Life & style and Food & drink

The best places to eat breakfast in Glasgow and Edinburgh

We select the best cafes for the most important meal of the day

22 Mar 2010

What did you have for breakfast this morning? A thin slice of processed white toast, smattered with vegetable oil-laced spreadable butter? A dry cereal bar, full of shrivelled fruit and bound together with sugary glue? Worst still, a Sausage and Egg…

Top five Michelin-starred restaurants in Edinburgh

The Kitchin, Martin Wishart, The Plumed Horse, Number One and 21212

16 Feb 2011

1: The Kitchin The menu here reflects chef/owner Tom Kitchin’s passion for locally-sourced Scottish produce with French interpretations. One of Edinburgh’s A-list restaurants, it won its accolade just six months after opening in the summer of 2006…

A guide to some of the best restaurants in Edinburgh

The Scottish capital has some of the best restaurants for Scottish cuisine

16 Feb 2011

Some visitors may come to Scotland with a sense of dread that they’ll be force-fed salty porridge or be obliged to eat everything deep fried in fat. It’s true that the more adventurous may well encounter food here they’re unlikely to find elsewhere…

Cuts of meat: where your beef comes from

1 May 2009

Scotch Beef has a great reputation, but there’s little point in swooning over the prime cuts and ignoring the rest. Here butcher Jonathan Honeyman teams up with chef John Webber for a guided tour of a side of beef.

The best places for barbeques in Edinburgh and Glasgow

Barbecue recipe alternatives to burgers and sausages

27 May 2011

For the more discerning al fresco cooks and diners, here's The List's lowdown on how to spark up your barbecue summer.

The best free and cheap things to do in Glasgow and Edinburgh

Visit a library, go for a walk, bake a cake or see some cheap theatre

21 Jan 2011

Beat the January blues with these guaranteed pick-me-ups, suggested by our writers and some friends of The List. They’re all free, or cost just a few quid, so you’ll come out of winter with your bank balance intact and a smile on your face

The best restaurants in Edinburgh and Glasgow for cheap eating in January

Dining out options that won't break the bank

9 Jan 2012

EDINBURGH The Mosque Kitchen Now relocated from its former al fresco spot outside Edinburgh’s mosque, the café-style Mosque Kitchen still serves a fine range of halal meat and vegetable curries in no-fuss polystyrene dishes for under £5 including…

The quest for the best cup of coffee in Glasgow and Edinburgh

Delivering the verdict on quality coffee dispensers in Scotland

8 Oct 2010

Coffee drinking has become a serious business, with roasters, baristas and drinkers all equally concerned at the quality of the product. Shiny espresso makers with their levers and dials and steamy bits are a familiar sight, but they remain intriguingly…

Top beer gardens in Edinburgh and Glasgow

16 Sep 2010

Edinburgh The Outhouse Tucked into a corner off Broughton Street, theOuthouse boasts a cosy beer garden serving a wide selection of worldbeers. Like other bars in the Broughton area, the Outhouse creates arelaxed vibe. Weekend nights see the…

Entrading café

5 Feb 2009

Situated in the heart of the busy business district of Glasgow is a café and shop that some might find a bit of a surprise. Entrading is a combined high street eco-store and café. Like high street shops, drinking and eating in our city centres have…

The best breakfasts in Edinburgh

The finest cafes, bistros and restaurants in the capital for a morning meal

29 Mar 2012

Broughton Delicatessen 7 Barony Street, 558 7111, broughton-deli.co.uk Breakfast served: Mon–Sat 8am–3pm; Sun 11am–3pm. What does this place not do well? A great deli, healthy lunches and superb, made-from-scratch breakfasts from morning until 3pm…

Bar Crawls: Glasgow - The Subcrawl

A truncated version of Glasgow’s infamous subway circuit

18 Nov 2011

The Subcrawl – a circular navigation of pubs nearest the 15 stops of Glasgow’s underground – is an institution not strictly for all. Many stations on the route of the city’s beloved Clockwork Orange, particularly south of the Clyde, emerge in locations…

Neighbourhood Watch: Broughton Street, Edinburgh

A guide to Edinburgh's hip gay hub

9 Jan 2012

What’s it like? A street full of bars, restaurants and delightful eateries nestled underneath old tenement flats. Ideal for stuffing your face full of food and hitting a pub with friends just a stone’s throw from the centre of the city. Where’s it…

