Eat curry, live long
[][1]Chicken curry: soon to be available on the NHS. We hope. Thanks to the Daily Record for this story which suggests that eating curry could help prevent cirrhosis of the liver, a condition which is often caused by alcohol...
Author archives for Jonathan
The Last Supper goes large
[][1]The Last Supper by Da Vinci Increasing portion size is not necessarily a modern phenomenon according to the authors of a scientific study in the International Journal of Obesity. Thanks to films such as Morgan Spurlock’s 2004...
French good at cooking? Non!
[][1]General De Gaulle: probably wasn't a Guardian fan anyway I like the French and I love French food but I’m delighted by this story in The Guardian which suggests that we rosbifs are better at cooking than our Continental...
Mmmm, bacon
[][1]Happy pigs I spent part of last weekend visiting the Goodmans on their Macnean farm in County Fermanagh. They have a smallholding and tiny farmshop just outside Belcoo where they rear rare breed pigs such as Tamworths and Oxford Sandy...
Restaurants go green
[][1]The Belle Isle Cookery School has gone green I was fortunate enough to spend last weekend at the Belle Isle School of Cookery in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It was for a travel piece in The Scotsman which should appear on the...
Happy Birthday to Two Fat Ladies
[][1]The Two Fat Ladies West End have a swish new look The original Two Fat Ladies restaurant on Dumbarton Road celebrates its 21st birthday this year. A January flood knocked it out of commission for a couple of months but owner Ryan...
Horse d'oeuvres
[][1]Horse is on the menu at L'Escargot Bleu Edinburgh restaurateur and 5pm member Fred Berkmiller hit the headlines at the weekend when he put horse meat on the menu at his L’Escargot Bleu restaurant. According to this piece in The...
New restaurant round-up
[][1]Steven Adair prepping at The Glasshouse Off The Mile Steven Adair, formerly of The Tower and The Witchery, has set up a new restaurant in the Fraser Suites Boutique Hotel just off Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. Called The Glasshouse...
Brian Maule cookery classes
[][3]Brian Maule: your prof at the Chardon D'Or masterclasses It’s a strange irony that while sales of ready meals are expected to continue their rise so does the demand for cookery courses. Brian Maule, chef and owner of...
Chewing the fat with John Quigley
[][1]John Quigley The chef patron of Red Onion on Glasgow’s West Campbell Street, John Quigley is a well known face on Glasgow’s restaurant scene. For the last fifteen years, he has been working on or around the city’s Bath Street in...
New Michelin star for Edinburgh?
[][1]Alan Murchison is said to be cooking up an Edinburgh restaurant According to reports in last week’s Guardian and yesterday’s Reading Post, chef Alan Murchison is actively searching for a new restaurant site in...
St Patrick's Day
[][1]Jacqueline O'Donnell will be leading the revelry at The Sisters Celebrating St Patrick’s Day often seems to be more of a pub-based activity rather than a scoffing one but the O’Donnells are getting into the swing of things...
Gordon Ramsay restaurant search
[][1]Gordon Ramsay looking like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth Do you know of a restaurant that could stand up to Gordon Ramsay’s ferocious scrutiny? If so, Big Gordo would love to hear from you. He is searching for local heroes...
Tomorrow's kitchen
[][1]No, you tell him the steak is over cooked Scotland on Sunday recently ran a story, originally from the New York Times, about robot chefs and how, in the not so distant future, there will be restaurants which are staffed entirely by...
Friday Restaurant Round-up
[][1]Nando's: now on Lothian Road If I had enough new restaurants to tell you about than I would do these in the form of a Top of the Pops Top Ten countdown, perhaps in the style of Jimmy Saville. Something along the lines of ‘Now...
Doing the Dhu
[][1]The Ghillie Dhu bar The new Ghillie Dhu bar and entertainment venue in Edinburgh doesn’t open fully to the public until Monday but 5pm had a sneak preview last night. In short, there is nothing else quite like it in Edinburgh....