The blog has just been chatting to Allan Mawn, the man behind both Velvet Elvis and Pintxo in Partick.
Mr Mawn is just back from a trip to Spain where he has been engaged in the arduous task of meeting his Spanish wine suppliers and making sure that the vino he serves in his outlets is up to scratch.
In the desert-like wilds of Aragon, he met up with a Scotsman called Norrel Roberts who is known as El Escoces Volante or the Flying Scotsman.
Originally from Forfar, Roberts is now making wine from Grenache grapes with the Bodega San Gregorio company. There’s a quip in there somewhere about moving from bridies to bodegas but I’m straying off point already.
Anyway, to go along with a recent refurb, Pintxo is on the verge of launching a new menu. Mawn promises more authentic tapas but with perhaps a greater emphasis on seasonality.
He is also hard at work on a completely new project adjacent to Velvet Elvis. Currently going under the codename of Project Partick Riviera, the new venture is scheduled to launch in early August.
The blog has been sworn to secrecy but can tell you that Mawn’s latest wheeze takes its cue from the classic Scots Italian cafes which were once such a major feature of Glasgow’s dining out landscape.
Back in Edinburgh, we see that the Cask and Barrel, a fantastic no nonsense real ale boozer on Broughton Street, has opened a Newington branch. The Cask and Barrel Southside promises more of the same on the West Preston Street site which, for donkey’s years, housed the Junction Bar.
Finally, the blog was at the relaunch of the Queen’s Arms on Frederick Street last night. It’s been cleverly spruced up by the Signature Pub Company who are behind The Rutland. Head chef David Haetzman, subject of the blog’s most recent Chewing The Fat blether, is looking after the food and it’s decent stuff.
We’re talking Scrabster haddock in Deuchar’s Ale batter, a rather more-ish Three Onion Tart topped with Dunlop cheddar and toothsome ham hock terrine.
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