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The big news for 5pm in these months was the launch of the 5pm takeaway service in September. To mark the launch, Sanjay Majhu, boss of the Harlequin Restaurant group, created an eco-friendly curry, or Mac-sala, in which all the ingredients came from Scotland.

Edinburgh’s major restaurant news was the opening of Martin Wishart’s hotly anticpated new brasserie, The Honours. The main man in the kitchen is Paul Tamburrini, an old colleague of Wishart and the former head chef at One Devonshire Gardens in Glasgow. After a very successful launch, Wishart seems keen to roll the concept out with Glasgow being mooted as a highly probable destination.

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Stepping into Tamburrini’s shoes at Hotel du Vin at One Devonshire Gardens is Darin Campbell, the new head chef who might just be the man to gain a Michelin star for the Glasgow restaurant.

The Ayrshire-born chef certainly has the right kind of experience. He worked at One Devonshire Gardens under the eye of Andrew Fairlie back when the operation originally had a star.

Since then, he has also worked for Gordon Ramsay at Petrus and Eric Cheveu at the two star Michelin restaurant The Capital in London.

Following his London stint, he returned to Scotland and worked again for Andrew Fairlie at his eponymous, two star restaurant in Gleneagles.

Returning to Edinburgh, Stac Polly, the Scottish restaurant on Edinburgh’s Grindlay Street, has made way for the rather splendid Kanpai Sushi which has been shortlisted for the Best Asian Restaurant in the forthcoming Scottish Restaurant Awards.

The Di Maggio’s family of restaurants never like to sit on their hands for long. Just a couple of weeks after opening the upmarket  Barolo Grill in Glasgow, they fired up the pizza ovens at the new branch of Amarone on St Andrew Square in Edinburgh.

The company have revamped the former Grape wine bar to make a sister restaurant to Glasgow’s well established Amarone restaurant.

They call it a ‘contemporary Milanese restaurant and pizzeria’ which features both a bar menu of foccacia sandwiches, sharing platters and pizza along with a full a la carte menu of Italian classics.

After much anticipation and even more delay, Mithas restaurant in Edinburgh’s Leith launched to much fanfare. Aimed at the fine dining market, Mithas has been nominated for the Best Indian in the Scottish Restaurant Awards.

Congratulations are also in order for the Lebowskis, the pair of Glasgow and Edinburgh bars which have produced a little baby Lebowski. Or, rather than a chip off the old block, they have opened up a new seafood bar and grill called The Finnieston.

Just down from the original Lebowskis on Argyle Street, the new venture has opened in the former Cafe Bayan. According to Scott, one of the owners, it is a ‘locally sourced seafood bar and grill with a bar specialising in gin, local beers and champagne’.

Staying in Glasgow, Pesto was but one of a flurry of new Italians to set up shop in the city. Prezzo and Carluccio’s followed later in the year.

Horton’s Bar and Kitchen is another new venture which opened its doors in the old Frankenstein’s on West George Street in Glasgow.

The summer’s most newsworthy event was the appearance of Brangelina in Glasgow to film World War Z, a zombie film. Congratulations to the Metro Cafe in Glasgow who made the most of the star’s stay in the city.

Apparently, they have brought out a World War Z tribute sandwich made with chorizo, cheddar and salsa. According to a report from Anna Burnside in Scotland On Sunday, it is said to be ‘hot and spicy, just like Brad’.

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