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The best of the new restaurant, café and bar openings in Glasgow and Edinburgh Glasgow GREEN CHILLI CAFÉ 1293 Argyle Street, Glasgow, 0141 337 6378, £17 (dinner)
The newest opening from Sanjay Majhu’s Harlequin Group, the Green Chilli Café recalls the days when Majhu lived at home and his mum would use the pot- style cooking typically found in an Indian home. The succinct menu is dominated by Indian tapas or small plates, with familiar appetizers such as samosas and pakora, while more substantial dishes include rare treats such as machi aur chana – white fish, subtly spiced and fried till crisp, with curried chickpeas, and chicken sharabi tapas with coconut and chianti. For those taking the tapas concept further, there is a tasting menu offering six courses. EATIBOUTIQUIE 231 Berkeley Street, West End, 0141 258 9267, £6 New to Finnieston’s increasingly cultured scene is this small and cosy café run by
FOOD & DRINK EVENTS
welcoming friends Rachel Suttle and Emma Paris. There is only a handful of seats but grab a granny chair and you’ll happily while away the hours with some wholesome and nicely priced fare. The owners have a commendably strict policy of sourcing locally – very locally in the case of their own house blend coffee, created just yards away – savoury tarts, cupcakes, sandwiches, chunky soups and pasta dishes all made in-house. Vintage clothes in a back room, local crafters wares on display and groceries for sale add extra interest to this community-minded venture. ANATOLIA CHARGRILL 140 St Vincent Street, City Centre, 0141 221 8777, www.anatoliachargrill.co.uk, £6.95 (set lunch) / £16 This large, airy restaurant is a fitting venue for big, hearty plates of Turkish food. The operation is as slick and smart as the decor, with complimentary flat bread and olives greeting diners, and meaty kebabs fired up theatrically on a charcoal grill facing out from the open kitchen. The cooking is good, and there’s a sophistication that goes beyond simple grilling, evident in the wide selection of traditional mezes such as dolma, imam bayildi and tabbouleh. Meat-feasters will be hard pressed to find better offerings in the city centre, and those so inclined can tackle the one-metre kebab.
Edinburgh CAFÉ MILK 232 Morrison Street, West End, 0131 629 6022, www.cafemilk.co.uk, £5 (lunch)
of purpose. While some familiar elements remain – that wall mural won’t be painted over any time soon – the canteen-style counter service of old has been replaced by attentive, chatty table service, and a new menu has daily specials like meatballs with tomato spaghetti, comforting soup/sandwich combos and wonderfully unusual home baking. KASTURI 35-37 Shandwick Place, West End, 0131 228 2441, www.kasturi- ed.co.uk, £7.95 (set lunch) / £17 (dinner) Formerly involved in the Indian Cavalry Club and currently the owners of Morningside Spice, the management of Kasturi (named after the perfume of the musk deer) have apparently had their eye on this city centre property for a number of years. The interior has undergone an impressively understated redecoration. Tartan-waistcoated waiters move quickly around a large white-washed dining room, wheeling trolleys of, for example, a Goan catfish curry with a mustard-infused batter coating the fish, or a special rack of lamb carved into small chops and grilled precisely in a marinade of yoghurt, coriander and chilli.
Independent write-ups on all the restaurants worth knowing about in Glasgow and Edinburgh are available on our online Eating & Drinking Guide at list.co.uk/food-and-drink Prices shown are for an average two-course meal for one.
A small and neatly attired sandwich bar with a few snug bench seats, Milk is sited to catch passing commuters on their way into town from Haymarket and local office workers sick of the staff canteen. The family-run café boasts a small but appealing range of breakfasts, sandwiches, salads and hot snacks. There are a few similar outlets in the area, but Milk’s seasonal menu more than holds its own: everything bar the bread is made in-house, including a fruit- packed morning muffin, various home- baked cakes and stews of chicken, chorizo and pinto beans or Moroccan beef. CITY ART CENTRE CAFÉ City Art Centre, 1 Market Street, Old Town, 0131 229 3359, www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk, £10 (lunch) The recent revamp of the City Art Centre has afforded the opportunity for a rethink of the gallery’s café. Local catering firm Cater, whose pedigree includes running tasteful cafés at the Edinburgh Book Festival, Dovecot Studios and Jupiter Artland, have arrived with a strong sense
GLASGOW ■ Partick Retail Outdoor Market FREE Fri 4 Feb & 11 Feb, 10am–2pm. Mansfield Park, Hyndland Street.
■ Queen’s Park Farmers’ Market FREE Sat 5 Feb, 10am–2pm. Queen’s Park, 520 Langside Road.
■ Authentic Chinese Food Talks FREE Sun 6 & Sat 12 Feb, 2pm. Ricefield Arts & Cultural Centre, GMAC, Trongate 103, 331 1019. Three talks with Liv Wan as part of the Takeaway China cultural programme: the first is on healthy Chinese eating, the second on Chinese New Year traditions. ■ Re-Discovering Tea
26 THE LIST 3–17 Feb 2011
Wed 9 Feb, 8–10pm. £6 (£4). Tchai-Ovna House of Tea, 42 Otago Lane, 357 4524. An evening of tea tasting with Tchai-Ovna’s expert manager, including a basic Chinese Tea Ceremony. Part of Takeaway China.
■ Heart and Soul Gastronomy: Valentines Tue 8 Feb, 7–9pm. £45. Heart Buchanan, 380 Byres Road, 334 7626. A special Heart Buchanan cookery class focusing on a menu of dishes to get your partner feeling steamy ■ Mansfield Park Farmers’ Market FREE Sat 12 Feb, 10am–2pm. Mansfield Park, 5 Hyndland Street.
■ Valentine’s Day Mon 14 Feb, times vary.
Tasting Thu 3 Feb, 7pm. £25. Whiski, 119 High Street, 556 3095. A three-course dinner plus three whiskies to sample, both neat and in cocktails. ■ Edinburgh Farmers’ Market FREE Sat 5 Feb & 12 Feb, 9am–2pm. Castle Terrace.
■ Portobello Organic Market FREE Sat 5 Feb, 10am–2pm. Brighton Park, Brighton Place.
■ Valentine’s Dinner Mon 14 Feb, 6.30pm. £45. VinCaffè, 11 Multrees Walk, 556 6066. A romantic Valentine’s dinner with music courtesy of Philip Contini.
£26.99. Café Cossachok, 10 King Street/Trongate 103, 553 0733. Enjoy a three- course meal accompanied by accordionist Georgie Gajjic. Heart Buchanan, 380 Byres Road, 334 7626. Find out all about home- smoking, including how to make your own smoker from scratch.
■ An Introduction to Home-Smoking Tue 15 Feb, 7–9pm. £45. EDINBURGH ■ Whisky Dinner and