][1]The 20th edition of The List Eating and Drinking Guide was launched last night with a bash at the Scottish Cafe and Restaurant on The Mound in Edinburgh.
Coming in at 192 pages and featuring over 950 restaurants in the Central Belt and beyond, it is the definitive restaurant guide for anyone interested in the eating out scene in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Editor Donald Reid gave a speech last night in which he looked back over the changing face of dining over the last twenty years.
He noted that in the Guide’s early days, the opening of Scotland’s first tapas bar meant that we could eat exotic dishes such as chorizo, fried squid and patatas bravas. How times change.
It seems utterly bizarre now but, when the first edition of the Guide came out, there were more Swiss restaurants than Japanese restaurants in Edinburgh.
The new Guide contains over 140 new entries – a new venue launched roughly every two and a half days last year. Proof, were any needed, that whatever the economic weather, there is a strong demand for eating out.
Of course, not all of the new venues will or even have been successful. All guide books date but Donald was miffed to discover that one restaurant featured in the Guide had closed just as the copy was on its way to the printers.
The List Eating and Drinking Guide is free with the current edition of The List and will be on sale separately for £5.95.
Donald has written a digest of significant openings and closings for the current edition of the mag. You can read it here.