Life & Style

Tattoos

Written on the body

11 Dec 2006

A glorious butterfly is gazing up at me. It has a cutesy, cartoon face and curled lashes. Its larger than life wings are a dazzling explosion of pop-art colour and bubble dimensions. Flowerheads, blasted with vibrant, glowing blocks of green and red ink…

Pick-up techniques - interview with Neil Strauss

31 Jan 2008

IceDragon, Scotland’s number one PUA (pickup artist), is trying to lock me into conversation. However, he’s quickly surrounded. Deep Vertigo has perched at his shoulder and five other members of the Glasgow lair are hovering on the fringes. Chance, 20…

Vintage clothes in Glasgow and Edinburgh

20 Sep 2007

Throwing out old clothes can be an emotional task and parting with that ripped pair of jeans you wore every day when you were 19 can be hard, but with a little imagination and some creative stitching, rips, tears and pinching waistlines need no longer…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Hot 100 - 2007's hottest talent

13 Dec 2007

Scottish culture has shone in 2007, and so have Scottish stars. Throughout the year we have been working tirelessly to spot the hottest talent out there. We also invited you to nominate the people, places and events you think have made the greatest…

Dating - Love is in the air

6 Sep 2007

Not so very long ago, the idea of one of your friends owning up to joining a dating agency would have been unimaginable. Most of us would rather have walked over hot coals or lie on a bed of glass than admit to something which carried such social…

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.

Picture perfect

2 Oct 2008

Artists have been invited to submit work for next year’s Jolomo Awards, which gives creatives the chance to win one of the UK’s largest privately funded painting prizes. Those applying must live and work in Scotland, have studied at a Scottish…

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…

Secondhand record shops in Glasgow and Edinburgh

1 Nov 2007

Shopping and I have always had a love-hate relationship. But we put aside our differences for record shopping: that ritualistic, solitary activity that’s at once sombre yet exhilarating. Secondhand records possess the same mystique as old books; they…

Shop - Tam Shepherd’s Trick Shop

18 Oct 2007

I’ve picked the worst possible time of the year to interview Julia Walton. It’s 12.30 on a Sunday afternoon, just before Hallowe’en, and the door of Tam Shepherd’s Trick Shop is constantly jingling. ‘Yes, it’s definitely our busiest time,’ she says…

Summer wine

2 Oct 2008

‘Authentic Fado tonight!’ the waiter announced, as I peeped inside his restaurant on my first night in the city. I was pulled in and fed with espedatas, huge fish kebabs, just off the chargrill, while serenaded gravely by folk ballads. ‘The Fado songs…

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…

Female focused sex shops

4 Oct 2007

This week I’ve been spending time in sex shops. Oh, stop sniggering at the back there. I bet you’re thinking of sticky floors and flickering neon, now, aren’t you? Grubby windows and lone, sweaty-palmed gentlemen who can’t quite meet the cashier’s eye.

Drawing Room

6 Sep 2007

It used to be called the Brewery Tap, which was simple. Turn tap on, punters (students, largely) come to drink. Turn tap off, punters leave. Often shambolically. Now it’s Drawing Room, and a bit more complex. There are puns happening, because they…

Rome on a budget

The cheap life

16 Jan 2007

The Romans have a saying: ‘you’d need a lifetime to see all that Rome has to offer’. This seemed a laughable notion as my partner and I only had a few days in Italy’s capital. After not having taken a holiday in over three years, I was determined to…

Barcelona

10 Apr 2008

Everywhere you look in Barcelona, you see Ronaldinho. Reproductions of the FC Barca hero fill the shelves of each tourist tat-peddling stall and storefront, even in the shadow of Antoni Gaudi’s mighty Sagrada Familia cathedral, which emphasises the…

Belfast

27 Mar 2008

St George’s Market on a Saturday morning. High, tented ceilings filling up with barbeque smoke; cheerful art graduates selling hand-printed T-shirts side by side with grumpy, knowledgeable fishmongers and cheese merchants; stalls offering gourmet olive…

