebook for a meal in Glasgow's West End.

Chez Pierre

5 Jun 2008

Sometimes we get a bit too serious about food. But then it is a serious business, it’s what keeps us upright, but like any realm of human interest some folk, among them food journalists and chefs, become just a bit too earnest about the whole subject.

The Dogs

10 Apr 2008

There’s a little place I know – great spot for a bite to eat, glass of wine, right in the centre of town, up a staircase, not the most obvious. A little place I know . . . and so does the rest of Edinburgh, despite the fact that the launch party was…

Taste Test - White beers

13 Nov 2008

Black Isle Organic Wheat Beer, Colomba, Grolsch Weizen, Konig Ludwig, Hefe Weizen, Weihenstephaner Dunkelweiss

Pink Olive

18 Sep 2008

The restaurant world consumes an awful lot of dreams. Everyone who has ever eaten out has discussed how they would do things better, and anyone who has ever worked in a restaurant has nurtured a blueprint for world, or at least neighbourhood…

Taste Test - Chocolate Ice Cream

4 Sep 2008

Häagen-Dazs Belgian Chocolate, £2 for 100ml tub This surprised a few in the blind tasting, who were expecting something more artificial from this worldwide brand. In fact, the silky texture, rich taste and genuine chocolate flavour were fairly…

Taste Test - Yoghurts

3 Jul 2008

Yeo Valley •••• Organic Strawberry Probiotic Yoghurt, 49p From Somerset, Yeo are now one of the market leaders in organic yoghurts, delivering a noticeably creamy yet light, pleasant tasting product. The sweetness comes from the fruit, and while…

Cafézique

19 Jun 2008

If a deli is trying to tempt you to spend a bit more than you might at a supermarket on the basis that their food is better selected, in better condition and better quality, then you’d fully expect a partner café alongside to be operating under similar…

Taste Test - Posh pork sausages

27 Mar 2008

British Pork and Fresh Herb £0.56/100g (••••) Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference, stores throughout Scotland , www.sainsburys.co.uk Though the promise of ‘fresh’ herbs seemed unlikely and the hint of lemon was a mere notion, this was a surprisingly…

Outdoor food festival returns to Edinburgh

13 Mar 2008

Taste-buds at the ready! Following the success of last year’s festival, Taste of Edinburgh is set to return in May with an even bigger line-up. As well as having the opportunity to sample taster dishes from 20 of Edinburgh’s top restaurants…

Eat - No 1 Sushi Bar

17 Jan 2008

THE MEAL Stories of fine Scottish wild salmon being caught, frozen and flown to high end restaurants in Japan are closer to the truth than you might think. Why then does sushi remain such niche cuisine in this country? In Scotland, Japanese…

Dine Around Edinburgh

4 Jan 2008

January and February are slow months for everyone, but particularly difficult for our poor friends in the restaurant trade. A broke, broken, bloated city does not make for great clientele, so in order to lure you back, some of Edinburgh’s fanciest…

Fifi and Ally - deli and wine bar review

4 Oct 2007

The List’s restaurant reviews appear in a section of the magazine entitled ‘Life & Style’. If you’ve never fully grasped the connection then you’re advised to book a table at Fifi and Ally’s new restaurant, deli and wine bar, located in what’s vaguely…

Side Dishes

27 Nov 2008

Glengoyne Distillery by Killearn is hosting a free Christmas Food and Drink event from 10.30am on Saturday 6 December, featuring Edenmill farm shop’s barrel smokers, beer from WEST and Brewdog, cooking demos from Monachyle Mhor’s Tom Lewis and lots of…

A bluffer’s guide to Thanksgiving

13 Nov 2008

Call it the Americanisation of Britain, call it another excuse for a slap up meal, but Thanksgiving has grown in popularity. Celebrated on the last Thursday of November, it’s akin to a grown up Christmas without the gift buying or wrestling with…

Taste test - Chicken Tikka Masala

30 Oct 2008

McLeish Brothers, Lidl, Mother India, Tesco, Caledonian Curry Company, Marks & Spencer

The Shandon Belles

What lies beneath

21 Aug 2008

The problem of second spaces is a dogged one for restaurants. A successful venue is always keen to make more tables available, but knows that the atmosphere, or the logistics, just don’t work so well in a room that’s tucked awkwardly through the back or…

Cocktail kudos

17 Jul 2008

Shervene Shahbazkhani recently won the Scottish heats of the 42 Below Cocktail World Cup in Edinburgh with her innovative cocktail, ‘Bring the Beat Back’. She describes how she made it; ‘I tend to follow what my instincts tell me to make. Most cocktails…

