Deacon Brodies Epic Food Fail

£5 for that!

Deep Fried Butter Balls

From the nation that gave you deep fried Mars bars, comes deep fried butter balls.

The is is available at the Fiddler's Elbow in Edinburgh, and consists of frozen balls of butter deep fried in Irn Bru batter.

An alternative variation on that theme is the Braveheart Butter Bomb, in whisky batter.

Porridge

Porridge

The world's largest bowl of porridge ever was created in Edinburgh this weekend.

It weighed 81.2kg, easily beating the previous world record of 66.26kg, and was served to around 2,000 people at the Edinburgh Farmers' Market.

The porridge was stirred by a specially commissioned 1.5m spurtle, and Stoats Porridge Bars provided 25kg of organic oats.

Border Tablet provided pieces of tablet to be sprinkled on top of the porridge, while Caurnie Soap produced a giant soap made with oats.

The Edinburgh Farmers' Market is held in the city's Castle Terrace

Edinburgh Farmers' Market takes place in the Castle Terrace car park, off Lothian Road, every Saturday from 0900 BST until 1400 BST.

It is the largest in Scotland, with over 70 producers attending regularly.

London Wins By Landslide

London Wins By Landslide

The Which? Good Food Guide 2007 ranks London as the out and out winner of the UK dining scene.

London restaurants account for over 25% of the entries in the guide.

London has 333 entries compared to the next best, Manchester, which trails in with just 26 entries.

The Good Food Guide names Gordon Ramsay in London, The Fat Duck in Berkshire and Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons in Oxfordshire as the three venues with the best standards of cooking in the UK.

Its editor Andrew Turvil said:

"London has run away with the title, unsurprisingly, given the size of the population and the number of tourists it attracts. No other UK city can compete, just as Chelsea have dominated the Premiership these last few years."

The Which? Good Food Guide 2007 is based on recommendations from thousands of diners. Anonymous, independent inspectors then visited more than 1,200 venues which feature in the book.

The top places for dining out in the UK are as follows, as judged by the number of entries in the Which? Good Food Guide 2007.

London - 333

Manchester - 26

Edinburgh - 22

Leeds - 14

Glasgow - 13

Birmingham - 11

Brighton - 11

Oxford - 11

Bath - 9

Belfast - 9

Bristol - 9.

Glasgow Goes For Curry Title

Glasgow City Council is supporting its restaurants' goal to become the Curry Capital of Britain 2006.

Four restaurants have been chosen to represent Glasgow; the Panjea, Ashoka Flame, Shish Mahal and the Dhabba will take part.

The competition is now in its sixth year, and will see sixteen cities facing off for the titles of Curry Capital of Britain 2006 and EthniCity 2006.

Glasgow won Curry Capital in 2002 & 2003, Bradford in 2004 and Birmingham in 2005.

The multiethnic 'EthniCity' title went to Edinburgh in 2003, Birmingham in 2004 and Glasgow in 2005.

The winning city will be announced this May.

Lord Provost Liz Cameron is quoted as saying:

"Glasgow is the home of a good curry. For years our fantastic Indian restaurants have served up inventive and fiery dishes to warm the culinary heart. And we are proud to say that curry is up there as our adoptive national dish."

The New Maharajah's

Restaurant

The New Maharajah's
17 Forrest Road
Edinburgh

Phone:- 0131 220 2273

Website www.thenewmaharajahs.co.uk

Overview

Eva and I spent a few days over Christmas in Edinburgh this year. We arrived on Christmas Eve and, with absolutely no plans, decided to pop out for a drink then something to eat.

Having imbibed of a few welcome drinks, we found that rather disconcertingly many of the restaurants we looked in on were in fact closed. The night was getting cold and we had almost resigned ourselves to returning to our hotel, and eating in, when we came across The New Maharajah's; an Indian restaurant serving Tandoori, Mughlai and Bengali cuisine.

