Posts by Tom Johnston
Bridges, Amsterdam
Bridges Oudezijds Voorburgwal 197,1012 EX Amsterdam, Netherlands +31 20 555 3560 www.bridgesrestaurant.nl The Bill Menu du Chef 5 courses €105; 6 courses €115; 7 courses €125 A la carte Starters €30 – €45 | Mains €34 – €110 Desserts €17 – €22 The Score Cooking – Amuse Bouche 8/10; Rest 4/10 -…
Read MoreBread Rolls
By making your own rolls at home you really start to get some economic benefits. We’re going to start by turning that first batch of dough you made from a few weeks ago into rolls. A standard morning roll weighs about 80g, which means you’ll get at least 10 of them from your dough. Remember…
Read MoreDeposit Return Scheme or Diabolical Ruddy Shambles?
In a previous existence I spent much of my time advising the licensed trade. When it came to law reforms affecting licensees, many hours were spent trying to persuade governments of the unworkability of many a scheme, and hundreds more ranting after those protestations were ignored. Lorna Slater MSP These days I live an untrammelled…
Read MoreWell, Did You Make The Loaf?
Your first attempt at bread. Congratulations. Now while I hear that many of you were delighted, some of you had problems. Let’s consider some of them. My dough went into a sticky mess and I couldn’t work with it Getting the amount of water right is tricky, even when you follow a recipe. While the…
Read MoreThe Magnum, Edinburgh
The Magnum 1 Albany Street, Edinburgh EH1 3PY 0131 557 4366 www.themagnumrestaurant.co.uk The Bill A la carte Starters £6.90 – £17.00 | Mains £17.00 – £36.00 Desserts £7.00 – £9.00 The Score Cooking 7/10 | Service 5/5 Flavour 5/5 | Value 4.5/5 TOTAL 21.5/25 Just a pub lunch, said the lady. I’m fed…
Read MoreFound A Buffalo?
Sounds like part of a bad joke, doesn’t it? Readers of a certain vintage will remember this one. – How do you know if you have an elephant in the fridge? – You can see its footprints in the butter. Sarah and Steve Mitchell Substitute buffalo for elephant and it works just as well/badly. In life, how…
Read MoreLocanda de Gusti, Edinburgh
Locanda de Gusti 102 Dalry Road, Edinburgh EH11 2DW 0131 346 8800 www.locandadegusti.com The Bill A la carte Starters £7.95 – £10.95 | Pasta £12.95 – £28.95 Mains £14.50 – £30.95 | Desserts £6.95 The Score Cooking 5.5/10 | Service 4/5 Flavour 4/5 | Value 3.5/5 TOTAL 17/25 In 1940 You Can’t Go Home…
Read MoreTom’s Food! Challenge – Make One Loaf
So you’ve never made bread before. No problem, that applies to millions of you. We’re into February, so I’m not trying to get you to make resolutions. Assuming you eat bread, and buy some or all of it as part of your supermarket shopping, I give you one very small challenge. Follow this column and…
Read MoreBread Month and Review of Do Sourdough
Now I know this column likes to keep up with the seasons and, to a lesser extent, with food trends, but I had no idea it was blessed with the gift of prophecy. Readers of Tom Cooks! will be aware that for the past two Fridays we have been giving you joyous things to put…
Read MoreLesley Johnston’s Orange Marmalade
Tom Cooks! is continuing the theme of things to spread on your toast. That’s about the only thing that today’s recipe has in common with last week’s lemon curd. That one was quick. This week’s, like January itself, seems to go on for ever. Seville oranges will only be available for another couple of weeks…
Read MoreLokál Dlouhááá, Prague
Lokál Dlouhááá Dlouhá 33, 110 00 Staré Město, Czechia +420 734 283 874 www.lokal-dlouha.ambi.cz/en/ The Bill (£1 = 25 CZK) Starters £2.40 – £5.50 | Mains £7.00 – £11.40 Desserts £2.40 – £3.60 The Score Cooking 5.5/10 | Service 4/5 Flavour 4/5 | Value 5/5 TOTAL 18.5/25 In the mid 1990s when Bill Bryson…
Read MoreO is for Orange
I’m not sure that I really understand what genetic modification is. What I do know is that, even leaving genes out of the equation, mankind has been mucking about with its fruit and veg for centuries. Never more it seems, than with today’s hero, the orange. Given the ubiquity of the fruit, it surprised me…
Read MoreA Street Near You, Mia Italian Kitchen Dalry, Edinburgh
