Regrettably, we can find no hard evidence of this but, at some point over the weekend, we could swear we saw something on Facebook which said that The Ivy was to open one of its restaurants in Edinburgh in 2017.

Over the last couple of years, The Ivy Collection has been rolling out its Ivy Cafe, Brasserie and Grill brands in places like Guildford, Bristol and  Bath.

Were they to open a unit in Edinburgh in the next twelve months, it would be their first Scottish venture.

We will do a bit of digging and see if we can uncover some hard news.

The original Ivy on London’s West Street has long had a reputation for being a celeb hangout.

Earlier this year, Kylie performed a set there to mark the restaurant’s 100th birthday.

Blues at the Barrelhouse

Kylie seems an unlikely booking but live music has been promised at Edinburgh’s recently opened Barrelhouse Bar and Grill.

The Jock’s Lodge bar and kitchen opened its doors at the weekend after a two month conversion.

It’s billed as a bar, grill, smokehouse and blues venue. Given the ever reducing number of music venues in Edinburgh, it is a turn-up for the books to see a new one launch.

The menu is a sort of Cajun/BBQ gumbo.

Typical dishes include the ribs in a Jim Beam and maple syrup glaze and the crayfish and salmon fishcakes.

We like the fact that their burgers are not labelled as ‘dirty burgers’. Instead, they are positively filthy. By which we mean that the Barrelhouse beef burger comes topped with BBQ pulled pork and is named the Filthy Burger.

Got green fingers?

We have our eye on the southern fried chicken and buttermilk waffles topped with rum-infused maple syrup.

The bar is already proving very popular with demand leading to a number of menu items selling out at the weekend.

There is already a beer garden in place but the Barrelhouse is also looking for someone with green fingers to take on their allotment garden.