The restaurant, situated near the famous Greyfriars Bobby pub, is under new management and claims to have been recommended by Egon Ronay and the Good Curry Guide.

Ambience

The restaurant was bright and cheerful, not one centimetre of flock wallpaper was in sight! Most especially welcome, on that rather cold damp night, it was warm and comfortable.

The walls are painted a light cream colour, the floors wooden parquet. The chairs are red velvet backed, comfortable to sit on and the tables laid with linen clothes and napkins.

Unlike many Indian restaurants, the background music was not a the usual selection of "Asian style" mood music, but an eclectic mixture of disco and Motown from the 1950's, 60's, 70's and 80's. In fact we rather enjoyed naming the tunes, but would note that the music was not intrusive.

Menu

The menu offered a good range of Tandoori, Biryani and Mughlai dishes; additionally there were a number of house specials and standard curries.

As with many Asian restaurants the New Maharajah offers a take away service as well.

Service

The staff were friendly and welcoming, even though it was 9:00pm on Christmas Eve they showed no sign of trying to rush us through our meal.

The service was attentive and efficient, and the staff were happy to explain the dishes when asked.

Food

I chose the lamb baja for my starter. This consisted of a most excellent and succulent chapatti, stuffed with minced lamb and spices. I was very impressed both with the taste and texture of this dish. It was, to my view, an ideal starter.

I chose the Jhallfrezie chicken for my main course, this is a marinated Tandoori chicken with fresh green chilli, coriander and garnished with ginger. It was spicy and flavoursome.

I had plain boiled rice and allo jeera (potato with cumin) to accompany it.

Eva started with the lamb kebab; this was a dish of succulent and tender Tandoori cooked lamb chunks in yoghurt and medium spices, served with a salad. The meat was good quality, and the spices not overpowering

Rather bravely, for her main course, Eva chose the chicken Balti Rooflifter. This dish, not surprisingly was very hot, I guess it had been created especially for the Scottish palate. It consisted of pieces of chicken in Balti spices, chopped onion, green pepper, mint, yoghurt coriander and Kashmiri massalla.

She chose pilao rice to accompany it.

She was delighted with this dish, even though it was by far the hottest that she has ever had.

It is fair to say that it opened the pores!

The meal, which included a good bottle of Pouilly Fuisse and liqueurs, came to £48 including service.

Overall Opinion

We had a splendid meal, and are more than happy to recommend the New Maharajah's as a place worth visiting when in Edinburgh.

Bellini

Restaurant

Bellini Restaurant
8a Abercromby Place
Edinburgh

Phone:- 0131 476 2602

Website www.bellinirestaurant.co.uk

Overview

Eva and I spent a few days over Christmas in Edinburgh this year. On Boxing Day, with no set plans for dinner, we took the advice of our hotel (The Balmoral) and visited Bellini Restaurant.

Bellini is an Italian restaurant and cookery school that aims to bring "a taste of Venice" to the heart of Edinburgh’s New Town.

Bellini is run by Angelo Cimini who, like his family, comes from a long established catering background. His hometown of Villa Santa Maria, has taught chefs since 1290 and exported them internationally through the centuries to all corners of the world. Angelo has cooked for Sophia Loren, Charlie Chaplin and Clint Eastwood; now he has also cooked for us!

Angelo spent several years in Venice cooking at many famous deluxe international hotels and restaurants, learning the "secret-kitchen" which has provided him with a wealth of knowledge and experience.

In addition to running the restaurant, Angelo also runs a cookery school from the same premises.

Ambience

The restaurant is set in an elegant Edinburgh town house. Our welcome was warm and friendly. We were shown to a private bar on the left of the entrance hall, where we perused our menus whilst sipping some champagne.

The decor is cosy and romantic and the dining room is intimate, not over crowded with too many tables too close together.

Blue is the colour of choice in the dining room, the walls are painted blue complemented by a blue carpet contrasted by the tables which are laid with white linen cloths and napkins.

