Posts by Tom Johnston
The Food Producers – Hannah Calder and Harriet Armston-Clarke of Belly Dance
Belly Dance is a new fermented soft drink. Made from water kefir, it’s low sugar, caffeine free and vegan. Tom’s Food! can confirm that it’s also delicious. We particularly like the Fiery Ginger one. Other flavours include Cherry Berry and Kiwi Mango. Drinks expert Diana Thompson has written that it’s now her favourite non-alcoholic drink.…
Read MoreRed Sky At Night, Shepherd’s (Pie) Delight
Hello and Happy New Year. I planned to let January pass me by, to enable us to take stock and regroup; however, I had an idea for a Tom Eats! piece. To maintain symmetry, I thought we’d chuck in a recipe as well. Yes, more pie. And why not? January is for comfort food. In…
Read MoreWhere Will Tom Eats! Eat in 2026?
Where Will Tom Eats! Eat in 2026? Help Required Yes, I know I said that we wouldn’t be back until February. But I can’t let the month of January go by without wishing you all a very happy new year, and expressing once again my thanks for your support and feedback. Feedback, in…
Read MoreReview of 2025 Part 2: 1 – 15=
One word. Wow! In the first ten years of Tom Eats! we had precisely two perfect scores. And in this year of grace 2025 or Food Date TE! 11, we end up with two more. Wow! as I said. But which of the two will get the nod, the coveted prize, the restaurant Oscar, Tom Eats!…
Read MoreA Pie for New Year
Tom Johnston by Edwin Horalik I know I told you that Tom Cooks! was finished for the year; however, there are a couple of reasons for the change of heart. Firstly, an opportunity to unveil the new Tom Cooks! logo, a portrait of me by grandson Edwin. Worry not, that’s a chef’s hat, not a…
Read MoreReview of 2025 Part 1: 19 – 32
Another year of great eating. As you’ll see next time, scores at the top have never been higher; however, the middle ground is really strong. Two places scoring 19.5 – that’s 78% – but can’t get into the top half. Incredible. As ever, I doff my hat to restaurateurs everywhere. Despite the difficulties they still…
Read MoreFish Pie
Let down by my own website. The horror, the horror! After ten years, most of my standards have found their way into this column. By no means are all of them off the top-of the-head. Today, the brain said fish pie. (May I assume that all of your brains give you food messages regularly, or…
Read MoreHôtel Majestic, Paris – Guest Reviewer Binkie Johnston
Hôtel Majestic Rue la Pérouse, Paris (There is still a hotel of that name, but on a different site to Binkie’s dinner. The photograph shows the current hotel) We are virtually at the end of the Tom’s Food! season. We’ll be away for a couple of weeks, then it’ll be Review of the Year…
Read MoreMore Books for Giving – Blood, Sweat & Asparagus Spears; A Taste for Wine
BLOOD, SWEAT AND ASPARAGUS SPEARS The Story of the 1990s Restaurant Revolution Andrew Turvil Elliott & Thompson pp241 £20 Britain has no habit of restaurant use. Thus wrote The Good Food Guide (TGFG) editor Tom Jaine in 1990. Every foodie is aware of…
Read MoreBeetroot Three Ways
Last week, On The Side featured beetroot: this week it had a tribute. Today I’m going to combine the two. While this is the Tom Cooks! column, today’s first two recipes are taken from Christopher Trotter’s book, Beetroot. As regular readers will be aware, Christopher died three months ago. A fabulous cook and a lovely…
Read MoreThe Khukuri, Edinburgh
The Khukuri 8 West Maitland Street, Edinburgh EH12 5DS 0131 228 2025 www.thekhukuri.com The Bill Starters £3.95 – £8.95 | Mains £10.95 – £20.95 Desserts £3.95 – £7.95 The Score Cooking 6.5/10 | Service 5/5 Flavour 4.5/5 | Value 5/5 TOTAL 21/25 Nepal. It’s different. Not just for the litter encrusted monster mountains and…
Read MoreIn Praise of the Oyster
Oysters, again, I hear you moan. Yes, best beloveds, I do keep an eye on my back catalogue. Yes, I know I wrote about the Stranraer Oyster Festival, and followed up with some bivalve recipes. But while I would never concede my prose to be dull, these were largely factual affairs. So what has brought…
