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…