Air apparent

2 Oct 2008

I am so stupid. I’m shuffling forward on a bench in a King Air plane above Hollister, California. Only now, at 15,000 feet, after a quarter of an hour of shivery anticipation, and a mere stride from an open door to the sky, do I realise the implications…

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…

Food for thought: Michael Caines

Chef and entrepreneur

2 Oct 2008

In the food trade we eat in a strange way. I don’t know any chef who’s a good eater when it comes to the discipline of eating: your work time is people’s mealtime.The biggest problem is that because you don’t remember sitting down to have a meal you…

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…

Watermelon

14 Aug 2008

Scuttling through Glasgow’s West End to meet Gavin O’Brien, owner of the recently refurbished vintage institution Watermelon, I wonder, what on earth am I looking for? Past experience of fusty second-hand hovels hadn’t prepared me for Watermelon’s new…

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…

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…

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 Style Issue - Music style

13 Mar 2008

With many high street retailers currently stocking just about every item of attire an aspiring indie hipster could dream of – from neon-splattered hoodies to trousers crotch-wrenchingly tight enough to do more for family planning than an entire social…

Play - Super Mario Galaxy

17 Jan 2008

WII (Nintendo) Richard Dawkins, Oxford University’s Chair for the Public Understanding of Science, believes humanity’s ability to understand the world is limited by its interaction. Because of our size, our lifespan, the pace at which our lives…

Hitman - Blood money

29 Nov 2007

Hitman is the latest in a long line of videogames to make the jump from console to big screen. Despite the flops (think Super Mario Brothers and Street Fighter) studios just don’t seem able to keep their hands off videogame properties, with the Resident…

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…

Teaching English in Japan

4 Oct 2007

The door slid shut with a bang and all four customers turned and stared. I squeezed my way along the narrow space between walls and stools, perched myself on an empty one and opened my phrase book. ‘Biru . . .’ Pause to look at book. ‘. . .

Play - Lord of the Rings Online

3 Jul 2007

How best to describe Lord of The Rings Online? World of Warcraft in the land of Tolkien? Too simple. Perhaps it’s time to find out for certain by setting forth through Middle Earth. So say hello to my character, Snide the dwarf guinea pig. Day One…

Taste test: Tea

2 Oct 2008

China Green Tea from Dragonfly Tea, Happiness Tea from Today Was Fun, Yunnan from Twinings Light Classics range, Yerba Maté from Mr Scruff’s Make Us a Brew Tea Company, Rose Tea from Brewhaha, White Tea from Tea Tree Tea

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…

Budget Star Fashion

24 Apr 2008

To hell in a handbag Let’s start with handbags. Celebrities are always snapped clutching the season’s most covetable, whether D&G’s Lily bag or a classic tote by Louis Vuitton. Fortunately, hiring a designer bag is the newest way of saying you’ve got…

Crime & punishment - breaking the virtual rules

1 Nov 2007

These days, when we talk about crime in the cyber world we’re not referring to the joyriding depicted in Need for Speed or the multiple murders of Manhunt. These are crimes against computer controlled characters within games. This may sound…

Get on course

6 Sep 2007

Dance Edinburgh A vast range of courses from salsa and ballet to breakdancing and street dance are available at Dance Base along with various pay on the day classes. Book before 29 September for the autumn term. Classes run from beginner to advanced…

Last word: Lesley Garrett

2 Oct 2008

First record you ever bought ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ by Simon & Garfunkel. Last time you were chatted up Last weekend at the Eurovision dance contest – that Len Goodman really is very saucy! First film you saw that really moved you…

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…

Streets of glory - Edinburgh Rat Race

17 Jul 2008

Edinburgh will be reclaimed by hundreds of scurrying creatures this month. Claire Sawers meets the people behind the Rat Race

Grand Theft Auto IV

8 May 2008

Typical, isn’t it? You wait two years for the most anticipated videogame of all time and it turns out all wrong. What have Rockstar being doing with their time? The driving feels different. They’ve changed the shooting. And Liberty City is only a…

Property special - Rental guide

8 May 2008

Know what you want Where do you want to live and who with, if anyone? What are your expectations? Be realistic but don’t settle for something which, in a few weeks, won’t make the grade. Go it alone or agent Consider if you want to scour the…

Summer trends

8 May 2008

Blame Status Quo. Blame grunge. Above all, blame Christopher Kane’s continuing fascination with the clothes his babysitters wore circa 1989. But how will a summer full of bleached denim and ra-ra ruffles work on our streets? We ask the experts. . .

