Tom Eats!

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…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

  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…