Bar Crawls: Glasgow - The Sauchiehall Street Saunter

Making the most of Glasgow city centre drinking

18 Nov 2011

Both ‘pub crawl’ and ‘Sauchiehall Street’ can evoke images of large groups of revellers staggering from one ropey watering hole to the next, the night hurtling towards a climax of kebab sauce and lost cloakroom tickets. Well this route aims to redress…

Glasgow Subcrawl – directions to the bars

Maps and walking directions to help you find all the bars on our List-endorsed Subcrawl

16 Nov 2011

So you're off on our (shorter) Subcrawl? We realise that you might need some clear directions (especially as the night wears on), so here are directions and maps showing the routes from the subway stations to all of our listed bars. Enjoy.

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…

Edinburgh's Atrium closes its doors and Hawke & Hunter opens a new dining room

Scottish food news February 2011

17 Feb 2011

Surprise and sadness fell over the Edinburgh restaurant scene last week with the news of the closure of Andrew and Lisa Radford’s Atrium and blue restaurants in Saltire Court, above the Traverse Theatre. From stylish, avant-garde beginnings 18 years ago…

The best Scottish cheeses

17 Sep 2010

It’s perfectly possible to fill your cheese board with Scottish artisan cheeses. The Larder has teamed up with Pierre Leger of respected cheese retailer and wholesaler Clarks Speciality Foods to assemble some of the country’s prime cuts.

The best things to do in Glasgow

22 Apr 2010

Where to … … take a walk Dumbarton Road is Mecca for enthusiastic charity shoppers (tip: start off at the Salvation Army near Byres Road) – make a day of it by wandering round the junk and vintage shops of nearby Ruthven Lane first. (Kirstin…

The best soup and sandwich places in Edinburgh

Where to find a quick, fresh and tasty lunch in the Scottish capital

3 Aug 2011

Making the most of a small space, Appetite Direct is a deli kitchen serving soups and salads alongside their speciality range of hot takeaway dishes, including fish pie, Vietnamese flavoured mince with rice and home-made hamburgers. Broughton…

Taste Test - Edible flowers

10 Sep 2009

Nasturtium With their brilliant sunset colours and distinct peppery flavour, these are probably the most popular edible flower. They’re very easy to grow from seed and are common on the fringes of veg patches or hanging baskets. The flowers have a…

Sourcing local Scottish butter

In search of a product that really melts in your mouth

1 May 2009

It’s not too hard to track down Scotland’s many fine local cheeses, but uncovering farm-made butter can be a challenge. Why? According to Brenda Leddy at Stichill near Kelso, who has been making butter, cheese and clotted cream from her small herd of…

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…

Steak, Edinburgh's new meat-loving eaterie

The brash new restaurant makes no claims of subtlety with full-on flavours and pumping music

26 Mar 2012

‘Where beauty meats the beast’ is the strap-line for brash new arrival Steak, archly attached to publicity shots of ladies, puckering their lips in readiness under dangling raw t-bones – although ‘where beauties eat the beast’ might be just as apt.

New Edinburgh restaurant The Mulroy brings touch of country-house class

Chef Damien Rolain's menu favours locally-sourced, seasonal dishes

3 Feb 2012

Not far from Spean Bridge, the Battle of Mulroy between the MacDonalds and the Mackintoshes took place in 1688. With fresh tête-à-tête daffodils on the tables blooming harmoniously with muted yellow walls, an Edinburgh restaurant bearing the name of the…

The rough guide to Portobello, Edinburgh's seaside

Neighbourhood Watch: The best bits by the beach

24 Mar 2011

What’s it like? An utterly charming, slightly wonky area of Edinburgh, characterised by the city’s only beach and a very distinct, anti-corporate local community ethos. Formerly the holiday destination of most Central Belters, a lack of investment in…

The best breadmakers (and sellers) in Edinburgh and Glasgow

Au Gourmand, Patisserie Dujardin and McGhee's Family Bakers

7 Mar 2011

The appearance of more small artisan bakeries points to an increasing awareness of and demand for proper bread, both from the public and the operations serving them. Around the sandwich shops of the capital Au Gourmand, the Gorgie-based but…

Scotland's best artisan bakers

Featuring The Steamie Bakehouse, Different Breid and more

17 Sep 2010

Everyone loves to have a small, charming bakery just around the corner, yet in Britain 95 per cent of the bread sold is made in factories. John Cooke spoke to Scottish artisan bakers who have started their businesses from scratch in the last few years.

