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Loft living at 29

29's new function room is in the pink

It’s all go at 29 on Glasgow’s Royal Exchange Square. The private membership club already feels so extensive that you could easily lose yourself in there.

Navigating its many spaces is not getting any easier with tonight’s launch of a new venue within the complex: Apartment 29.

Located on the top floor of the existing Royal Exchange Square venue, Apartment 29 is a new function space with a contemporary New York-loft style interior.

The room is licensed until 3am and is complete with a private cloakroom, Bar, DJ console, mood lighting and toilets. The space also has WiFi and full conferencing facilities. A smoking terrace will follow in 2012.

The venue has also released details of its latest Wicked Steak Night in the Grill Room. Taking place on Sunday 26^th February, the next evening of carnivorous pleasures will have an extra aged 10oz Orkney Gold rump steak as the special guest.

Set sail for sushi

Nobu Matsuhisa: unlikely to be impressed by your dragon rolls

Given recent events, this may not be the best time to draw your attention to a cruise but this one is so uber-foodie that we couldn't resist.

Master Chef Nobu Matsuhisa, the guy who kick started the worldwide chain of Nobu celeb hangouts, will be joining the Crystal Serenity cruise ship in May as the as in-person Executive Chef in the ship’s Silk Road restaurant and the Sushi Bar.

For a period in the Nineties, Matsuhisa’s black cod with miso was perhaps the most fashionable dish in the world and, if glossy celeb profiles were to be believed, then supermodels and actors on the up ate nothing else.

The Japanese chef plans to give cooking instruction, personally prepare dishes, take pictures with guests and sign autographs during a 12-night western European/Mediterranean voyage which leaves from Dover.

Doing a cookery class with Matsuhisa would be a memorable if daunting prospect.

The only problem is that the prices start at just over three grand.

But don’t worry. If that’s not the kind of cash that you can rustle up from the change down the back of the sofa, 5pm can help you taste the Far East for considerably less.

Yen Oriental Cafe in Glasgow is currently running a 40% a la carte discount through 5pm. Japanese, Thai and Cantonese food are all on the menu.

Dragon-i on Hope Street are running a 10% a la carte discount on their Asian fusion food and the Merchant City's Sapporo Teppanyaki are offering 20% off their a la carte menu.

Funky Bar Soba is running a two course January sale menu at £12 and OKO Express is offering 25% off their food when you book through 5pm.

Book into the Grand Central Hotel

All the stories of the stars are in Glasgow's Grand Central Hotel

Since being officially re-opened by First Minister Alex Salmond last January, the Grand Central Hotel has enjoyed a fresh lease of life. But tomorrow, a new book telling the story of the Glasgow landmark will look back at its colourful history.

‘Glasgow’s Grand Central Hotel: Glasgow’s Most Loved Hotel’, written by Bill Hicks and Jill Scott, and published by Waverley Books, tells the stories of the staff who worked there and the guests who stayed there including Mae West, Danny Kaye, Laurel and Hardy, Nat King Cole and The Beatles.

From life below the stairs to tales of the spooky 7^th floor via John Logie Baird’s first long distance TV transmission to the hotel , the authors have brought the Grand Central Hotel to life in the words and pictures of the people who know it best.

Laurie Nicol, General Manager of the Grand Central Hotel, had the idea for the book and said: ‘I’ve always loved the Central Hotel. Even when it was lying empty I used to walk past and think it had so much potential. I was delighted when I was appointed General Manager in January 2010 and it quickly struck me that many Glaswegians shared my passion for the hotel.

‘While construction work was underway, it was common for people to wander into the reception area off the street to have a nosey at what was going on. They’d tell me their memories of the hotel and bring in their mementoes – autograph books, pictures, menus – it became very clear that this wasn’t just another city centre hotel and I thought then that the hotel deserved a book to mark its history.’

The new book, ‘Glasgow’s Grand Central Hotel, Glasgow’s Best Loved Hotel’ can be purchased directly from the Grand Central Hotel, from Waterstone’s, W H Smith, or online at Amazon for £20.

After a £20 million refit, the Grand Central Hotel has once again become one of the city’s most successful hotels and its Tempus restaurant is a big hit with 5pm users.

