Food&Drink Recent Openings For more food and drink visit www.list.co.uk/food-and-drink
The best of the new restaurant, café and bar openings in Glasgow and Edinburgh Glasgow OPIUM 191 Hope Street, City Centre, 0141 332 6668, www.opiumrestaurant.co.uk, £13 (lunch) / £17 (dinner)
Mixing traditional dim sum with fusion dishes from around the Far East, Opium has a laid-back lounge feel, with dark neutral tones, cool jazz music, cocktails and numerous wines. Hong Kong- trained chef Kwan Yu Lee is a master in the art of dim sum cooking, clearly demonstrated here in two dozen choices including delicate dumplings of crab, prawn and chive, and a lotus leaf- wrapped sticky rice parcel. The fusion concept works across the mains with tender squid in a thick Malay-style sauce, and a classic kung pao chicken served on a giant sampan-like prawn cracker. KITSCH INN 214 Bath Street, City Centre, 0141 332 1341, www.tikibarglasgow.com, £8 (set lunch) / £15 (dinner) Thai food, cool retro styling and a beach-
FOOD EVENTS
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. A complete but impressively understated redecoration has tartan waistcoated waiters moving quickly around a large white-washed dining room, wheeling trolleys of, for example, a Goan catfish curry rich in chilli heat and 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. PHO VIETNAM HOUSE 3 Grove Street, Fountainbridge, Edinburgh, 0131 228 3383, www.vietnamhousescotland.com, £4.90 (set lunch)/ £13 (dinner)
party soundtrack are to be found at the new Kitsch Inn. All dishes are cooked by the Thai chef, and the dipping sauce and fresh pickle for crackers prove that pre- made sauces are no match. Starters are outstanding – the silky salt and pepper squid comes with zingy green mayo, and crying tiger beef salad has tender red meat with a chilli kick. The green curry is fresh-tasting and creamy, although the fried rice could be helped by a side serving of ginger and chilli soy. Beautifully presented homemade puds are an excellent finale. LOST SOULS 1st Floor, 150 West Campbell Street, City Centre, www.lostsoulsglasgow.co.uk, £9 (lunch/dinner) This new bar from the owners of Brunswick Cellars and Firewater is fittingly named given its hidden location where West Campbell meets Sauchiehall. Mirrored windows give little away about the cool, modern interior. This self-styled ‘gin joint, bourbon bar and boogaloo’ offers an enticing range of rare and speciality gins, bourbons, rums (the boogaloo angle) and vodkas. Food is of the no-frills bar variety but the burgers and pizzas are fresh, home- made and nicely priced. There’s also a late licence at weekends, a dancefloor for grooving to the hip soundtrack and great-value midweek promos.
EDINBURGH 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 Operating out of a small shopfront just off Morrison Street, Pho has just five tables crammed into a limited space. Owner Jodie Nguyen prepares the food (before handing over to a chef to cook it) and acts as friendly waitress and hostess. The restaurant is named after
Vietnam’s national dish (pho, pronounced ‘fuh’), which is a simple broth of noodles, spring onions and meat or tofu, here presented in a rich and well-seasoned stock. Attention- grabbing spring rolls are served fried or fresh (in other words, uncooked). Also recommended is the com ka kho, an earthenware pot of braised fish in ginger and capsicum. LA GARRIGUE IN THE NEW TOWN 14 Eyre Place, New Town, 0131 558 1608, www.lagarrigue.co.uk, £12.50 (set lunch) / £26.50 (set dinner) An appearance on the telly with Gordon Ramsay last year has certainly helped the profile of Jean-Michel Gauffre’s La Garrigue restaurant on Jeffrey Street, to the extent that he has created a second branch deep in the New Town. Smaller and quieter than the original, the new venue has much in common, including chunky tables and chairs, real art on the walls and a very similar menu, albeit with a few more vegetarian options by way of respect to Gauffre’s previous incumbent on the spot, L’Artichaut. Across the menu the inspiration of the Langedoc remains paramount – a unique attribute of Gauffre’s approach that has much to be admired.
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.
GLASGOW ■ Partick Retail Outdoor Market FREE Fri 18 Feb & 25 Feb, 10am–2pm. Mansfield Park, 5 Hyndland Street. ■ Silverburn Farmers', Speciality Food & Craft Market FREE Sun 27 Feb, 10am–2pm. Silverburn, Barrhead Road.
■ Queen's Park Farmers' Market FREE Sat 19 Feb, 10am–2pm. Queen's Park, 520 Langside Road. ■ Slow Cooking at Heart Buchanan Tue 22 Feb, 7–9pm. £45. Heart Buchanan, 380 Byres Road, 334 7626. Learn how to cook deliciously comforting roasts, stocks and stews.
■ Mansfield Park Farmers' Market FREE Sat 26 Feb, 10am–2pm. Mansfield Park, 5 Hyndland Street.
■ ScotHot 2011 FREE Mon 28 Feb–Wed 2 Mar, 10am–6pm (Wed until 5pm). SECC, Finnieston Quay, 0844 395 4000. Trade exhibition for Scotland's hospitality industry. ■ Bread 2 Thu 3 Mar, 7–9pm. £45. Heart Buchanan, 380 Byres Road, 334 7626. Breadmaking class led by Andrew from Differentbreid. You can collect your freshly baked loaf the morning after.
EDINBURGH ■ Edinburgh Farmers' Market
28 THE LIST 17 Feb–3 Mar 2011
Loch Fyne Oysters
FREE Sat 19 Feb & 26 Feb, 9am–2pm. Castle Terrace. ■ Oloroso Wine Dinner Thu 24 Feb, 8pm. £65. Oloroso, 33 Castle Street, 447 8722. A five-course dinner accompanied by a selection
of wines chosen by the experts at Villeneuve Wines from the excellent bottles coming out of South Africa in recent years. ■ Wine and Dine: Little Beauty and L'Art Du Vin Mon 28 Feb, 7pm. £90.
Restaurant Martin Wishart, 54 The Shore, 553 3557. New Zealand winemaker Eveline Fraser from Little Beauty wines and Edinburgh wine supplier Philipe Larue from L'Art du Vin offer up a selection of wines from their respective portfolios, accompanied by a specially created four-course dinner. OUTSIDE THE CITIES ■ A Taste of Loch Fyne Fri 25 Feb, 10am–3.30pm. £75. Loch Fyne Oysters, Clachan, Cairndow, 01499 600469. Lunch with a difference: pluck your own oysters straight from their beds, then learn how to open and cook yours properly before enjoying a splendid five- course taster lunch.