][1]With Valentine’s Day falling on a Monday this year, many restaurants are running their Valentine’s Day menus throughout the preceding weekend. Since this is traditionally the busiest time of the week for restaurants anyway, the Valentine’s rush is going to mean tables are at a premium.
If you have a favourite restaurant that you would like to visit for a romantic Valentine’s dinner, we suggest you book it now or risk a certain frostiness in the air.
Natch, 5pm’s vast selection of restaurants means that you can get a deal on your Valentine’s restaurant wherever you are. Click here to see what Edinburgh’s restaurateurs have to offer and here for Glasgow’s.
On a related theme, here is Saveur magazine’s selection of the world’s most popular aphrodisiacs along with recipes in which to use them. Sure, everyone knows about oysters, truffles and chocolate but saffron? Basil? When did pesto get sexy?
This blogger has always figured that alcohol had a pivotal role to play when it comes to romance. Nothing like a couple of glasses of either something cold and bubbly or warm and potent to make the eyes go a little misty.
I’m tempted to try my hand at a Crimson Kiss which has been dreamt up by the mixologists at Edinburgh’s Rutland Hotel. This is how you make it:
Ingredients
25ml Rose Liqueur
25ml Bombay Sapphire gin
Juice of one lime (approx 12.5ml)
10ml Gomme (a sugar syrup reduction available in good supermarkets, or use two teaspoons of regular sugar)
3 fresh raspberries
Prosecco to finish
Method
- Put the gin, rose liqueur, lime juice and gomme into a shaker and add the muddled (crushed) raspberries before shaking vigorously
- Strain twice (this will remove the raspberry pulp) and pour into two Champagne glasses
- Layer Prosecco sparkling wine on top (pour slowly into the glass over the back of a tilted tea spoon to create the desired pink and clear two-layered effect)
- Decorate with a fresh raspberry