Clemens en August

10 Apr 2008

The thing about fashion is it’s just too readily available these days. When everybody’s wearing the same labels, how can you really be sure you’re setting yourself apart from the crowd, eh? Answer: by buying from a label that only sells for three days a…

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…

Old-fashioned sweetie shops

27 Mar 2008

Ever since Topshop’s flagship store in London’s Oxford Circus introduced a pick’n’mix crammed full of sugary treats designed to top up the sugar levers of over-excited teenagers, all the cool kids have known you’re not anyone unless you have a…

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…

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…

Shopping Showdown - Edinburgh

The Style Issue

13 Mar 2008

Capital trends Diana Kiernander considers the mix of the traditional and cutting edge that inspires Edinburgh’s dedicated followers of fashion Edinburgh style should be easy to define. There’s an air of near-perfect designer minimalism among the…

Take Three: New Japanese Restaurants

28 Feb 2008

No 1 Sushi Bar 37 Home Street, Edinburgh 0131 229 6880 This Chinese-run Japanese restaurant is a cross between a style bar and a comfy old-school Chinese gaff, with birds of paradise cavorting over charcoal walls and big mirrors to reflect the…

Retro websites

14 Feb 2008

www.aquarterof.com From Anglo Bubbly and Wham! bars to foiled chocolate cups and Space Dust, this website is a joy to behold for those of us nostalgic for long-forgotten treats. Oh, to return to the days when a two pence Highland toffee was the size…

Review of the year - video games

13 Dec 2007

What promised to be a rather mundane year in gaming turned out to be a surprising 12 months. Two lessons were learned in 2007: firstly, discount Nintendo’s infectious innovation at your peril. And secondly, punters can’t get enough of imaginative…

Trans-Siberian railway

29 Nov 2007

The Trans-Siberian railway is the sort of travel experience that divides people. The idea of multiple nights on a train, sharing a cabin with strangers, no access to showers, dependent on the vagaries of the buffet car for sustenance is many people’s…

Assassin's Creed

29 Nov 2007

XBOX 360/PS3/PC (Ubisoft) How refreshing to enjoy an interesting story well told: thanks to an imaginative, if slightly bonkers, flashback device, Assassin’s Creed tiptoes nimbly through the obvious modern politics of a story set in the Holy Land…

Roseleaf - Upbeat pub grub

15 Nov 2007

There’s no doubt that the shake-up of pubs nearly two years on from the introduction of the smoking ban is well underway. Most of us have changed our attitudes to pubs in that time – we’ll go more often, but for a shorter time, we’re more likely to eat…

BBC Good Food Show in Scotland

1 Nov 2007

This has been the year of the food fair. Events organisers up and down Scotland have sniffed the air and have, in their droves, turned to food and drink as a way of celebrating local identity and drawing crowds young and old. Numerous towns around the…

Travel - Finland

18 Oct 2007

When I first started making plans for my weeklong trip to Finland, I began the requisite process of droning on to anyone and everyone who would listen about my upcoming travels. However, on completion of my I’m-going-to-Finland-(ha ha you’re…

Edinburgh crowned UK’s best place to live

18 Oct 2007

Edinburgh is the best place to live in the UK, according to Kirsty Allsopp and Phil Spencer on Channel 4’s Location, Location, Location. The annual survey for the Best and Worst Live! programme saw the Capital knock last year’s winner – Winchester…

Hidden Lane Café-Gallery

14 Aug 2008

The Hidden Lane doesn’t do location, location, location. Start in the ramshackle stretch of Argyle Street between Finnieston and Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery where there’s a growing and diverse range of small, independent bars and dining spots…

