Some June Thoughts On The Side

We are in foreign parts at the moment, and I thought about putting things on pause; however, there are some Eats! and Cooks! articles in the can, and we always close down for a few weeks later in the year. But such is my dedication to you that I'm ignoring the azure sky and the deep blue sea to put together these scribblings.

For once that is the correct word. The past couple of weeks have seen a few things which I thought worthy of comment. As ever, you will be the judges of that.

eòrna

You may recall that eòrna won the Tom Eats! Restaurant of the Year award for 2025. I hadn't had occasion to see either Brian or Glen since. Very remiss of me. Ever since an awards certificate came to be presented, I can tell you that chefs no longer talk about Michelin. This is the one they crave.

Fate intervened. The boys are celebrating their third birthday this year, and very kindly invited L and me along to the celebration. Not a hardship, sipping (good) fizz and meeting some lovely folk, including Brian's mum, dad, wife and daughter. As Brian works 16 hour days, we thought it appropriate to introduce him to the latter two.

Looking back I realise I've been describing my dinner there as only the third perfect score in the history of Tom Eats! I was mistaken, but we'll come to that. Thanks, guys! In the meantime I recommend that you get a table here as soon as you can.

Stuart Ralston

You can tell a man by the company he keeps, so they say. While Brian and Glen's bash was mostly for regulars, I bumped into Stuart Ralston, taking a few hours off. Another chef who survives on four hours' sleep a night, while looking after an empire which includes Lyla, Noto, Tipo and, most recently, Vinette and Vivien, the latter on the site of the old Fhior.

We got chatting. A fellow Fifer, I had made his acquaintance once before when dining at Aizle in Charlotte Square. Looking back I see that Aizle too had a perfect score. It's sadly no more, but Stuart, I think, has more than enough on his plate. I hope we may persuade him on to Chef Watch one fine day.

Slow Food

Everyone in the Slow Food movement  is mourning the death of founder Carlo Petrini, The organisation itself was established in 1989, but Petrini had been actively involved before that. The spark for him was the discovery that McDonalds were planning to open on the Spanish Steps in Rome.

Now a world wide network, the movement operates in various related fields. It encourages the protection, development and use of local foods. It campaigns in favour of organic production and is opposed to the spread of ultra processed foods. But mostly it's about eating good food in good company. Farewell, Carlo. A life well lived.

Bentley's and National Fish and Chip Week

NO! I am not going to write about yet another food day. (Well, not until I run out of ideas again.) I'm on the mailing list of Bentley's, a century old oyster bar and fish restaurant run by irrepressible Irishman Richard Corrigan. It's situated in London's Swallow Street, a lane which bisects the point where Piccadilly meets Regent Street. I love the place despite the prices (the review was on the old website, sadly) and their regular emails make the juices flow. No I'm not going to write about it, but it does bring me very neatly to-

Blackthorn Salt

Yes you will (unless you're from Planet Zog) put salt on your chips. And if you want to spoil yourself use the finest salt you can buy, made here in Scotland. Three years ago I featured husband and wife team Whirly and Gregorie Marshall of Blackthorn Salt. Theirs is an old traditional way of producing the stuff, allowing sea water to drip through a giant (8 metres high) tower filled with blackthorn twigs.

The news is that they have just completed construction of a second one, half as big again at 12 metres in height. Business must be booming. When we visited, Whirly laid on a taste test, and I was blown away. You wouldn't use your top grade olive oil for cooking, and I wouldn't use Blackthorn for that either. But if you really want to taste the difference, give this a try. You can buy via their website and from assorted stockists.