Festival FOOD & DRINK SUPPORTED BY
STREET VIEW Fringe venues aren’t always known for their great catering but standards are rising, discovers David Pollock
I t’s not entirely true to say you can judge a Fringe venue by the quality of its food offerings, but many of the more culinarily discerning audience members in attendance will certainly form an opinion. Across the city, however, good-quality temporary street food stalls abound. The epicentre of such activity is Assembly’s George Square Gardens. Here, you’ll find pizzas from So-la- ti-dough, pastas from Whydo, selected Mexican choices from Betty Goes to Mexico, Thai options from Pad BKK and burgers and hot dogs at Scoop Street Kitchen.
Just outside the garden, discover spiced wings and wraps at the Buffalo Food Truck, doughnuts and tea at Teadough and great quality German bratwursts from Edinburgh’s popular On the Roll. In between both sites, Glasgow’s Smoak have a truck in the BBC area and Laughing Stock have a wide selection at Udderbelly. Elsewhere, The List excitedly recommends the Whitmuir Food Truck at Summerhall, serving organic East Lothian produce including home-made lorne sausage burgers with beetroot and onion rings or salads topped with roast butternut squash or barbecued pork. Their cakes are great and they also have breakfast rolls. On-site gin still Pickering’s has an inventive bar menu too.
Also a destination dining event in its own right is the small food alley alongside The Stand’s new tented venue in the heart of the city at St Andrew Square. Local big guns have been pulled out, with Edinburgh’s Italian café institution Valvona & Crolla: Good to Go, offering sausages, quiche, hot pies and Italian doughnuts (bomboloni or bombolini, depending on the size you opt for), and vegetarian restaurant Henderson’s serving up beanburgers and lentil falafels. The same venue also has Thai noodles in broth from Nusou and a great choice of moules-frites, oysters and fish chowder at Love Fish (pictured). Along the road, the Scottish Café at the National Gallery has its own street food concession, a hut on the square called The Bothy, which does Inverurie beef meatball wraps and sticky Clash Farm pork belly buns, while the NoFitState Circus site in Fountainbridge has an outdoor café selling burgers and pizzas, and a beer tap from Edinburgh’s own Barney’s. Finally, for those who want to spend longer in the company of the city’s best food in street form, Street Food Sundays is on Castle Terrace every week in August between 11am–4pm, with Bakery Andante, Hugh Grierson Organic, Creelers, The Edinburgh Larder and Seriously Good Venison all serving up.
B R E A K F A S T S
5 B E S T
EDINBURGH LARDER CAFE A locally popular café with great Scottish sourcing and a tendency to homemake. 15 Blackfriars Street. MILK Snug but smart West End café with an eclectic menu: try the breakfast chorizo burrito. 232 Morrison Street.
PETER’S YARD Central Swedish- style bakery on the edge of the Meadows, open early. 27 Simpson Loan.
EARTHY CANONMILLS Local, ethical and seasonal are all keywords in the ethos of this highly regarded market- cum-café. 1–6 Canonmills Bridge. HELLERS KITCHEN Excellent neighbourhood restaurant serving pancakes, croissants and full breakfasts. 15 Salisbury Place.
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ANGELS SHARE EDINBURGH
Le Monde owner Billy Lowe’s latest project. Bar and Restaurant with a ‘secret’ late night
speakeasy – The Devils Cut
angelssharehotel.com
30 THE LIST FESTIVAL 14–25 Aug 2014