Tempus is currently running Celtic Connections Dinearound offer at £15.95 for three courses and a glass of wine.

Tempus restaurant at Glasgow's Grand Central Hotel

Alternative Burns Night

Babelfish: speaking the language of Burns

OK, I promise this is the last mention of Burns that the blog is going to make for quite some time but, to be honest, it's far too good to miss out.

The Celtic Connections music festival is well underway in Glasgow and, tomorrow night, they are holding an alternative Burns Night in Oran Mor with Babelfish taking centre stage.

Babelfish were born out of the jolly carnage of Celtic Connections' late night closing concert back in 2005. Comprising poet Jock Urquhart and members of the Peatbog Faeries, Blazing Fiddles and the Treacherous Orchestra, they are, to use a technical term, at the mentalist end of the folk spectrum.

You can listen to their debut album, International Disgrace, here.

Tomorrow evening, Babelfish present a leftfield take on the Burns tradition with special guests Jeana Leslie and Siobhan Miller. It should be a blast.

Happily, 5pm is running a Celtic Connections Dinearound offer so that music lovers can enjoy some fine food along with great music. Offering two or three courses for £15.95, you can check out the participating restaurants here.

The Brasserie at Oran Mor is also running an early doors menu which you can browse here.

Staff Recommendation-Ingram Wynd

Burns and India

Tony Singh's cock-a-leekie kebab

Scots around the world may be getting ready to celebrate Burns Night on Wednesday but, at Oloroso in Edinburgh, head chef Tony Singh is preparing to celebrate both Burns and the 150th anniversary of the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore.

Like Burns in Scotland, Tagore became a leading figure of Indian culture.  A poet, philosopher, musician, writer and educationalist he was inspired by Scotland’s national poet, with the famous ‘Auld Lang Syne’ inspiring his own well-known song ‘Purano shei diner kotha’ (memories of the Good Old Days).

To mark the event, Tony has come up with a fusion menu of Indian and Scottish flavours. Think along the lines of cock-a-leekie kebab; haggis with a neeps and tattie tikka and a clootie samosa.

In Ayrshire, at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, the links between Burns and Tagore are explored further this Sunday at an event called Singing the Nation. A fusion menu, poetry, dance and song are all promised.

If you fancy a shot at making Tony's cock-a-leekie kebab, here's the recipe:

Cock-a-leekie kebab

Ingredients

2 tbps fresh lime juice

4 garlic cloves

1 piece fresh ginger (2 inches)

2 green Birds Eye chillies, chopped

200 mls Greek plain yoghurt

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground turmeric

2 tsp ground paprika

A few drops of red food colour

20g pack fresh coriander, chopped

3 skinless chicken breasts cut into 2 inch pieces (you need 15 bits)

2 large leeks with quite a bit of green top

15 pitted prunes

Method

In a blender, puree lime juice, garlic, ginger, and chillies.

Add yoghurt, spices and colour and blend until smooth.

Mix with the chicken pieces and leave over night if possible.  If not, you need at least 4 hours in the marinade.

Cut the green part of the leek off as close to the white as possible.

Blanch the leek in boiling water and wrap the prunes in the green of the leek.

Cut the white part of the leek on the slant to get 15 pieces and blanch as well.

Thread three chicken pieces on each of three long wooden or metal skewers followed by a bit of white leek, then prune until you have used up all of the chicken, leeks and prunes (if you are using wooden make sure you soak them so they don’t burn).

Heat grill to high heat.

Place skewers on grill

Cover grill; cook, turning occasionally until grill marks are visible and chicken is cooked.  If you do not have a grill you can use a very hot oven.

Serve with tamarind sauce

Pizza burns

Cosmo Tamburro jnr has immortalised the bard in haggis pizza. Pic: Rob McDougall

The blog was going to try and lay off the Robert Burns stuff a bit but it just keeps on coming.

The latest wheeze to hit our inbox is these superb pics of haggis pizza made in the likeness of Burns. The haggis pizza is made by Cosmo Products on the outskirts of Ediburgh using Macsween's haggis.

On sale in most supermarkets, they are being touted as an alternative way to celebrate Burns Night.

