Posts by Tom Johnston
Chef Watch Featuring Graeme Cheevers of Unalome, Glasgow
Chef Watch Featuring Glasgow’s Latest Michelin Star Holder Graeme Cheevers Unalome, Glasgow How long have you been a chef? I’ve been a chef for 19 years now, it is all I have ever done or wanted to do from a young age. Why did you become a chef? I suppose it was just something…
Read MoreCôte Brasserie, Edinburgh
Côte Brasserie 51 Frederick Street, Edinburgh EH2 1LH 0131 202 6256 www.cote.co.uk The Bill Prix Fixe (Mon – Thu all day; Fri 12 – 7) 2 courses £14.95 | 3 courses £18.95 A la Carte Starters £5.95 – £9.25 | Mains £11.95 – £23.50 Puddings £5.25 – £7.25 The Score Cooking 6.5/10 |…
Read MoreRecipes From Lupe Pintos
On Wednesday, On The Side introduced you to Dougie Bell of Lupe Pintos. Between them, he and his partner Rhoda Robertson have produced three excellent cook books, coveriing a broad range of cuisine from Mexico through the southern states of the USA and on to the Caribbean. The fourth in the series, The Mexican Wrestlers Cookbook was produced…
Read MoreThe Food Retailers: Dougie Bell of Lupe Pintos Deli
Meet Dougie Bell for the first time, and you immediately notice two things. The first is the trademark pork pie hat, worn at all times. The second is the permanent twinkle (albeit not in my truly dreadful photos.) You just know at first encounter that this has not been an ordinary life. Two of his…
Read MoreRistorante Settimo Cielo, Vienna
Ristorante Settimo Cielo (Hotel Royal) Singerstraβe 3, Stock 10, 1010 Vienna +43 1 5123875 www.settimocielo.at The Bill Dinner A la Carte Starters €8.00 – €18.00 | Mains €17.50 – €35.50 Puddings €8.50 – €9.00 The Score Cooking 6.5/10 | Service 3/5 | Flavour 3.5/5 Value 3/5 TOTAL 16/25 Muted. In a city…
Read MoreA Simple Curry – Chicken, Chickpea & Preserved Lemon
I seldom follow recipes when it comes to Indian food. I had got very cocky and reckoned I’d cracked it. There then followed a trio of dishes which were, as they might say it in my home town in Fife, pish poor. But undeterred, a pack of chicken thighs in hand and not a great…
Read MoreChristmas Books – What Happens To Good Boys
In December I highlighted a few food books and cook books which looked promising as presents for people of quality who know and love their food. And, would you believe it? I now find myself the proud owner of most of them. It definitely pays to advertise. TASTE: My Life Through Food Stanley Tucci Fig…
Read MoreBlonde Restaurant, Edinburgh – As Told To Tom Johnston
Blonde Restaurant 75 St Leonards Street, Edinburgh EH8 9QR 0131 668 2917 www.blonderestaurant.co.uk The Bill Set Lunch 2 courses £13.90 | 3 courses £16.90 Dinner A la Carte Starters £4.95 – £6.95 | Mains £14.25 – £22.95 Puddings £5.95 – £6.75 The Score Cooking 6.5/10 | Service 4/5 | Flavour 4/5 Value 5/5…
Read MorePie With No Pastry
And before you start, no potato either. No shepherds or cottagers are involved in today’s offering. As with many of my odder, off the cuff recipes, this was inspired by an item which was needing used. Without being obsessional about it, I dislike seeing food going to waste. A week or two ago I created…
Read MoreChef Watch Featuring Jamie Scott of The Newport, Newport on Tay
Chef Watch Featuring Masterchef: The Professionals Winner Jamie Scott The Newport Restaurant, Newport-on-Tay, Fife How long have you been a chef? I have been a chef professionally for 15 years Why did you become a chef? I became a chef because I failed to become a professional golfer and I love food Favourite ingredient Onions,…
Read MoreSwilcan Loft, Old Course Hotel, St Andrews
Swilcan Loft, Old Course Hotel Old Station Road, St Andrews, KY16 9SP 01334 474371 www.oldcoursehotel.co.uk The Bill Starters £10.00 – £16.50 | Mains £21.50 – £42.00 Desserts £9.20 The Score Cooking 4.5/10 | Service 4.5/5 | Flavour 3/5 Value 3/5 TOTAL 15/25 I’ve been coming to The Old Course Hotel on a…
Read MoreCake Making For Beginners
Lime Drizzle Cake This article started with the intention of describing three or four things lime related; however, when I started writing about the lime cake, it brought back to me the extreme trauma of my early experiences of cake baking. Never made a cake, and think you can just pick up a recipe? Pshaw!…
Read MoreA Food Day of Note Next Week
