Tom Eats! Archives - Tom's Food!

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…

Whiskers Wine Bar & Bistro 48 Raeburn Place, Stockbridge, Edinburgh EH4 1HL 0131 343 3681 www.whiskerswinecafe.co.uk The Bill Lunch 2 courses £16.00 | 3 courses £19.00 Sunday Roast Lunch 2 courses £20.00 | 3 courses £24.00 Dinner Starters £7.00 – £10.00 | Mains £15.00 – £25 | Desserts £2.00 – £7.50 The Score…

Pizzeria 1926 85 Dalry Road, Edinburgh EH11 2AA 0131 337 5757 www.pizzeria1926.com The Bill Bites/Starters £3.95 – £7.95 | Pizzas £9.95 – £13.95 | Desserts £4.00 – £4.50 The Score Cooking 5/10 | Service 4.5/5 | Flavour 4/5 | Value 3.5/5 TOTAL 17/25 What do you look for in a great pizza? For me there…

The Townhouse Hotel Market Square, Melrose TD6 9PQ 01896 822645 www.thetownhousemelrose.co.uk The Bill Soup & Sandwich – £6.95 (Lunch only, I think) 3-2-1 Menu | 3 courses plus bottle of house wine – £60 for 2 A la Carte Starters £3.00 – £7.95| Mains £13.95 – £22.95 Desserts £2.50 – £6.95 The…

Craig Millar @16 West End 16 West End. St Monans, Fife KY10 2BX 01333 730327 www.16westend.com The Bill Lunch 2 courses £25 | 3 courses £32 | 4 courses £38 Dinner 4 courses £55 | 5 courses £65 The Score Cooking 9/10 | Service 5/5 | Flavour 5/5 | Value 5/5 TOTAL 24/25 I…

The Ship Inn The Toft, Elie, Fife KY9 1DT 01333 330246 www.shipinn.scot The Bill Nibbles £3.50 – £5.95 | Starters £6.95 – £10.50 Mains £13.95 – £29.95 | Desserts £2.00 – £8.50 The Score Cooking 4/10 | Service 3/5 | Flavour 3/5 | Value 2.5/5 TOTAL 12.5/25 There is nothing to suggest that the…

The Boahouse Frontage Small

The Boat House 22 High Street, South Queensferry, EH30 9PP 0131 331 5429 The Bill Lunch and Dinner Starters £3.95 – £12.95 | Mains £10.95 – £25.00 | Desserts £6.45 The Score Cooking 5.5/10 | Service 3.5/5 | Flavour 4/5 | Value 4/5 TOTAL 17/25 Can it be that every COVID has a…

Delta Indian Takeaway 27 Roseburn Terrace, Edinburgh EH12 5NG 0131 346 8973 www.deltaindiantakeaway.co.uk The Bill Starters £2.95 – £5.95 | Mains £6.95 – £13.25 | Desserts £2.95 The Score Cooking 6/10 | Service 4/5 | Flavour 4/5 | Value 5/5 TOTAL 19/25 While this column may be influenced by all manner of external…

Duck’s Inn at Aberlady Main Street, Aberlady, East Lothian, EH32 0RE 01875 870682 www.ducks.co.uk The Bill Lunch and Dinner 2 courses £19.95 | 3 courses £23.95 The Score Cooking 8/10 | Service 4/5 | Flavour 4.5/5 | Value 4.5/5 TOTAL 21/25 Malcolm Duck was a fixture on the Edinburgh restaurant scene (latterly Duck’s at…

Whighams Wine Cellars 13 Hope Street, Edinburgh EH2 4EL 0131 225 8674 www.whighams.com The Bill A la Carte Starters £4.95 – £6.95 | Mains: £10.50 – £38.95 | Desserts £5.95 The Score Cooking 6/10 | Service 4.5/5 | Flavour 4/5 | Value 4.5/5 TOTAL 19/25 Envy, if thy jaundiced eye, Through this window chance…