Never mind museums and visitor centres dedicated to your memory, when you have been rendered in pizza, that's when you know you've made it.

Elephant Juice Soup takes wing

Elephant Juice Soup: no pachyderms were hurt in the making of this soup

Right, while Mr Robert Burns will doubtless make another appearance on the blog next week, I'm a bit burned out with talk of haggis.

Instead, we have news of an interesting new venture called Elephant Juice Soup. A cross between a food truck, a mobile soup kitchen and a charity, it's the brainchild of former corporate lawyer JP Campbell.

Starting from noon tomorrow in Edinburgh's George Square, JP will be selling gourmet soups from an old Type H Citroen Van that has been converted into a street kitchen.

The idea is to start the business like an ice cream van, touring the streets of Edinburgh as well as trading from its fixed pitch in George Square.

Elephant Juice will use it’s Facebook, Twitter and website to keep it’s customers informed of both its location and the variety of soups on offer each day.

The blog has been banging on about the rise of food trucks for a while so it's good to see one finally set up in Scotland but, much more important than proving that I'm not a complete blethering idiot, Elephant Juice Soup has a very worthwhile charity aim.

The company promises that ‘One Feeds Two’ which means that every time you purchase a soup from Elephant Juice they undertake to feed a hungry person in need.

Elephant Juice has developed a quirky range of soups stuffed with as much veg as possible. You will be able to find at least four types of soup on sale from the van each day ranging from alternative recipes such as haggis and sweet potato or beetroot and lemon to the more traditional recipes such as Cullen skink or ham and lentil.

There's a quirky story behind the name as well.

The phrase ‘elephant juice’, when mouthed with no sound, shares the same lip movement as ‘I love you’. Given that the business helps customers feed hungry people in need, JP thought it made sense to call it The Elephant Juice Soup Company.

Dumbo the soup van ready to be refurbed

Culinary ceilidh

Phantassie organic farm at East Linton is one of the Scottish Cafe and Restaurant's many local suppliers

OK, I think we may have uncovered the most Scottish Burns Night ever. The Scottish Cafe & Restaurant at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh is holding a Burns Night Ceilidh fuelled by a menu so Scottish that it would bleed tartan if you cut it with a sgian dubh.

We're talking Cullen skink, Findlay’s of Portobello haggis with East Lothian organic neeps and tatties accompanied by a complimentary dram, followed by cranachan made with Scottish raspberries and Graham’s The Family Dairy double cream.

Could it be any more Scottish? Yes, actually. The furniture in the venue is made by the Scottish interior design company Anta and the walls are hung with original oil paintings by celebrated Scottish artists such as Sir William Gillies and Anne Redpath.

The Burns Night Ceilidh takes place on Saturday 28 January from 7pm until 1am.

As it happens, the Scottish Cafe and Restaurant is up for the Best Customer Service of the Year Award at the Scottish Restaurant Awards. It is squaring up against 29, The Grill at the Square in Glasgow and EH15, the restaurant at the Jewel and Esk catering college.

The Scottish Cafe and Restaurant

The Scottish Cafe and Restaurant is the sister restaurant to Centotre on George Street. While the galleries' venue is as Scottish as Scottish can be, Centotre flies the flag for Italia.

Your blogger had lunch there yesterday and can recommend the super creamy buffalo mozzarella and the ginormo calzone stuffed with piccante sausage, spinach and rather fine tomatoes.

They are currently running a two course £15.95 lunch/pre-theatre offer with 5pm. Three courses are £18.95.

21st century haggis

Haggis pitta with tzatsiki: Macsween's recipe suggestions go way beyond neeps and tatties

Possibly Scotland's most famous haggis producer, Macsween have just launched a new website and it's well worth a visit.

Our previous post pointed towards Latin variants on haggis but the Macsween site also suggests that the dish may have very strong Scandinavian connections.

The site also has advice for haggis virgins; a selection of haggis myths; cooking instructions and, of course, a list of stockists.

Light-hearted, informative and not overly pushy on the sales front, it also contains a step by step guide on how to hold your own Burns Night.

Eat haggis and ceilidh on, as their site suggests.