because the pizzas and pasta are very good. there's often a free table in this small. value-for- money restaurant. ideal post-Odeon food. (£18)

A Mouthful in the Country.

Take a chance on the weather and get out at town. A bracing walk up a hill ora wanderthrough a wood are always a good excuse to spend the rest oi the aitemoon in the pub. Most wayside inns will be able to oller a little somethingtor hungry hikers.

I Goblin Ha' Hotel Gifford. ()62 ()81 244. 12.3(l—2pm. 6.3(l—pm. Pints in the friendly bar or lounge can be followed with something more solid from the bar menu. Try the traditional Sunday lunch: three courses for £5.50. Pleasant strolls abound round Gifford or in nearby Saltoun Forest.

BACK LIST

carte evening mca|.£1() per head.)

I Habbies Howe Hotel Ninemile Burn.717o%9. Mon—Fri. Noon—2pm. 6—9pm; Sat/Sun open all day. A promenade in the Pentlands will bring you to the door ofthis

oak-beamed pub where a good fug can be worked up

over open fires and pints of the usual. Bar meals are available all day Saturday and Sunday. (£2.5(l—£3. meal for one.)

I Marchbank Hotel Balerno. 4-19 3971). 12.3(1-2pm (till 3pm.

Sat Sun). 7—lllpm. seven

days. lfyou're feeling

amazingly energetic you can walk from here. across

(Bar meals approx £3. a la I I Waterside Bistro 1/5

the PentlandstoNinemile Burn.orviceversa. Yummy.buts|ightly

pricey. open sandwiches served in this elegant

setting. (£2.25 bar meals. restaurant £lllper head).

I

Waterside. Nungate. lladdington. 062 ()82

5674. Mon—Sat.

l l.3(lam--2pm.

(13(1- illpm; Sun. 1230—231)an

6.31)- lilpm. 1fthere is even a glimmer ofsun. then this pleasant spot on the river feels like summer. Attractive bar right on the river. serving imaginative bar food at lunch times. (Bar meals. £2—£3; restaurant £8 lunch. £15 a la carte evening meal. per head). I Cramond lnn (‘ramond. 336 2035. 12—73pm.

7A 1 1pm (restaurant closed Sat lunch. Sun evening and all day Mon). Breezes offthe Forth will soon give you an appetite fora slap-up lunch from the ('ramond Inn. Served from noon—2pm. they‘re very popular. so get there early and stake your claim.

GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER?

in the first oi an occasional series, we ask some well-known characters how they handle the line art of the dinner party. This issue: Lloyd Cole.

Lloyd Cole and his lreelance writer glrllrlend Elaine Patterson enjoy their own dinner parties, but have to limit the number they give lor a couple oi reasons. One is their lack ol chairs - they have only tour and have to borrow deckchalrs lrom neighbours in cases at emergency (so much tor the popstar lllestylel). Then there’s their culinary repertoire: two meals, that's it. Lloyd can cook only omelettes and Elaine is ‘a really awlul cook.’ Sticking to dishes she really knows well gives her conlidence, she maintains. For a really awtul cook, they sound pretty wonderlul. One menu revolves around chicken marinated in ‘lots 01 alcohol' and spiked with shards ol iresh ginger served with pommes dauphlnolse, and the other is a completely Mexican meal: Guacamole, Nachos, and a chicken and tortilla casserole. The problem with the latter is Lloyd‘s

extremely high tolerance level ior heat.

‘We had to tone down the chilli a bit alter a couple ol guests almost died alter one at our Mexican evenings.‘ They use the real Jalapeno chillies which can blind or set noses on lire ll chlllled lingers are inadvertantly applied. All this is washed down with tequila and champagne slammers.

' Having seen the eliect at regular slammers on normally clean-living and law-abiding citizens, l shudder at the thought at these lethal little numbers. Unsurprlsingly, what constitutes ideal dinner guests are: ‘People who can hold a lot at drink.’ Their caretully chosen antique dining table is permanently dented lrom over- enthusiastic slammer sessions.

Hot-so-ideal dinner guests are, according to Elaine, ‘People who insist on lollowing me into the kitchen to “help".' Our kltchen's ten leet by tour, and l’m nervous enough about cooking without someone literally breathing down my neck. One lrlend who doesen't get invited round terribly olten is an ex-model who watches what she eats, gets tired by nine o'clock, and doesn’t drink.’ Yes, lsee.

Elaine and Lloyd do drink however. Elaine admits to a couple ol wee relreshments whilst preparing the meal, and says that the tlrst course is presented with a degree of aplomb, but that behaviour degerates lrom then on

‘We like to dress lor dinner, start with cocktails and have the right wines with the right courses, but we generally end up drinking everything in slght.‘

Any memorable disasters? ‘There was the trultle incident—we decided to be really liash one Christmas, and served home-baked bread stuiled with trultles and cream cheese. When we cut it open, the entire stulllng had evaporated into nothingness. The tin ot Trultles had cost us torty quldl’ (Marina O'Loughlln)

111E SWING BAR

by THE NATTERCHACKS

THE PERSISTLAS BROTHERS

THAT SWING THANG

& FAT STUFF

IF YOU KNOW OF ANY BETTER BANDS DO TELL US BECAUSE WE DON‘T THINK WE KNOW THEM

6| FREDERICK ST EDINBURGH TEL' 031-225 5244

MN

LICENCED RESTAURANT 38 HANOVER STREET

MON- SAT: 12 noon-1am

SUNDAY: 1pm - 10.30pm Phone: 031-225 1796 ___1

RESTAURANT Tue—Sat (evenings only) Table d‘Héte and a la Carte menus BRASSERIE Seven days: lunchtimes and evenings. Wide range of meals available.

7 OLD FISHMA RKET CLOSE EDINBURGH 0312255428 r I

AT THE ROYAL LYCEUM THEATRE CAFE LICENSED RESTAURANT GRINDLAY ST. EDINBURGH EH3 9U TEL: Gill-229 8663

SET.

RESTA U RA .\"l‘

s . l‘ill- \11HR1-, lizl'l‘ll M it. now

. US] 'i )5 lllHli ,' i' am I .7 m :Jn 13' r. I ill“)! .\.:.'

\\_I-

.IIIUARDIY

l I I

iii

3/4 Shore. Leith. 'l'el: 03| 553 5080

l

The List 4 17 March ids} 53