Side Dishes - Food news to nibble on

17 Jul 2008

MAKING USE OF the narrow first-floor space above Brel on Ashton Lane, Serge is a new wine bar serving a menu of snacks and small food, with the extensive beer list and main menu from Brel also available. Chilled tunes and regular tastings feature. Book…

Mother India’s Café

3 Jul 2008

Monir Mohammed is the quietly spoken, congenial proprietor of six restaurants in Glasgow operating under the Mother India and Wee Curry Shop banners. In a sector grossly overpopulated with long, samey menus, kitsch decor and blandly ill-defined dishes…

Taste Test - Smoothies

5 Jun 2008

Innocent Mango and Passion Fruit Smoothie ••• RS McColl, St James Centre, Edinburgh, £1.89 for 250ml Mango overload! A tangy, tropical taste is left in your mouth which could be quite refreshing on a hot day. It may be pure but you should expect a…

The Shore Bar & Restaurant

8 May 2008

Leith is one of those hologramatic places that’s both new and old at the same time, depending on which particular angle catches your eye. Weathered sandstone or flash flats, docking cranes or design studios, venerable eating spots and new Michelin…

Restaurants in Edinburgh’s Old Town

14 Feb 2008

There have always been bars with ideas above their station when it comes to food, and there have always been restaurants with the notion that their bar area can be both a bit on the side and the hippest hangout in town. It’s not often that both are…

The List launches dining promotion

14 Feb 2008

Building on the success of our annual Eating and Drinking Guide, The List is launching a special card designed to encourage readers to eat out more. The LIST card will be launched to coincide with the 15th edition of the guide, which is published in…

The best chocolate for Valentine's Day

31 Jan 2008

Cocoa Mountain Balnakeil Craft Village, Durness, Sutherland, www.cocoamountain. co.uk, 01971 511233 ‘Summit Collection’ with 20 chocolates £19.50 Plain but neat cardboard box and dividers with a wholesome recycled feel. Classic dusky textured…

Wedgwood the Restaurant - review

13 Dec 2007

Edinburgh is a tourist city, and for restaurants that’s both a blessing and a curse. Tourists are hundreds of thousands of extra diners appearing at their collective door each year; look too closely to them, however, and you’ll be disparaged for…

An Audience With . . .Nick Nairn

6 Sep 2007

Up until now, the most terrifying moment in Nick Nairn’s career was during the height of the recent foot and mouth crisis, when he interviewed the First Minister live on the BBC programme Landward. However, Nairn likes to push himself, and so to kick…

Taste Test - Instant porridge

27 Nov 2008

Ready Brek Original • Various stockists including Tesco, Morrisons and Asda. £1.89 for 750g. Tasting like mushy Weetabix and looking a lot like Polyfilla, this soggy and bland excuse for porridge is awful. Its one redeeming feature, a smooth and…

Food for thought

Hardeep Singh Kohli

30 Oct 2008

Food's a very important part of my life. I can't begin to tell you how much. I'm notoriously bad at eating breakfast, yet ironically I'm obsessed with it, to the extent that my next book is going to be about breakfast. I will have a decent lunch, and…

Taste test - Halloween vegetables

16 Oct 2008

Pumpkin Maybe it’s the colour or maybe it’s the size but pumpkins are becoming demonised as the embodiment of America’s crass commercialisation of Halloween. It’s not even that they’re imported: most of those in the shops are British grown. Makes for…

The Rutland Hotel

16 Oct 2008

Once upon a time Edinburgh was slightly superior. Now the Glasgwegification of the capital has swaggered out of George Street and onto the West End. Nose onto Princes Street, with its tantalising views of the Castle, Calton Hill and Edinburgh’s historic…

Changing places

2 Oct 2008

When a restaurant location starts to see a few different tenants in a short span of time it gets a bit of a reputation. ‘Bad site,’ many will mutter. Not necessarily true, however. Of course some locations are harder work, but also in play are things…

Side dishes: News to nibble on

2 Oct 2008

Leven’s is the latest opening from Thai Lemongrass and Time 4 Thai operator Carole Tong, offering what’s described as ‘Thai Fusion Cuisine’ in a highly designed setting boasting moody purple lighting, sparkly wall paper and sleek wood. The menu is…

Taste Test - Carrots: Organic v Non-organic

18 Sep 2008

After potatoes, carrots are our most consumed vegetable; they are also a stalwart of the organic vegetable box scheme, so we decided to see what difference we could find locally available carrots. These ones came from a decent dedicated local…

Side Dishes - Food news to nibble on

4 Sep 2008

As the flood of Festival tourists on Edinburgh's Royal Mile recedes, a handful of recent changes have shown up along the famous thoroughfare. Café Truva, the Turkish-themed café based on Leith's shore for the last decade, has taken over Plaisir du…