Reasons why Edinburgh is resplendent (and Glasgow is radge)

17 Mar 2010

So, Edinburgh's better than Glasgow, right? Better arts venues, better eating & drinking, better architecture, more civilised residents, why would you ever want to get on the train to Queen Street? We want to hear your reasons why Edinburgh is miles…

Food news March 2010: A wee jaunt out of town

2 Mar 2010

With so much going on in the Glasgow and Edinburgh dining scene it’s easy to ignore the rest of Scotland – at least until the ‘summer’ season begins or the snow gates are opened, whichever is the earlier. But there have been some intriguing developments…

Food Inc addresses western diet debate

18 Feb 2010

A feast for the eyes with new food flicks and local beer makes a comeback. The eye-opening US documentary Food, Inc. opens in the UK on Friday 12 February, with a week-long run at the Filmhouse in Edinburgh and three days at the GFT. Feature-length…

Valentine's Day: Restaurants

18 Feb 2010

Love is a many-flavoured thing, and not all couples are looking for the same Valentine’s experience. Donald Reid suggests a handful of choice tables for lovers of all persuasions...

East Lothian company Chocolate Tree make moves into Edinburgh

17 Feb 2010

Lovers of real, hand-made chocolate will delight at the arrival of another chocolaterie in Bruntsfield. Alastair Gower and Friederike Matthis’ Chocolate Tree started out in East Lothian, where they perfected an organic chocolate recipe that mixed food…

Glasgow Guerrilla Supper Club

17 Feb 2010

Local guerrilla gardeners have been leaving messages as well as planting seed bombs in recent weeks, so the time is clearly ripe for some guerilla eating. Based at a large Victorian villa in Pollokshields, artist Hilary Nicoll is running the Glasgow…

Independent brewers reappearing in Edinburgh and Glasgow

17 Feb 2010

You may have noticed around town that local beers are reappearing. Not Tennent’s (owned by Irish C&C group) or McEwan’s (Dutch-owned) but ales from the WEST brewery at Glasgow Green and Stewart Brewing of Loanhead, just south of Edinburgh. Recent…

Possible formation of Scottish Small Brewers Association

17 Feb 2010

Petra Wetzel, Managing Director of WEST, is sufficiently encouraged by the growing profile of local breweries in Scotland to suggest the formation of a Scottish Small Brewers Association. She managed to get representatives from around 45 breweries to…

Karen’s Unicorn, Metropolitain and Mimi’s Kitchen amongst recent Glasgow and Edinburgh restaurant openings

3 Feb 2010

Karen’s Unicorn 8b Abercromby Place, New Town, 0131 476 2602, £13 (lunch/dinner) Having taken over the running of the long-standing Unicorn Inn at the quieter end of St Stephen Street, Karen’s Unicorn opened a second venue in late 2009 in the prominent…

Food, Inc.

1 Feb 2010

(PG) 93min Robert Kenner’s Oscar-nominated documentary seeks to lift the veil surrounding the food industry in America, and to reveal, in the director’s own words, ‘the truth about what we are eating’ – cheap food, it transpires, comes with some…

Nice Buns: Hamburger Heaven

1 Feb 2010

Blue Moon Café on Broughton Street has a new sidekick, Hamburger Heaven. Donald Reid visited the celestial venture. The latest twist in the varied career of the ‘back room’ of Barony Street’s Blue Moon Café – a space that happens to enjoy prime…

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.

More for less: Deals on meals

21 Jan 2010

With restaurants, a bargain can be anything from £25 for a meal that should cost twice that much, or £6.90 for a three-course lunch. Niki Boyle and Donald Reid present 30 of the best value-for-money deals on offer this month Smart tables You don’t…

'Use us or lose us' challenge by Scottish independent food shops

20 Jan 2010

There have been warnings from two of Glasgow’s finest food shops, Heart Buchanan on Byres Road and Delizique on Hyndland Street, who’ve mounted a ‘use us or lose us’ challenge to local shoppers. The arrival of Waitrose in the West End may have set…

How to celebrate Burns night in Edinburgh

20 Jan 2010

The whisky industry estimates that we sink around two million extra drams on the night of 25 January, toasting Rabbie’s birthday (his 251st this year). Various bars around Edinburgh, including the World’s End, Henricks and the Waterline in Leith, are…

Hungarian, East African, Russian and Brazilian flavours explode throughout Scotland

20 Jan 2010

The latest draft of new or imminent restaurants around Edinburgh and Glasgow promise flavours rarely encountered in these parts. Glasgow has Nur Egyptian restaurant and Botego du Brazil (from the owners of Classic Grand ), along with two new African…

More for less: Smart shopping

20 Jan 2010

There’s a line of impeccable logic that applies whether you’re rich as Croesus, as poor as a church mouse, or somewhere in the middle. We all have to feed ourselves to stay upright. Eating food involves getting hold of it and preparing it. The more…

Food culture: What to expect in 2010

7 Jan 2010

The new vegetarianism Nigel Slater Tender and Simon Hopkinson The Vegetarian Option made the Christmas bestseller lists with books giving much more respect to vegetables. It’s not about going completely veggie, but eating less meat, of better…

Restaurant review - pickledgreen

7 Jan 2010

Rose Street is a right hotch-potch when it comes to its eating and drinking scene: from bland chain restaurants to venerable old boozers, unadorned Japanese noodle-bars to buzzy seafood bistros. Into this unlikely setting, and fired with the optimism…

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: The Scottish Café and Restaurant

10 Nov 2009

Porridge with berries and heather honey Porridge needn’t be grey wallpaper paste served as punishment. Salt should be included judiciously when cooking (as with bread), but John Knox doesn’t birl in his grave if you put sugar on it – though berries…

Royal Scottish Automobile Club renovation continues

4 Nov 2009

The massive renovation of the former Royal Scottish Automobile Club on Blythswood Square in Glasgow is reaching completion with the opening of the first batch of rooms and the hotel’s 120-seater restaurant and cocktail bar. Part of the Town House…

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…

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

Food For Thought: Ashley J Russell

The actress now touring with 'We Will Rock You'

16 Oct 2009

I was brought up with my mum always telling me ‘You don’t have to like it but you must always try it’, so thanks to her I enjoy a wide variety of foods. A typical day’s breakfast for me would be something quite healthy and filling like a poached egg on…