Read MoreChicken Tray Bake with Potatoes, Peppers, Lemon and Sumac plus Bonus Recipe
Yes, I know I said we were going to do beetroot today. But come last night I still hadn’t written anything and I happened to create a small dish of genius (actually two, but you know how I hate to boast). Chicken Traybake I don’t know why I haven’t done that many traybakes. They are…
Read MoreThe Bailie, Edinburgh
The Bailie 2 – 4 St Stephen Street, Edinburgh EH3 5AL 0131 225 4673 www.thebailiebar.com The Bill Starters £7.00 – £9.50 | Mains £14.00 – £32.00 Desserts ? The Score Cooking 5.5/10 | Service 5/5 Flavour 4/5 | Value 4.5/5 TOTAL 19.5/25 It was one of the more unusual nuisance calls. There I…
Read MoreB is for Beetroot
Were you pickled like me? No, Mrs Johnston, not like that. I mean, was your first experience of today’s beauty in a jar with vinegar? And not vinegar as is used by us expert cooks, but the industrial strength stuff which you could use to strip paint. Maybe it meant that the producers didn’t need…
Read MoreJam Roly Poly
An older, wiser friend, a man of the world, once took me to one side and told me that there were two of life’s pleasures which one would never get at home. The first of these was lobster Thermidor. I forget what he told me to be the second, but I’ve worked it out to…
Read Moreeòrna, Edinburgh
eòrna restaurant 68 Hamilton Place, Edinburgh EH3 5AZ 0131 531 4680 www.eornarestaurant.com The Bill Set 6 course dinner £105.00 The Score Cooking 10/10 | Service 5/5 Flavour 5/5 | Value 5/5 TOTAL 25/25 In the career of every food genius, there some seminal moments. Obviously I know about these things. There is one…
Read MoreThe Art of Great Service Dissected
No, not originally my title, though I have written about service before. It comes from the current edition of Scottish Licensed Trade News. At a recent event entitled Art of Service, a Q & A session had been set up involving three experts from different parts of the licensed trade spectrum. First there was award winning mixologist Mal…
Read MorePheasant, Apple and Ginger Casserole
This dish is inspired by, but rather different to, a Claire Macdonald recipe. Lady Claire uses whole pheasants suggesting, rather ambitiously, that two birds will feed 6 to 8 people. Secondly, she uses flour to thicken her sauce, which I dislike. Thirdly, she recommends cooking in the oven. While this is perhaps better for a…
Read MorePetiscais, Olhão
Petiscais Restauracao Rua Candido do O Ventura 11, 8700-373 Olhão +351 918 707 936 Facebook www.facebook.com/Petiscais The Bill (Euros) Starters €2.50 – €22.00 | Mains €15.00 – €20.00 Desserts – sorry, forgot to look The Score Cooking 6/10 | Service 4.5/5 Flavour 4/5 | Value 5/5 TOTAL 19.5/25 While the lyrics of…
Read MoreNational Heroes – Anton
No, NOT that one. This is a food column, remember? I have to say that until I read an article in the most recent Noble Rot magazine, I had no idea that Anton Mosimann was still alive and chopping. Truth be told he had slipped out of my memory. Many of you may not even have heard…
Read MoreScotch Broth
In her recent review of The Soup Solution, Cat Thomson name checked two famous Scottish varieties, one of these being Scotch Broth. Truth be told, it’s not my favourite. It’s also very fiddly to make, which may explain why we don’t see it so much these days. This recipe comes from a cookbook written by my…
Read MoreGloriosa, Glasgow
Gloriosa 1321 Argyle Street, Glasgow G3 8AB 0141 334 0594 www.gloriosaglasgow.com The Bill Bites £6.00 – £9.00 | Plates £13.00 – £28.00 Desserts £8.00 – £14.00 The Score Cooking 6/10 | Service 4/5 Flavour 4/5 | Value 3.5/5 TOTAL 17.5/25 Gloriosa I can be sniffy about restaurant names. Perhaps a little unfair,…
Read MoreBooks for Giving
If you have pals who love food and with whom you exchange presents, help may be at hand on the gift front. Unless you know them very well, I would counsel against cookery books. (An exception may, of course, be made if the person has been wise enough to drop unsubtle hints.) Suffice it to…
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