Scotland's best cheeses

Iain Mellis, along with colleagues Benjamin Newell and Alistair Marr, offers his expertise

1 May 2009

Isle of Mull Cheddar Isle of Mull Cheddar is considered by many as the daddy of Scottish cheddars. Strong, fruity and brooding, Isle of Mull cheddar is made from unpasteurised cow’s milk on Sgriob-ruadh (pronounced ‘Ski-brooah’) farm on the tranquil…

Food For Thought

3 Jul 2008

I’ll eat anything but I’m not a good cook and so I avoid cooking and food publications at every turn. I only do one dish well, and it’s easy: a salad featuring mozzarella, mint, peaches, lime juice, olive oil, and prosciutto. I like to drink tap water…

The best breakfasts in Glasgow

The best all-rounders in the west, plus a few specific breakfast-item highlights

29 Mar 2012

Café Gandolfi 64 Albion Street, 552 6813, cafegondolfi.com Breakfast served: Mon-Sat 8am-noon; Sun 9am-noon. The long-standing, Scottish cuisine-focused eatery has beefed up its breakfasts in recent years, resulting in a menu with eight different egg…

Pho Vietnam House - Restaurant review

Vietnamese cuisine represented well in west-end of Edinburgh

1 Feb 2011

Vietnamese cuisine is hallowed by returning backpackers and adventurous tourists, but it’s poorly represented locally compared to other Far Eastern cuisines. David Pollock found a tiny outpost in western Edinburgh

Scottish gin fast-becoming the nation's new spirit

Producers Spencerfield, Blackwoods and VC2 all on the rise

17 Sep 2010

It's seen as quintessentially English, but gin is now being produced by a number of Scottish distillers, as Jay Thundercliffe reports

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…

Edinburgh vegetarian restaurant Henderson's wins List award in 50th year

Pioneering business wins Eating & Drinking Guide's Special Award 2012

24 Apr 2012

2012 marks a notable anniversary in Edinburgh’s dining history: Janet Henderson’s first city venture dedicated to vegetarian food opened 50 years ago. In 1962 Janet, along with husband Mac, an East Lothian farmer, set up a ‘farm shop’ in the city…

Bollywood: The Coffee Box

Takeaway curry stand situated on Edinburgh's Bruntsfield Links

17 Feb 2012

Inspired by the street food culture she grew up with in India, Nutan Bala left her job as a support worker and opened the hatches on Edinburgh’s first curry and coffee stand. Except for a mixed vegetable dhal, which has proven so popular that it has…

Restaurant review: Calabash

Pan-African dining with a unique atmosphere

21 Sep 2011

A year or so ago Glasgow’s African dining options encompassed much of the continent’s varied cuisine, but a rash of closures left only Egyptian and Moroccan restaurants standing. Now the Calabash has filled the gap, offering traditional dishes from…

Best Edinburgh Festival street food

The ten best pop-up food stalls to be found at 2011 Edinburgh Festival

11 Aug 2011

Mussel Men Seafood George Square walkway (east side), 11am–1am The guys in the stripey Breton shirts are actually London-based Scots, serving up fresh mussels and oysters from the west coast near Oban. Steaming hot moules come in a wee box sturdy…

Café No 9 - New Edinburgh café off Leith Walk steps out usual gay hub

‘I think people are a bit sick of big chains and their coffee is a bit rubbish sometimes too . . .’

30 Nov 2010

For a new LGBT café owner in Edinburgh, straying away from the pink-tinged pavements of Broughton Street may be a bold move, but one which Innes Drummond believes is necessary. Drummond’s venture Café No 9 recently opened in Croall Place off Leith…

Tom Kitchin - From Nature to Plate

Kitchin confidential

6 Aug 2009

All cookbooks reveal something of their author; first cookbooks are often most revealing of all as chefs justify their status by retelling formative experiences. As with the opening of their own restaurant, it’s both a statement and a landmark. Tom…

Brown sugar - A guide to the Scottish confections of tablet, toffee and fudge

1 May 2009

A sticky guide to toffees, tablets and other uses for boiled sugar, by Jo Ewart Mackenzie.