Mia Italian Kitchen Dalry 96 Dalry Road, Edinburgh EH11 2AX 0131 629 1750 www.mia-restaurant.co.uk The Bill Lunch Menu (Mon – Fri: 12 – 3) 2 courses £11.95 | 3 courses £13.95 A la carte Starters £4.25 – £10.95 | Mains £8.95 – £25.95 Desserts £4.95 – £7.50 The Score Cooking 5/10 | Service 4.5/5 …
Read MoreLiz Turnbull’s Quick Lemon Curd
So do you have a citrus problem? Find them coming at you from everywhere? That happened to us last year. We threw our first party in over two years. Both L and I both bought lemons and limes by the ton, and probably used but two on the day. Nothing worse than watching them shrinking…
Read MoreChef Watch Featuring Jack Coghill of Jack ‘O’ Bryan’s, Dunfermline
Chef Watch Featuring Jack Coghill Chef and Co-owner of Jack ‘O’ Bryan’s, Dunfermline How long have you been a chef? I started working in the kitchen for the family business when I was 14 washing dishes after school. When I left school (16) I started full time in the kitchen with my passion being pastry…
Read MoreClaire Macdonald’s Pheasant Terrine
Claire Macdonald This is a genius of a recipe. Even by Claire Macdonald’s standards she has surpassed herself. And with the pheasant season drawing to a close, pheasant breasts are really economical. I think I paid £3 for the meat for the whole dish. With a terrine, you generally require a chutney. No need here…
Read MoreHaar Restaurant with Rooms, St Andrews
Haar Restaurant with Rooms 1 Golf Place, St Andrews KY16 9JA 01334 479281 www.haarrestaurant.com The Bill Five Course Tasting Menu £82.50 Optional Extra Courses £18.00 – £25.00 The Score Cooking 8.5/10 | Service 1/5 Flavour 4.5/5 | Value 3/5 TOTAL 17/25 Oh, Dean Banks. I’ll begin the year with a quotation from a well known…
Read MoreThe Death of Fine Dining?
This article was influenced by two things. Firstly, there was the announcement that chef René Redzepi is to close his renowned restaurant Noma in 2024. Situated in the Danish capital Copenhagen, Noma has five times been voted the world’s best restaurant. And secondly there was the rather lurid headline in Sunday’s Observer that Jay Rayner…
Read MoreWhy Read Tom Cooks!?
I mentioned a month or two ago that – to my own surprise – this column has just celebrated its seventh birthday. 7 years. A time for introspection, albeit one without an itch. It started off on the back of two cook books. The first was written for me by my mum when I was…
Read MoreReview of the Year 2022 Part 2: 1 – 20
Well, here they are, the champions of 2022. 21 scoring 70% or over; 7 over 90%, and 1 perfect 25/25, only the second in the history of Tom Eats! Wow! Congratulations to the ladies and gentlemen in question, and their teams. *** Signifies Guest Reviewer*** Restaurant Score Comments 1 Aizle, Edinburgh 25 Take a bow, Stuart…
Read MoreReview of the Year 2022 Part 1: 21 – 35
Another 12 months, another review of the year. Well, what went wrong this year? Let’s start with the insignificant personal stuff. Last year we published 27 reviews. Never again, I said. This year we’ll get out more and write less. Ah well, we have 35 this year – how did that happen? On a…
Read MoreLight of Bengal, Aberdeen – Guest Reviewer David Dickson
Light of Bengal 13 Rose St, Aberdeen, AB10 1TX 01224 648224 www.lightofbengalaberdeen.co.uk The Bill Starters £4.95 – £9.95 | Mains £12.95 – £19.95 Rice £3.95 – £5.45 | Vegetable sides £6.45 Breads £1.95 – £5.45 The Score Cooking 7/10 | Service 4/5 Flavour 4/5 | Value 4/5 TOTAL 19/25 A bitterly cold night in the…
Read MoreEggs Benedict – The Real McCoy and a Cheat’s Version
The original plan for today was to give you a stollen recipe; however, that would have been three sweet things in a row, and I haven’t had time to test it. Next year, perhaps. So, staying seasonal, what shall we have? Over the next two or three weeks, eating patterns will change for many of…
Read MoreIngredients and Gadgets – The Floor is Yours
How many of you know what this is? For nearly three years now we’ve been running the Chef Watch feature. Perhaps it needs a little freshening up – especially now that a certain lady in The Scotsman has not only adopted it, but also copied most of the questions. There is a certain sameness (if…
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