The List Eating and Drinking Guide celebrates 25 years of the restaurant scene in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The 25th List Eating and Drinking Guide is published today.

The 2018 edition comprises entries for more than 950 restaurants, bistros, cafés and bars in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

As well as 160 new entries, it has features and round-ups on the local dining scene, plus 30 pages of Tiplists.

These are the guide's curated recommendations in over 100 categories from best cocktails to where to eat with kids.

The Tiplists are pretty comprehensive. If you want to find a cafe that can deal with dietary requirements or a place that does breakfast on the go, they can point you in the right direction.

Refreshingly, all of the entries/reviews are written independently and without regard to advertisers.

You will be hard pushed to find a wholly negative review. The writers tend to take an upbeat approach to each venue and provide a critical overview rather than a dissection of the dishes they ate during their incognito review visit

Having said that, a little bit of canny reading between the lines makes it simple to separate the reasonable restaurants from the duffers.

List Eating and Drinking Guide: invaluable

If you are interested in Glasgow and Edinburgh's food scene then The List Eating and Drinking Guide is invaluable.

And I'm not just saying that because I played a small part in its early years. Well, TBH, I am.

Much more importantly, one of its biggest strengths is that it strives to be as comprehensive as it can be.

That means that it covers not just restaurants, bars, bistros and cafés but also street food, cheesemongers, food and drink experiences and tours, delis, bakers, butchers and bottle shops.

Book via 5pm Dining

It is also very detailed in terms of the information it has for each venue. Especially the online version.

Handily, many of the restaurants in the List Eating and Drinking Guide are also 5pm members and you can click from the online Guide to their booking page on 5pm Dining. Useful if you are looking for a deal.

This year, the Guide's awards recognised eight people and places which had made a special contribution to the food scene in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

You'll need to buy the Guide to see all of them but we will make special mention of Craig Tannock.

Mr Tannock is the man behind the original 13th Note and, these days, Glasgow's Mono, Stereo, The 78, The Flying Duck and, in Edinburgh, Harmonium.

The Guide mentions him because of the way in which his venues promoted vegan-friendly dishes long before veganism gained its current popularity.

Music lovers will also recognise the above venues as some of the most exciting places in Glasgow to see new music.

The full-colour, 176-page print guide is published today at £7.95.

List Eating and Drinking Guide is for sale all year in principal bookshops, newsagents and other venues, as well as from The Lists' online shop.