As an additional festive touch, since it was still Christmas, we each had a Christmas cracker. We wore our paper hats with enthusiasm!

Menu

The menu, rather surprisingly for an Italian restaurant, contains little pasta. In fact, Angelo cooks what is in season and what he feels is appropriate. Hence a large part of the menu is not printed, but conveyed to the customers by word of mouth by the hostess.

The dishes offer a "fusion" of local Scottish produce with Italian culinary expertise.

One amusing touch during the menu "performance" was the presentation of the mushroom basket, which Angelo would use in some of his specials.

Service

The staff were very friendly and welcoming. The service was relaxed but attentive, I would not recommend the restaurant if you only have 30 minutes for a quick business lunch. However, to my view, you should not go to a good restaurant if you are in a hurry.

Angelo came out at the end of the meal and personally introduced himself to all of his customers. Which was a nice touch, and meant that he was able to hear first hand if there were any issues regarding the quality of food or service.

Food

I chose the chicken ravioli for my starter. This consisted of freshly made pasta stuffed with chicken, in a white wine and tarragon sauce.

It was thoroughly enjoyable, and was an ideal way to start the meal.

I opted for the 16oz veal T-bone for my main course. This was cooked medium, as requested, with a rosemary white wine and lemon sauce.

The veal was succulent and gorgeously tender. It was accompanied by sauté potatoes and French beans. I was very happy with my choice.

Eva started with scallops with mash. These were first class; the scallops were tender and flavoursome and were complemented by the creamy rich mashed potato.

Eva chose the chicken ravioli for her main course. She was as happy with this as I had been when I had it for my starter. I would note that of course, the main serving was larger than the starter portion.

The meal, which included a bottle of Chablis and liqueurs, came to just under £117 including service.

Overall Opinion

Bellini Restaurant is definitely worth visiting, and we shall certainly revisit when we are next in Edinburgh.

The Balmoral Christmas Day Brunch

The Balmoral Christmas Day Brunch

Eva and I stayed at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh over Christmas, and partook of their special Christmas Day Brunch on the 25th.

It was superb!

We dined in one of the function rooms that had been specially set aside for the brunch, and were warmly and cheerfully greeted by all the staff.

A glass of welcoming champagne whetted our appetites for the buffet feast to follow. This included:

• Cereals, juices and yoghurts



• Hams, smoked salmon and prawns



• Scrambled eggs, Ayreshire back bacon, black pudding, tomatoes, Musk sausages (the Queen eats these when she stays in Holyrood), saute potatoes and mushrooms



• Strawberries, chocolates and bread

We tucked in with gusto, I was even offered a plate of sausages to take back to the room for snacking on later.

At £37 per head, the brunch doesn't come cheap. However, Christmas is but once a year!

Edinburgh Restaurants Help The Homeless

Edinburgh Restaurants Help The Homeless

During this year's Edinburgh Festival, 35 restaurants across the city have joined together to help support the homeless.

During the Edinburgh Festival, people in the city are being asked to donate £1 to the StreetSmart charity campaign each time they visit a restaurant.

StreetSmart is an independent charity that raises money to help the homeless get back on their feet.

Do the restaurants also contribute £1?

A Recipe For Disaster?

A Recipe For Disaster?

It seems that some restaurants in Britain are playing with fire, in as much as they are trying an experiment with allowing customers to pay what they like.

Michael Vasos, the owner of Just Around The Corner a French bistro in north London, tried the idea first. His customers are allowed to work out what they want to pay, without any argument, at the end of their meal.

Three other restaurants are following suit; Mju in Knightsbridge central London, Lanes in East London and Sweet Melinda's in Edinburgh.

However, Mr Vasos has a way of ensuring that people do not underpay. He gives them their money back, in order to humiliate them.

StreetSmart

StreetSmart

Over £16K has been raised by restaurants in Edinburgh for a number of homeless charities, under the StreetSmart initiative.

Diners made donations, in the form of a tip, towards the charity.