Craig Wood, chef at The Wee Restaurant, on Henderson’s the Butcher

Chef's Choice

1 May 2009

I first discovered Henderson’s while working in Edinburgh at the Hallion Club at a point when I was becoming increasingly frustrated by various butchers I had previously worked with. Alan Mattheson (now at Nick Nairn’s Cook School) mentioned this small…

Whole Foods Market opens in Glasgow

A trolley-tour round Glasgow's popular new ethical food outlet

13 Jan 2012

You have to hand it to the Americans – they certainly know how to create an impressive supermarket. The opening of Whole Foods Market in Giffnock has had foodies, healthy eaters and ethical shoppers from Glasgow (not to mention resentful Edinburghers…

A guide to the pop-up and alternative dining scenes in Glasgow and Edinburgh

The guerrilla restaurants in people's front rooms

5 May 2011

The List’s annual Eating & Drinking Guide – as comprehensive as it is – does overlook some interesting dining options in Scotland: those that take place irregularly, or in unusual places – often somewhere as informal as someone’s living room. There are…

Where to explore the world of Scotch Whisky in Edinburgh

The best single-malt whisky tastings, tours and shops

16 Feb 2011

The purpose of Scotch whisky is to give pleasure,’ says Charles MacLean in his Whiskypedia: A Gazetteer of Scotch Whisky, and Edinburgh is the place to pursue this principle. You can literally immerse yourself in a whisky barrel at the Scotch Whisky…

The best places for hot chocolate in Glasgow and Edinburgh

The cafes and chocolatiers who serve up the sweet stuff

20 Jan 2011

Temper Chocolates 148 Woodside Terrace Lane, Charing Cross, 07886 215209 This tiny café-cum-shop-cum-factory makes for a pilgrimage for hot chocolate lovers. Chocolatier Kirsty Shepheard’s own blend of 70 per cent organic dark chocolate with chilli…

Foraging for wild produce

Top chefs are looking to Scotland's natural plant life for inspiration

17 Sep 2010

Eating local, for some, means foraging for the wild foods that grow right on our own doorstep, writes Andrea Pearson.

Best bars in and around Leith

3 Jun 2010

David Pollock suggests the finest locations for a festival beverage, or two

The Scottish Café and Restaurant opens at the National Gallery of Scotland

4 Nov 2009

When the concession to run the 120-cover café and restaurant in the National Gallery of Scotland on the Mound in Edinburgh came up for renewal this year a predictable array of contract caterers, many based in England, came forward to bid. They were…

Field to Fork: get a taste of Hardiesmill's 'Ten Steak Experience'

The Aberdeen Angus farm delivers a hands-on guide to Scotch beef

1 May 2009

Hardiesmill is Robin and Allison Tuke’s 482-acre farm at Gordon, near Kelso in the Scottish Borders. As a way of introducing the public to their herd of pure-bred Aberdeen Angus cattle, they spend certain Friday afternoons taking small groups on the…

Tiffin Rooms

19 Feb 2009

Glasgow’s original curry king, Balbir Singh Sumal opened the Ashoka in 1973, later selling to colleague Charan Gill who went on to build the Harlequin Restaurant Group while crediting Balbir as his mentor. Balbir made a significant return to the scene…

Red Sugar - Not such a raw deal

8 Jan 2009

This number is important: 47.7. In Celsius, that’s the hottest food can get if it’s to remain raw. According to raw food theory, cooking food not only destroys key digestive enzymes but also exposes the body to potentially harmful toxins. It can seem…

Bruadar presents well-stocked beer & burger options to Glasgow's West End

26 Mar 2012

Beer and a burger – Bruadar’s is a simple enough formula, but with so many quality variables it is one which delivers genuinely satisfying results. Twenty burgers include the expected beefy standards, a few chicken and five vegetarian choices – all…

Neighbourhood Watch: Great Western Road, Glasgow

Including The Captain's Rest, The Belle and Lupe Pintos

19 Dec 2011

What’s it like? One big road full of pubs, cafés and little shops. Flats are mostly old tenements above the bars, restaurants and stores which go up most of the road. Where’s it, like? In the West End, a stone’s throw from Woodlands and Byres Road.

