Glaschu Restaurant & Bar, Glasgow

  Glaschu Restaurant & Bar 32 Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow G1 3AB 0141 248 2214    www.glaschurestaurant.co.uk The Bill Market Menu 2 courses £25.00 | 3 courses £30.00 A la carte Appetisers £3.50 – £7.00 | Starters £10.00 – £18.00  Mains £23.00 – £42.50 | Desserts £8.00 – £8.50 The Score Cooking  6/10 | Service…

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O is for… OXO

Well some Food Alphabeticals are easier than others, and time was short for today. Even the mighty Larousse Gastronomique has only 10 pages for the letter O. Despite the illustration on the left, today’s choice is not based on a favourite ingredient of mine. What I prefer to feature is something which has a bit of history,…

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Pasta with Pesto, Parmesan, Pecorino and Pistachios

This pleasantly alliterative recipe is my take on a dish which I ate at Valvona & Crolla, which was reviewed last week. It is laughably simple. Like pesto itself, you can play about with the ingredients, but if you omit any, you’d have to rename the dish, obviously. You can use any pasta you like,…

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David Bann, Edinburgh

  David Bann 56-58 St Mary’s Street, Edinburgh EH1 1SX 0131 556 5888  www.davidbann.co.uk The Bill Set Menu 2 courses £20.50 | 3 courses £25.50 A la carte Starters £5.95 – £7.45 Mains £12.25 – £15.50 Desserts £6.50 – £7.50 The Score Cooking  5.5/10 | Service 3/5  Flavour  3.5/5 | Value 4/5 TOTAL 16/25  Don’t do…

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Coronation Fare Part 2

Last week we had a wee history lesson: this week brings us up to date. Today’s recipe is for Coronation Quiche, devised by Royal Chef Mark Flanagan, apparently in consultation with the King and Queen Consort. Critics of Coronation chicken were heard to mutter that with its curry flavour it was hardly British. I can…

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Valvona & Crolla Caffè Bar & Restaurant, Edinburgh

  Valvona & Crolla Caffè Bar & Restaurant 19 Elm Row, Edinburgh EH7 5AA 0131 556 6066   www.valvonacrolla.co.uk The Bill Antipasti £7.00 – £16.00 | Panetella (Flatbread Sandwiches) £12.00  Pasta £18.00- £20.00 |  Primi Piatti £16.00 – £26.00  Dolci £4.00 – £7.00 The Score Cooking – Pasta 7/10: Other 4/10 – Average 5.5/10  Service 4/5  Flavour  4/5…

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Paesano Pizza, Glasgow

  Paesano Pizza 94 Miller Street, Glasgow G1 1DT 0141 258 5565  www.paesanopizza.co.uk The Bill Pizzas £6.90 – £11.50| Sides £3.50 – £6.50  Desserts £4.50 The Score Cooking  6/10 | Service 4/5  Flavour  4/5 | Value 5/5 TOTAL 19/25  Take recommendations from wherever, but treat those from untried sources with care. What then do you make of this…

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Coronation Fare Part 1

Now don’t start complaining that we still have a couple of weeks to go. When it comes to matters royal, the art of preparation knows no bounds. I can tell you that contingency plans for the late Queen dying in Scotland started some 15 years ago. We have only 15 days. Time to start practising.…

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Tom Eats! To Be Replaced

Impending redundancy is a nasty, invidious thing. It seeps into you and shakes your sense of self worth. Fear, generally, impacts on your well being and your capacity for logical analysis. This has never happened to me before. Shall I rage against the machine, like Ned Ludd and his fellow 19th century weavers, smashing up…

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Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

This is a variation on a recipe which I found on the internet. I’m always suspicious of those recipes  which call for luscious ripe plum tomatoes. I suspect their authors are still harbouring memories of summer holidays in Italy or Spain. I use the tinned variety. As an aside, am I alone in refusing to…