Giffnock Ivy

7 Aug 2008

For the price of a £5 train ticket, Glaswegians can enjoy a dining experience to rival those found in the stylish restaurants of Paris. Well, according to the new management of the Giffnock Ivy, that is, which aims to ‘bring the tastes, smells and…

Kickboxing

31 Jul 2008

It’s nothing to do with overdosing on Buffy the Vampire Slayer re-runs, kickboxing is meant to be a great work out. ‘And let’s face it, would you rather I vent my frustrations at you or focus them onto a well padded target?’ I ask my rather frightened…

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…

RSNO: Video Games Live

19 Jun 2008

Last year in the UK, videogames overtook the music industry in terms of money made and it looks like the film industry could be next. But today’s gaming technology is working in tandem with these industries in interesting new ways, making cut-scenes…

Made in the Shade @ The Lighthouse

22 May 2008

She wears a frilly apron and teases her hair into a rock-hard bee-hive. She spends her days baking fresh cupcakes and her nights stitching patchwork quilts. According to Carrie Maclennan, she’s ‘the American 1950s housewife mother you never had’, and…

Hammer on the web

8 May 2008

The internet has irrevocably changed the way we consume media. ‘Instant’ has become standard and even institutions like the BBC have taken to OnDemand in a big way. Access to downloadable films old and new is increasing and, of course, piracy and…

Side Dishes

8 May 2008

The harlequin group of restaurants, best known for their curry houses, now have a second Spanish-themed tapas restaurant in their portfolio after Las Ramblas in Bearsden with the opening of Torres at 327 Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow. Tapas dishes are…

Taste Test - Muffins

8 May 2008

Blueberry muffin £1.65 •• Tinderbox, 14 Ingram Street and 189 Byres Road, Glasgow Flatters a bit to deceive this one, with its generous size and nicely shaped top, as well as the purpley-blue interior. When tasted, however, the actual fruit is…

Taste Test - Cereal snack bars

10 Apr 2008

Gillian McKeith's Living Food Energy Bar (Soil Association approved) 70g/£1.59 (•) Yikes. An ‘organic superfood bar’ that smells of wicker chairs and is definitely the least tasty on test. It even looks unappetising. It has a fruity, malty, heavy…

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…

Shopping Showdown - Glasgow

The Style Issue

13 Mar 2008

Glasgow styles better Kirstin Innes and Sharon Stephen report on the heavily accessorised cheap chic trend-setting of the West Coast Despite the manicured, designer labelled image promoted by the city marketing bureau under the umbrella Glasgow…

Whoever said money can't buy happiness...

12 Mar 2008

Not for nothing did a wise woman once surmise: "Whoever said money can't buy happiness simply didn't know where to shop." Retail therapy: that ultimate rush when the seemingly unobtainable becomes a bona fide reality. Whatever you want, the Amex…

Side Dishes

28 Feb 2008

Other noteable comebacks include Dave Ramsden, the man behind the ever-colourful and much-lamented ventures (fitz)Henry and Rogue, who is planning to open a restaurant-bar called The Dogs in March. It will be located on Hanover Street in the premises…

Taste Test - Takeaway lattes

28 Feb 2008

Beanscene small latte, £2.05 Woodlands Road, Glasgow, 0141 352 9800; 99 Nicholson Street, 0131 667 5697 plus other branches across Scotland, www.beanscene.com Lacking any defining taste, this feels more like a watered down milkshake than your…

Zurich

14 Feb 2008

On my first visit to Zurich, my Swiss boyfriend dragged me along to the city’s annual Street Parade. I went along expecting a paler version of Berlin’s famous Love Parade and was bowled over by some 800,000 people partying frantically through the city…

Fairtrade Fortnight

14 Feb 2008

Hey! You there! Traipsing about in your fashionable budget high street coat, sipping at your chainstore coffee! This is your conscience calling! Since 1996, the ever-expanding, UK-wide Fairtrade Fortnight has been nagging Scotland’s consumers to put…

A-Z guide to love in the 00s

31 Jan 2008

Al fresco sex Scots are happier than ever to admit doing it outdoors. Whether it’s about getting back to nature, Lady Chatterley’s Lover–style, or something a little more sordid (think Stan Collymore), 69% of us claimed to have had sex in the open air…

