Miranda Heggie’s Zoom Wine Tasting
For this, the last Tom Eats! of the year (apart from the annual review, which will be over two weeks on Wednesday 16 & 23 December) thanks are once again due to our glamorous and prolific guest reviewer, Miranda Heggie. Fancy a tutored wine tasting, but can’t buy alcohol out because of Tier 3?…
Read MoreThe Food Producers – Meet the Milnes, the Crafty Maltsters
Daniel, Norman and Alison Milne On a gloriously sunny November day I am on Demperston Farm, just outside Auchtermuchty in the Kingdom of Fife. The view is idyllic, looking south over the Lomond Hills. Alison Milne, however, is in reflective mode. As a society, we have never been more disconnected from our food and how…
Read MoreA Couple of Pheasant Stews
The game season is now in full swing. Probably my first exposure to game was in the form of pheasant, because that was the main thing shot at the in-laws in Perthshire. I’ve probably written before that the principal reason folk are leery of game is that they’re not sure what to do with it.…
Read MoreRollo Restaurant & Wine Bar, Stockbridge, Edinburgh
Rollo Restaurant & Wine Bar 108 Raeburn Place, Stockbridge, Edinburgh EH4 1HH 0131 332 1232 www.barrollo.com The Bill Bites £3.80 – £10.00 | Bowls £12.00 Plates £11.00 – £14.50 | Puddings £7.00 – £8.00 The Score Cooking 6.5/10 | Service 4.5/5 | Flavour 4.5/5 | Value 5/5 Total 20.5/25 It was a chance meeting…
Read MoreHungry by Grace Dent – Book Review
I wish back for just one normal evening. I was loved and I was never hungry, and for a small girl from Currock, that was as good as things get. We all know now that the small girl from Currock went on to do many more things. But until I read this, her autobiography, all I…
Read MoreOne20 Wine Cafe, Edinburgh
One20 Wine Cafe 120 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 5DQ 0131 556 1911 www.one-20.co.uk The Bill Starters £4.75 – £13.50 | Mains £12.75 – £14.75 Dessert (Tiramisu) £4.75 The Score Cooking/Produce Selection 6.5/10 | Service 4.5/5 | Flavour 4.5/5 Value 4/5 Total 19.5/25 Has COVID made you less active? Have your mental facilities slowed as a…
Read MoreIn Praise of Mash
Now if you posed the question, mashed what, it proves how little you know me. In this divided age in which we live, a less magnanimous columnist might tell you to sling your hook: I, on the other hand, invite you to enter the fold and learn. The answer is, of course, potato. Yesterday was…
Read MoreChef Watch – Fred Berkmiller, L’escargot bleu
CHEF WATCH Featuring Fred Berkmiller, Chef Patron of L’escargot bleu, Broughton Street, Edinburgh How long have you been a chef? I started my apprenticeship at the age of 14, and took my first head chef job was when I was 23. Why did you become a chef? I didn’t really choose to, rather I was…
Read MoreMonkfish
Children are cruel beasts. Many believe that William Golding called it right in Lord of the Flies. The ugly and the different are not well treated and are often misunderstood. So pity the poor monkfish. You may never have seen one: the average fishmonger simply stocks fillets on his shelves. As you will observe from…
Read MoreThe Räv, St Andrews
The Räv 80 North Street, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9AH 01334 208580 www.therav.co.uk The Bill Lunch and Dinner Starters £6.00 – £11.00 | Mains £13.00 – £21.00 | Desserts £6.50 The Score Cooking 6.5/10 | Service 4.5/5 | Flavour 4/5 | Value 4.5/5 Total 19.5/25 We’ve been coming to St Andrews for a short break…
Read MoreThe Food Producers – The McKenzie Smiths of Lindores Abbey Distillery
As a solicitor I have in my time engaged in very many aspects of legal practice. The one that gave me least satisfaction was conveyancing, transferring title to heritable property. There would, however, be the the occasional nugget of interest; an odd title condition, say, or some weird and wonderful names. Who knew, for example,…
Read MoreThe Black Bull Inn, Lowick – Guest Reviewer Fiona Garwood
The Black Bull Inn 2 – 4 Main Street, Lowick, Berwick on Tweed TD15 2UA 01289 388375 www.blackbulllowick.co.uk The Bill Lunch and Dinner Starters £5.50 – £11.95 | Mains £10.95 – £23.95 | Desserts £6.50 The Score Cooking 8/10 | Service 4/5 | Flavour 4/5 | Value 4/5 Total 20/25 There are several pubs in…