Restaurant review: Tanjore

Tamil restaurant's menu uplifted by fresh, appealing food

24 Aug 2011

Regional cuisine isn’t just the preserve of Tuscany or Andalucia, as Donald Reid finds in an engaging new Tamil restaurant in Edinburgh. It isn’t hard to find an Indian restaurant in Edinburgh or Glasgow, but it can be hard to find one with a…

Red Squirrel takes perfected beer ‘n’ burgers formula to west Edinburgh

Owners of Holyrood 9a open new premises on Lothian Road

28 Jun 2011

Red Squirrel 21 Lothian Road, West End, Edinburgh, EH1 2DJ 0131 229 9933, redsquirreledinburgh.co.uk Daiy 10am–late; food is served until 9pm. Ave. price two-course meal: £10 (lunch/dinner) What many folk discovered and liked about Old Town bar…

Keeping it in house: The best takeaway and home delivery in Glasgow and Edinburgh

We are looking for top tips and recommendations from your area

15 Mar 2011

We at The List are looking out for your top tips and recommendations on takeaway and home delivery options in Glasgow and Edinburgh for a special feature for both the magazine and online on 25 May. Let us know your top local tips for take-out Indian…

Local Scottish artisan chocolatiers

Cocoa Black, The Chocolate Tree, Oban Chocolate Co and more

17 Sep 2010

Cocoa beans may not grow in Scotland, but the last decade has seen small, artisan chocolate makers spring up across the country. In this survey we take a particular look at examples of local influences in the ranges on offer.

Fred Berkmiller on Gartmorn Farm chicken

The Larder: Chef's Choice

17 Sep 2010

It’s not everyday a Frenchman will admit that non-Gallic produce rivals their own. Fred Berkmiller, of Edinburgh’s L’Escargot chain, on why Scottish Gartmorn chicken cuts it as an alternative to the famous authenticated Poularde de Bresse.

Tropeiro - Restaurant review

19 Aug 2010

If you despair at the thought of summer vanishing without having cracked open a bag of charcoal, don’t. Glasgow’s latest concept diner, Tropeiro, has arrived to cheer us up with an all-you-can-eat-in-your-seat barbecue buffet. Thanks to a traffic-light…

Horn of Africa - Restaurant review

7 Jul 2010

The Horn of Africa – named, not after the vuvuzela, but Somalia’s coastline – has been set up to provide low-cost, healthy and familiar food to the growing Somali population in Glasgow. There is not yet a menu so you take pot luck and eat what’s…

Spark, Amani and Vanishing Willows among recent food & drink openings

24 Jun 2010

Independent write-ups on all the restaurants worth knowing about in Edinburgh and Glasgow are available on our online Eating & Drinking Guide at list.co.uk/food-and-drink.

A guide to green vegetables

21 Apr 2010

Historic records indicate that we once ate food fresh from places near where we lived, such as back gardens and local farms, thus cutting down on the need to transport food across the globe and avoiding chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Here’s a…

Side Dishes

More culinary treats

20 Aug 2009

The old Claremont Bar at 133-135 East Claremont Street (near Powderhall) is now a bar/diner called Elbow. Behind it is a team including Wendy Schofield (aka Trendy Wendy of club Tackno) of The Street on Broughton Street. It’s serving breakfast from 9am…

Scotland's finest food & drink attractions, by the Woman Who Ate Scotland

1 May 2009

It’s not just restaurants, pubs and shops where the country’s produce plays a central role – there are many attractions, visitor centres and other diversions too. Nell Nelson, the Woman Who Ate Scotland, offers this selected traveller’s guide.

A potted history of grow-your-own: why Scots are once again happy to supply their own veg

1 May 2009

Growing your own fruit and veg is remodelling its image from retirement hobby to environmental neccessity. Here Jo Whittingham explains how gardening is a cornerstone of our culinary heritage.

