The 19th annual List Eating and Drinking Guide is in the shops today. Covering over 900 restaurants, cafes and bars, it is the most comprehensive survey of the culinary landscape in the Central Belt and beyond.
It’s both well thought out and laid out with pretty much every piece of info you could possibly need when trying to decide where to eat. This blogger was involved in very early editions of the Guide which were less than half the size of the current one. Wrangling all that data back then was a huge task. Managing it all today must require organisational and diplomatic skills which are beyond my imagination.
Written by some 80 local reviewers, it offers a fantastic snapshot of what’s happening on the food front in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Any guide which is published on an annual basis will find itself being overtaken pretty quickly by new openings and closings but The List Guide is about as up to date as possible. It even has brief listings for ventures such as Jamie’s Italian and the Gardener’s Cottage which have yet to open but which are worth pointing out.
The reviews strive for balance and a side effect of this is that they sometimes lack real critical bite. However, they are not toothless. Damning criticism may be rare but you don’t need to be a master of linguistics to read between the lines of the more faint hearted reviews.
For my money, it’s the go to guide for the Central Belt and the first one that I recommend to long term visitors with an interest in eating and drinking as well as possible.
It is free with the current Edition of The List but will be on sale in the shops for £4.95.