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number one, The Balmoral, Edinburgh

  number one The Balmoral, 1 Princes Street, Edinburgh EH2 2EQ 0131 557 6727    website 3MBSbzB The Bill 3 course Dinner Menu (Thu/Sun/Mon) £85 7 course Tasting Menu £115   The Score Cooking  8.5/10 | Service 5/5  Flavour  4.5/5 | Value 4.5/5 TOTAL 22.5/25  Should Chef Mathew Sherry and any of his ultra talented…

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All Rise

Making hot cross buns at the weekend, my thoughts turned to yeast. Why, I pondered apart from breads and enriched breads, (traditional buns, croissants and the like) is yeast used so little these days? I then researched it a little. I found hundreds of recipes using the stuff. Back to the drawing board. So instead…

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Hot Cross Buns

I say, I say, I say, what do you get if you pour boiling water down a rabbit hole? Hot cross bunnies! Boom, boom! I thank you! Well it made my nieces laugh – when they were about three. As I hinted on Wednesday, today’s recipe is for hot cross buns. (On Good Friday? Where…

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Sugo Pasta, Glasgow

  Sugo Pasta 70 Mitchell Street, Glasgow G1 3LX 0131 258 1650    www.sugopasta.co.uk   The Bill Sides  £3.50 – £6.50 | Mains £7.50 – £12.90 Desserts £3.50 – £5.50    The Score Cooking  7/10 | Service 4/5  Flavour  4.5/5 | Value 5/5 TOTAL 20.5/25  In the 1980s, under the flamboyant Provostship of Michael Kelly, Glasgow…

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Easter Food: Why and Why Not?

On Sunday I attended an excellent performance of Bach’s St John Passion at St Giles Cathedral, the choir in extra fine form. It was sung in the original German. Fortunately the programme included a translation. With Easter approaching, I got to thinking about its traditional food and the symbolism. If you were brought up in…

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Beef Rendang

After musing on the delights of the rijsttafel the other day, I thought this might be a good time for an Indonesian recipe. Google Indonesian food and by far the most common dish is nasi goreng. Well I did that on the old site – seven years ago, I discover – and, to be frank,…

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The Old Fire Engine House, Ely

The Old Fire Engine House 25 St Mary’s Street, Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB7 4ER 01353 662582 www.theoldfirenenginehouse.co.uk   The Bill A la carte Starters  £7.70 – £8.70 | Mains £21.50 Desserts £8.80 – £9.50    The Score Cooking  6/10 | Service 5/5  Flavour  4/5 | Value 5/5 TOTAL 20/25  Do spirits move you? In our increasingly secular…

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The Rice, The Table and The Asparagus

It’s Indonesian, but you won’t find it in Indonesia. You’ll find it in the Netherlands, but it’s not Dutch. If you’ve been to Amsterdam, you’ll know I’m referring to the traditional feast known as the rijsttafel, a very large number of tiny plates of Indonesian food served with rice. I ate this on my first…

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Bread and Butter Pudding

The Milkmaid by Vermeer In this country we’re not too inventive with bread once it’s past its best. On the continent they’re much more creative, though it does help if you are in a country rich with good quality oil, and ripe tomatoes. A supply of breadcrumbs in the freezer is always useful for a…

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Incanto, Amsterdam

Incanto Amstel 2, 1017AA, Amsterdam 020 423 36 81                   info@restaurant-incanto.nl The Bill A la carte  Antipasti   €18 – €21 | Primi Piatti €20 – €29 Secondi Piatti €24 – €36 | Dolci €12 – €15   The Score Cooking  7.5/10 | Service 5/5  Flavour  4.5/5 | Value 5/5…

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Mark Baird’s Penne Norcina

Mark Baird is well known in Tom Eats! as the Retired Captain of Industry. His post of Head of Alcohol in Society of Diageo together with his natural Italian charm (not everyone knows of his proud ancestry) made him hugely influential and respected in the drinks industry. Both he and his lovely wife Liz are…

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