Grains of truth: a history of Scotland's traditional cereal crops, oats and barley

1 May 2009

Things were going great for oats in Scotland until they legalised whisky. Before 1823, oats had enjoyed two centuries as a staple food grain, having relegated barley to animal feed. But once Scotch whisky was legitimised, barley’s fortunes shot up. Oats…

Tony Singh, chef proprietor of Tony’s Table and Oloroso, on Ugly Bread

Chef's Choice

1 May 2009

Nothing beats freshly baked bread. The smell, the taste, the diversity – it is always hard to resist newly baked bread but it’s not always easy to find genuinely fresh, flavoursome products. In Scotland, we boast a small number of artisan bakers but one…

Taste Test - Posh cheese and onion crisps

13 Mar 2008

Tyrells Mature Cheddar & Chives, 50g, 65p Kember & Jones, 134 Byres Road, Glasgow; Jenners, 48 Princes Street, Edinburgh The classy looking, see-through packaging looks promising, but these hand-cooked crisps are over fried and over flavoured. 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…

Eat - Oysters

18 Oct 2007

It’s a homecoming, of sorts. The Loch Fyne Oyster Bar in Argyll is revered on the Scottish food scene, in modern times a place much more worthy of the ‘Rest and Be Thankful’ tag than the hill summit a few miles away. The chain of Loch Fyne Restaurants…

Le Bistro Beaumartin adds a French flavour to Glasgow's culinary palette

24 Apr 2012

‘French’ tends to be a label that’s very loosely slapped on a restaurant in Glasgow – often truly being ‘French with a twist of this or that’. That’s changed, however, with Le Bistro Beaumartin popping onto the petite-yet-elite scene to teach Glasgow a…

Four List readers share their New Year's resolutions

An insight into getting started in trapeze, cookery, ballet or capoeira

6 Jan 2012

'The feeling of achievement is amazing' Name Denise Deutsch Age 30 Profession Fabric buyer, Mandors Skill Trapeze and Aerial Arts I fell into the idea of aerial arts as a hobby after unexpectedly getting a ticket to see Leona Lewis perform in…

Bar Crawls: Edinburgh - No Sleep Till Leith

From central Edinburgh and Leith the best way possible – by the bars

18 Nov 2011

Determining the point at which Leith Walk starts has baffled philosophers, locals and postal workers for decades. Haddington Place and Leith Street have (understandably) become subsumed within this long, iconic thoroughfare that joins Edinburgh with…

Restaurant review: Glasgow's Riverside Museum café

Stunning setting but uninspiring food

3 Aug 2011

Dining out in with a view of the Clyde is so rare that the new Riverside Museum’s café is an attraction in itself – let alone for the spectacular building housing the expanded collection of the old Museum of Transport. Zaha Hadid’s realised design…

Martin Wishart to open new brasserie in Edinburgh city centre

Michelin-starred chef to open premises on North Castle Street

28 Mar 2011

When Martin Wishart’s modest but ambitious restaurant on Leith’s Shore picked up a Michelin star in 2001, Edinburgh breathed a sigh of relief. It had caught up with Glasgow, where Andrew Fairlie’s kitchen at One Devonshire Gardens already had a star and…

Point Hotel's stylish new monthly pop-up Sky Bar opens in the Penthouse suite

Lounge with the best views, live music and expensive drinks

17 Feb 2011

No, not the shoogly restaurant on a crane that cranked up the hype during the Festival last summer, but a penthouse suite in the recently re-energised Point Hotel that turns into a pop-up lounge bar on the last Thursday of every month. At the top of the…

Modern day Leith is now home to Michelin-starred restaurants

Port outside Edinburgh shakes off long-held seedy reputation

16 Feb 2011

Vibrant, colourful Leith has shaken off its long-held seedy reputation in recent years to establish itself as an area of stylish urban regeneration and a must-visit destination for foodies. A world away from the seamy side of Edinburgh life…

How to learn Indian cookery from the comfort of your own kitchen

Rachna Deer of Ladyfingers Cooking in Glasgow comes round your house to teach you

12 Jan 2011

Everyone’s got one. The book you’re going to write, the film you’re going to make, the restaurant you’re going to open. And round about the beginning of January, you might think about actually doing it – briefly, for a couple of weeks. Maybe you even…

Edinburgh restaurant Café Marlayne relocates second branch to top of Leith Walk

One of Edinburgh’s much-loved French restaurants has relocated its second branch to a radically diff

12 Jan 2011

If you’re familiar with Café Marlayne’s cosy Thistle Street restaurant, the barn-like proportions of their latest venture on Antigua Street may come as a surprise. High, white-washed walls, supersized glitterball and bold Ikea lampshades mean the new…

The growing popularity of rapeseed oil

17 Sep 2010

Cold-pressed rapeseed oil is one of the more fashionable new products to appear on the local food scene in recent years. Donald Reid found out more about Scotland’s other national oil.