Read MoreTom Cooks! Duck
Well, after Wednesday’s D for Duck column I don’t have much choice, do I? Many food writers say that duck and fruit go well together. Accordingly, I begin with raspberry. A big loud one to all of you who wrote in to say that I had misspelled Pekin and that it should have been Peking. Well,…
Read MoreD is for Duck
Long Island Duck I started this article looking to escape from the misery of a dreich and wet Sunday. Some hours on, with the brain nipping, I’m really wishing I hadn’t. The source of my perplexity (at this stage I neither know nor care whether that is a real word) will become clear…
Read MoreBeef Bourgignon
On Wednesday we talked about cooking with wine, so there was only one candidate for today’s Tom Cooks! Actually, there were two. It was a toss up between today’s dish and coq au vin. Done correctly, both are very similar. And what else they have in common is that both can be done very simply…
Read MoreCraft, Birmingham – Guest Reviewer Miranda Heggie
Craft The Terrace, ICC, 8 Centenary Square Birmingham B1 2EA 0333 772 9329 www.weare-craft.co.uk The Bill Lunch and Dinner Two Courses £33 | Three Courses £39 | Four Courses £45 Afternoon tea £25 with Hot Beverage or £30.00 with a Glass of Sparkling Wine or Craft Gin Cocktail The Score Cooking 8/10 | Service 5/5…
Read MoreCooking With Wine
We’ve all seen that fridge magnet. It was quite amusing the first time. (No, I don’t have one. Mine is the equally classic Life’s too short to drink bad wine, of which more later.) But for the inexperienced cook, keeping wine out of the pan and pouring it into the gob can sometimes be the…
Read MoreBill Kerr’s Crab and Parmesan Risotto with Seared Scallop
While I had the undivided attention of Bill Kerr, subject of this week’s Chef Watch, I thought it would be criminal to let him away without extracting a recipe or two from him. He gave me a winter warmer of slow cooked beef shin with horseradish mash. I was reassured to see it was…
Read MoreLe Chapon Fin, Bordeaux – Home to the Worst Service in the World
Le Chapon Fin 5 Rue Montesquieu, 33000 Bordeaux, France +33 556 791 010 www.chapon-fin.com The Bill (Euros – 2018 Prices) Lunch Set Lunch 35€ Dinner Set Menus 69€ – 99€ A la Carte Starters 29€ -33€ | Mains 37€ – 55€ | Desserts 16€ The Score Cooking 5/10 Service Sommeliers 5/5, Waitresses 0/5 – Average…
Read MoreChef Watch – Bill Kerr, Superstar and Legend
CHEF WATCH Scottish Chef of the Year Featuring Bill Kerr, two time winner, Scottish Chef of the Year, producer of some of the best food I have ever eaten in my life. Why did you become a chef? At high school when I was 12, the Scottish Electricity Board advertised a cooking competition. I came…
Read MoreTom’s Frittata
After last week’s article on Spanish tortilla it occurred to me that in the five years or so of this column eggs have rarely featured, which seems odd. They are, after all, the ultimate fast food. Here at Casa Johnston, they also form the basis for many types of comfort food. Can you beat an…
Read MoreThe Kitchin, Leith, Edinburgh
The Kitchin 78 Commercial Quay, Leith, Edinburgh EH6 6LX 0131 555 1755 www.thekitchin.com The Bill Lunch 3 courses £39.00 | 4 courses £51.00 Dinner A la Carte 2 courses £75.00 | 3 courses £90.00 Tasting Menus Surprise/Vegetarian Surprise £100.00 Prestige Surprise £150.00 The Score Cooking 9.5/10 | Service 5/5 | Flavour 5/5 | Value 4/5…
Read MoreHow To Create a Restaurant
Most of us will have eaten in a restaurant which has only just opened its doors. We will take in the decor, probably smile a little at the inexperience of the waiting staff, then get stuck in to the menu and wine list. How many of us give any thought at all to the process…
Read MoreSpanish Tortilla
In Wednesday’s On The Side, I promised you a Spanish classic. It doesn’t get more typical than this. Go into any snack bar, or anywhere offering the most basic selection of tapas and you will find tortilla on the bill of fare. Confusingly, given the close links between Spain and Mexico, this has nothing whatever…
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