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…

Play - Crysis

17 Jan 2008

PC (EA) Did Santa bring you a nice new shiny computer? Is it so powerful you need your own wind farm to run it? Let’s hope so because Crysis demands it. Actually, that’s not fair. The new shooter from the Far Cry team is perfectly playable on a…

Travel - Stavanger

17 Jan 2008

If Disney had designed the streets outside Duncan Robertson’s studio, you’d say it was too Mickey Mouse to be true. Like the view of the sunlit mountains that skirt the edge of the city, the wooden houses of Stavanger’s old town are chocolate box cute.

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…

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…

Eating in Inverness

15 Nov 2007

I’d never really thought about Inverness as a holiday destination. To be perfectly, shamefacedly honest, I hadn’t really ever thought much about Inverness. In an age of £20 flights to Europe, the idea of the weekend city break has come to mean something…

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…

Colin McRae: Dirt

Codemasters

23 Aug 2007

Surely the most attractive thing about rally sport is its white knuckle, mud-spraying, knife-edge excitement? Which is where most rally titles seem to go astray, preferring to follow the F1 or Touring Car route of exactitude, anal technical precision…

Answer Machine

Shantha Roberts

1 Aug 2007

She’s the face of BBC Scotland’s music programmes, who puts her success down to imagining the camera is a friendly robot. But Shantha Roberts would love nothing more than to be part of a gang of talking wildlife, even if she can’t make up her mind about…

It's playtime

Children's Clothing

1 Aug 2007

Ethical, stylish, alternative, interesting and educational? Kirstin Innes meets the designers behind the saintliest children’s clothing companies in the country

BloodRayne II: Deliverance

18 Sep 2008

The name Uwe Boll may well strike fear into many a gamer’s heart. The German director is famed for his videogame adaptations, with his myriad of delights to date, including House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege…

Cocktail Kudos

4 Sep 2008

Chris Stock, the newly appointed assistant bar manager of Edinburgh's Bramble Bar, shares his latest cocktail innovation with The List: 'I invented this one especially for cocktail competitions, and call it The Green Dragon Julep. I make it by smashing…

Take three: Outposts of the Gaeltacht

4 Sep 2008

Three top restaurants with Gaelic names.

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…

Game On

14 Aug 2008

Too Human Xbox 360 (Microsoft) Third-person actioner as you play cybernetic god Baldur in the first part of a mighty, world-conquering trilogy from developer Silicon Knights. It mixes hardcore melee and long-range combat as you battle humongous war…

Side Dishes

14 Aug 2008

Glasgow’s more experienced diners know full well that the Two Fat Ladies fish restaurants had nothing to do with motorcycling cooks Clarissa and Jennifer, and everything to do with the address of the original site at 88 Dumbarton Road. However, the…

Norway

31 Jul 2008

Given that Norway is one of the few places in Europe more expensive, and with worse weather than Scotland, it’s not one of the most obvious destinations for a summer holiday. But for those who appreciate quirky historic towns, dramatic scenery and a…

Tao Bar & Restaurant

31 Jul 2008

This is the Chinese century, and it will be ushered in by the Beijing Olympics. Our economy, foreign policy, environmental and even cultural agenda will all be profoundly influenced by the dominance of China over the coming decades. Our cuisine? It…

Nice and easy does it - Côte d’Azur

17 Jul 2008

Richard Moore braves the glamour and the husband hunters of the Côte d’Azur and discovers a wealth of treasures

Three places nearby the Côte d’Azur

17 Jul 2008

Cannes Although most famous for the illustrious film festival that swamps the city in actor-types every May, Cannes' reputation for glamour is evident throughout the year. The main streets are packed with expensive boutiques, but most of the town's…

Munich

19 Jun 2008

Beer. It might as well be the first word here, since there’s no getting away from it in Munich, even outwith the world-renowned annual piss-up of Oktoberfest. Löwenbräu, Hofbräu, Augustiner, Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr, Spaten, Fraziskaner – you name them…