A guide to Scotland's potato varieties

Including Highland Burgundy and Mr Little’s Yetholm Gypsy

17 Sep 2010

Scottish heritage potatoes are no longer an underground movement, explains Cate Devine.

Coatbridge fish and chip shop voted best in UK

Scottish chippy makes a splash and batters the competition

21 Jan 2010

A family-run fish and chip shop in Coatbridge, near Glasgow, has won a UK-wide fish and chip shop competition. Atlantic Fast Food was announced as the winner of the National Fish & Chip Shop of the Year awards.

Charan Gill opens Slumdog Bar and kitchen

19 Nov 2009

Having sold the Harlequin Group of restaurants four years ago for a cool £8 million, Charan Gill’s re-entry into the Glasgow scene was always going to stir up interest. From getting hold of the Slumdog name to tapping into the energetic zeitgeist of…

Taste test: Vodka made in Scotland

It's not all whisky here

22 Oct 2009

Grafitti, Pincer, Glen's, Blackwood's, Straight Strawberry, Raspberry Vodka

Public Interest - Edinburgh Royal Mile pub crawl

24 Sep 2009

Between the sprawling concrete shapes of the Scottish Parliament and the historic heights of Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Mile covers some of the best and worst aspects of the city. Plenty of tartan tourists and Australian backpackers stroll aimlessly up…

Six of the Best - Eating & Drinking around Leith

11 Jun 2009

The King’s Wark 36 The Shore, 0131 554 9260 Few things can make a foodie as happy as a portion of homemade fishcakes and frites courtesy of this granddaddy of the Leith eating scene. Oozing olde worlde charm, the Wark’s menu boasts everything from…

Ice cream days: growing up in an old school ice cream parlour

Mary Contini of Valvonna & Crolla describes her enviable upbringing

1 May 2009

It took two men, my father and Tommy Dougal, to lift up each milk churn and tip it into the stainless-steel vat. It could be four or five churns at a time – even more in July and August when the factory was working at full capacity. Once the 20-gallon…

The return of the small family dairy

1 May 2009

The milk industry is a pertinent example of how the link between the consumer and the countryside has changed in two decades of consolidation, industrialisation and homogenisation. David Pollock goes to check if milk still comes from cows.

The Scotch pie: a national icon

1 May 2009

‘Scotch Pie’ - the very words conjure up unsavory images of football grounds across the country, where mediocre, gristly pies are served to warm the heaving ranks on cold winters’ days, entirely unpalatable without the requisite cup of Bovril alongside.

Cupcakes

30 Apr 2009

As anyone with embarrassing Millenium-era photographs of themselves wearing an ugly corsage the size of their head will testify, Sex and the City launched a lot of strange trends. None, however, is as persistent as the cupcake. The scene in which Carrie…

Taste Test - Hot chocolate

19 Feb 2009

Beanscene Hot Chocolate, Chocolate Soup Hot Chocolate, Green and Black’s Organic Hot Chocolate Drink, Coco Hot Chocolate, Starbucks Classic Hot Chocolate, Options Belgian Choc

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…

The Bollywood Lounge & Indian Restaurant

Movie smoothie

30 Oct 2008

The gaudy glamour of the Indian film industry seems a parallel universe away as you button up on a dreich Glasgow night and stride past Sauchiehall Street's greasy takeaways and booze-addled hordes down by Charing Cross. Yet, just on the other side of…

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…

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 - 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…

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…

Taste Test - Chicken sandwiches

22 May 2008

Fresssh 51–53 Cochrane Street, Glasgow, £2.80 •• Sweet chilli sauce gives this sandwich a bit of oomph – something it probably needed given the bland cubed chicken and plain bread. The fire in the chilli is under control, which is probably sensible…

Peter’s Yard

13 Mar 2008

Across Britain there are around 3000 craft bakeries. In France, with a similar sized population but a rather different attitude to bread, there are 35,000 craft or artisan bakers. French, German and Eastern European traditions have exerted the strongest…