Soleto Bistro Trattoria Italiana 11 Commercial Road, Southampton. SO15 1GF 023 8023 4044 http://www.soleto.co.uk/ The Bill A la Carte Starters: £3.50 – £16.00 (includes sharing portions) Mains: £12.50 – £23.00 The Score Cooking 8/10 | Service 5/5 | Flavour 4/5 | Value 4/5 TOTAL 21/25 Living south of the border sometimes has its advantages, and…

Peat Inn Exterior

When I first set up the predecessor to this blog, my good friend Michael G, now a proud resident of County Cork, suggested that I was making a rod for my own back. Five years on, I felt well qualified to say I had proved him wrong. That, however, was before lockdown. Other reviewers have…

The article on Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale in this week’s On The Side blog attracted a lot of interest. Many were completely unaware of the existence of the stuff, as was I before a trip to Bologna, capital of Emilia Romagna, and now my favourite Italian city. The highlight was the food tour. Now before you…

Balsamic and Cheese

This week I had my first post lockdown pint. The Raeburn in Stockbridge has opened its outdoor bar as a takeaway. They have a large beer garden, which they can’t use just now, so you have the daft sight of people leaning on the street side of the railings, looks of rapture on their faces.…

Wild Hearth Bakery, Comrie The bread baked by Wild Hearth Bakery of Comrie by John Castley is to be found being served at Gleneagles Hotel. The late Andrew Fairlie endorsed it thus – I thought I had tried the best sourdough in the world in San Francisco – that was until I tasted Wild Hearth’s.…

Photograph © Hannah Blake-Fathers. Reproduced by kind permission Last week, journalist Miranda Heggie shared some tips on wine offers available from online drinks companies. This week she turns her attention to beers and spirits. Let’s begin with beer. Beer52: Founded in Edinburgh back in 2013 and now the world’s most popular beer club, Beer52 will…

Averys Malbec Small

Photograph © Hannah Blake-Fathers. Reproduced by kind permission Since lockdown it has been reported that retail sales were at a record low and that off licence sales had soared. Journalist Miranda Heggie points out that as pubs and the majority of shops were closed, this hardly counts as news. Like the rest of us Miranda…

Fish and Chips small

Don’t be fooled by the headline. This column has not yet resorted to the delights of takeaway food; however, your diary will have told you, as mine did, that the first Friday in June is National Fish and Chips Day. Actually, your diary has played you false. This year, owing to a little local difficulty,…

Merienda 30 North West Circus Place, Edinburgh EH3 6TP 0131 220 2020 www.eat-merienda.com Campbell Mickel Carol Main For anyone reading this, it’s a fairly safe bet that one of the best things about going on holiday is the food. There is endless joy and pleasure in thinking about regional cuisine as part of choosing the…

Pilgrim’s Pick Up & Provisions 6 South Square, Rosscarbery, Co Cork, Ireland +353 (023) 88 31796 www.pilgrims.ie Drawing by Michael Greenlaw It’s probably a consequence of lock down that my sense of humour (as well as my sleeping and drinking habits) has changed. I give you a recent example from the eastern seaboard of the…

And before I start counting the ways, please do NOT write in to point out that I ought to have said ye instead of thee. As I may have written before, there’s room for only one annoying pedant in this blog. As a boss of L’s, a great stalwart of the Labour Party, was wont…

Don’t let the two week break make you think that activity here at Casa Johnston has slowed. Au contraire. My willing helpers, PAs, research assistants, sous chefs and food stylists, have been beavering away as usual. No furloughing here. Material for future On The Side columns is tucked away in the can: recipes for Tom Cooks! are…

The Fat Duck High Street, Bray, Berks SL6 2AQ 01628 580333 www.thefatduck.co.uk The Bill 15 courses: £275 + Service (2017 price) The Score Cooking 10/10 | Service 5/5 | Flavour 5/5 | Value 5/5 TOTAL 25/25 Obviously there are no restaurants to review at present. Tom Eats! will provide a varied programme which will include…

Trotter’s Independent Condiments and now Super Meals – Good Guys Doing Good Things www.trottersindependent.co.uk/super-meals 07712 339 275 I had one more restaurant review in the can. It was half done, as I had intended to revisit, the first lunch having resulted in rather too much duplication. When I invite others out to a Tom…