Well, food lovers, is your diary primed? What famous British food day is with us next week? Warning: the answer may not be the obvious one. And while you’re pondering, who can tell me what a collop is? I encountered it years ago in a Scottish hotel where the dinner menu featured a dish entitled…
Read MoreThings To Do With Limes
As I wrote on Wednesday, I love limes. Having said that, I don’t go along with those who opine that they are interchangeable with lemons. Sometimes (indeed quite often) you just need that sharp, dish-enhancing zap which you’ll get only from its yellow cousin. But limes can be used at any stage of one’s menu.…
Read MoreFrango da Cidade, Olhão, Algarve, Portugal
Frango da Cidade R. Teófilo Braga 51, 8700-368 Olhão, Portugal +351 911 114 577 The Bill The Menu 15€ per head (yes, really) The Score Cooking 6/10 | Service 5/5 | Flavour 4/5 Value 5/5 TOTAL 20/25 Chicken City. Doesn’t sound like a typical Tom Eats! place, does it? And to be…
Read MoreL is for … Lime
I was well into my twenties before I did it for the first time. I’d watched it, obviously. I have a recollection of seeing it done in a plate glass window in Edinburgh’s Princes Street, and being struck by how ruinously expensive the whole process was. While many things came to me early in life,…
Read MoreDuck With An Orange And Honey Glaze
Virtually everyone has their favourite Del and Rodney memory. For most it will be the scene where David Jason tries to lean nonchalantly against the bar, only to discover that the counter had been raised. Great stuff, but I’m still tickled by their French trip. Del, thinking ahead to dinner, asks, What’s French for duck…
Read MoreThe Orchard Bar & Restaurant, Edinburgh
The Orchard Bar & Restaurant 1 – 2 Howard Place, Edinburgh EH3 5JZ 0131 550 0850 www.theorchardbar.co.uk The Bill Starters £5.50 – £10.50 | Rustic Sandwiches £7.75 – £9.25 Mains £13.25 – £31.00 | Desserts – ? The Score Cooking 6/10 | Service 5/5 | Flavour 4.5/5 | Value 4.5/5 TOTAL 20/25 Fascinating…
Read MoreThe Food Producers: Steven Mitchell’s Buffalo Mozzarella
So Gordon Ramsay’s production team for The F Word phone up your buffalo farm. They want to come up so the great man can see you making your buffalo mozzarella. Sure, you say. There’s only one teeny problem – you don’t produce mozzarella. In fact you’ve never made cheese in your life. It wasn’t quite…
Read MoreCraig Wood’s Wild Mushroom Arancini With Smoked Mozzarella
I had some interesting responses to last week’s On The Side column which had some suggested resolutions for 2022. For starters, LinkedIn blocked it, as it apparently contravened some policy or other, but they declined to tell me which it was. I’ve included the link so you can judge for yourself. Secondly, a few people…
Read MoreBirnam Brasserie, Gleneagles Hotel, Auchterarder: Guest Reviewer David Dickson
Birnam Brasserie Gleneagles Hotel, Auchterarder, Perthshire PH3 1NF 01764 694270 www.https://gleneagles.com/eat-drink/the-birnam-brasserie The Bill Starters £9.00 – £17.00 | Mains £14.00 – £40.00 Desserts (from the reviewer’s memory) £5.00 – £8.00 The Score Cooking 8/10 | Service 5/5 | Flavour 4/5 Value 4/5 TOTAL 21/25 Gleneagles Hotel sits amidst the lush greenery of…
Read MoreChef Watch Featuring Stephen Harris of The Sportsman, Seasalter, Kent
Chef Watch Featuring Stephen Harris of The Sportsman, Seasalter, Kent How long have you been a chef? I became a chef in 1995 – 27 years ago. Why did you become a chef? I thought I might be good at it and I knew I wanted my own restaurant. I figured the only way to…
Read MoreTwo Pheasants, Four Meals
Despite the efforts of many, including this column, the notion persists that game is just for toffs, exotic and expensive. It is neither, though most amateur cooks will have struggled from time to time to get it right. In the past, I have had particular problems with pheasant. The season closes at the end of…
Read MoreGordon Ramsay’s Bread Street Kitchen, Edinburgh
Gordon Ramsay’s Bread Street Kitchen 4 St Andrew Square, Edinburgh, EH2 2BD 0131 252 5200 www.gordonramsayrestaurants.com The Bill Starters £7.50 – £14.50 | Mains £16.50 – £48.00 Desserts £5.00 – £7.00 The Score Cooking 7.5/10 | Service 5/5 | Flavour 4/5 Value – Beef 2/5, The rest 4/5: Average 3/5 TOTAL 19.5/25 It ain’t…
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