Thirty-one restaurants in Edinburgh took part in the scheme, which raised funds for several homeless charities in the city.

Restaurant

Tower Restaurant
Museum of Scotland
Chambers Street
Edinburgh
EH1 1JF

Phone:- 0131 225 3003

Website www.tower-restaurant.com

Overview

The Tower sits on top of the Museum of Scotland and offers an exceptional view of the castle and skyline of Edinburgh. It specialises in Scottish produce, including steaks and shellfish. The restaurant comprises an indoor rooftop (seating around 100) and outdoor terrace (seating around 70); the restaurant is very popular and you are advised to book (we were told that some people had booked their New Year tables one year ago).

Eva and I, spending Hogmanay in Edinburgh, went there on New Year’s eve. Our booking was for 10:30PM, so we were able to watch the spectacular New Year firework display.

Ambience

The restaurant is elegant and sleek, it eschews the traditional tartan and stuffed animal trophy decorative style favoured by some other Scottish restaurants. Instead the décor is bright, airy and tasteful; polished wooden floors complimenting the lightly stained wooden table tops. A floor to ceiling window runs the full length of one side of the restaurant, so if you are fortunate enough to have a window seat you have an unparalleled view of the castle. However, should you have one of the other tables you will still be able to view the skyline. We were fortunate enough to have a window seat, I am pleased to say the that the double glazing and heating was efficient enough to ensure that we did not feel cold.

When we arrived at the Museum of Scotland we were greeted by a uniformed commissionaire, who ticked our name on a list and showed us to an elevator. This took us to the fifth floor where we were greeted by the Head Waiter, who had been telephoned by the commissionaire; to let him know we were on our way up.

Rather impressively, despite being New Year’s Eve (with all the potential for people delaying their departure); our table was ready, and we were seated immediately.

The restaurant was full, but close to midnight all the diners and staff put their coats on and stood out on the terrace to watch the fireworks, we were lazy and decided to stay in the warm; but we still had a splendid view. I am rather relieved that unlike other restaurants, at New Year, there was no enforced communal singing or hugging; save for handshakes and “happy New Year” from the staff.

Menu

The restaurant offers a variety of traditional Scottish food (prepared with imagination) including; steaks, lamb shank, oysters, crab, liver, roast roots and fish. Even the bread was a special mustard based recipe!

The wine list is extensive and rather sensibly, in my view, is divided into sub sections offering diners a choice of price brackets.

Service

The service was attentive, very friendly and efficient. Our Kir Royales and menus arrived within a matter of minutes of us being seated.

There were a good number of staff on duty who, even though they were working on New Year’s eve, ensured that orders were promptly and efficiently despatched. Half an hour before midnight we were asked if we would like to order a drink to toast in the New Year; that afforded them a well deserved break, so that they could watch the fireworks with everyone else.

Food

I started with the lentil and ham soup, warm rich yellow (evocative of the season) complimented by thin slices of ham placed in the centre; full marks.

As a main course I had a 12oz fillet steak, rare. This was succulent and tender; seared on the outside, to seal in the flavour, red and juicy on the inside. The steak was served with onion rings, hand cut potato wedges and roasted root vegetables; an excellent choice.

I finished with an orange sorbet, smooth and creamy, which was a little more than I could handle.

Eva started with duck parfait, a very generous rich and succulent portion served with toast. She was very pleased with it.

As a main course Eva had the lamb shank which, in keeping with the imaginative style of cuisine, was served with a portion of lam cutlet and loin of lamb. The shank had been braised to perfection so that the meat literally fell of the bone. The dish came with creamy mashed potatoes. Eva thoroughly enjoyed it.

The overall meal, which included a bottle of Chablis, a bottle of water and two glasses of champagne, came to £121 before tip; exceptional value.

Overall Opinion

I have absolutely no hesitation at all in recommending this restaurant; definitely a cut above some of the other restaurants who offer “traditional Scottish fayre”. We will be dining there again when we return to Edinburgh.