Posts by Tom Johnston

When news is slow, journalists (and, I confess, food bloggers) can struggle to find material. On the food front, a constant source of entertainment is to look up the mutitudinous foodstuffs which have been allocated a specific day or week. There are of course a few which have long standing significance. Perhaps the best known…

Come On, You Reds! Today’s column is inspired by a recent visit to Vienna, to visit the grandson (and his parents, of course). The boy’s education is coming along nicely. If you say to him, come on, he will, without bidding, add, you Reds. I’m fairly certain his choice of weekend attire was responsible for Man…

My next vocation will be a hazardous one. It will involve walking through great crowds. There will almost certainly be fire eaters. Chainsaws may be buzzing and the noise will be infernal. That is a modest description of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile during the Edinburgh Festival in August. Eh? Oh, let me explain. I am on…

Anything is expensive if you can’t afford it. Of course I get that. And with the horrendous across the board price increases which we have seen recently, many have had to readjust budgets. Luxuries such as eating out are the first to be culled. I get that too; however, I guess you don’t read a…

Or maybe you like the idea of a free meal for 2 with wine and cocktails at Tapa in Leith, the Tom Eats! Restaurant of the Year in 2023? Yes, for once we are offering a real prize, not just a year’s free subscription. All you have to do is to pen a review of a…

After my recent article R is for Rum, my friend Ian I and I exchanged a few emails about phrases in the English language which are food related. My dealings with Ian go back to when he was Clerk to one of Scotland’s major licensing boards. Many of you will know that I was once…

  Chef Watch Featuring Paco Martin Romano, Head Chef at Tapa, Edinburgh   How long have you been a chef? I’ve been a chef too long to remember, but I moved to Edinburgh (from my native Sevilla) to join my sister here in late 2010 and began working in Tapa in early 2011. I had…

Given the Caribbean theme, today’s subject for the Food Alphabetical shouldn’t have been too hard to guess. In Barbados, where we visited before Christmas, rum is still a very important part of the Bajan economy. Although rum is now made world wide, many connoisseurs still believe that the finest stuff comes from the West Indies.…