Festival FOOD & DRINK SUPPORTED BY
COOKIE MONSTERS
Food specialists Dram & Smoke are popping up at the Biscuit Factory with a pretty tasty deal. Louise Stoddart finds out more
D uring August, Edinburgh ups its food game to get people through hours of viewing back-to-back shows. Whether it’s grabbing a burger in George Square Gardens, tasting all sorts of weird and wonderful street food or participating in a show by eating a three course meal (thanks to Faulty Towers: The Dining Experience), hunger ain’t a thing during the Fringe.
What is new this year, however, is a pop-up restaurant at the Biscuit Factory in Leith, for the entire month of August.
Transformed into an arts and fashion hub in April last year, the renovated Biscuit Factory is still a relative newbie to the goings-on of the Edinburgh Festival. With several performance spaces nestled in beside a community of creatives, the factory (which stood derelict for eight years) is sure to be a much- desired venue for the festival in years to come. This August, the entire top floor has been snapped up by hospitality professionals Dram & Smoke, who have converted the space into a restaurant for dinner and ‘general flumgummerie’. Edinburgh born and bred, Paul Ross and Nick Fulton started Dram & Smoke with a focus on celebrating Scottish produce. For the past couple of years, the duo have hosted several events down south in a range of quirky venues from steelyards to leather
tanneries, feeding hoards of hungry foodies. With a series of successful pop-ups under their belt, they have brought their expertise back to the motherland to be part of the world’s largest arts festival.
So what can ticket holders expect? ‘We nod to the past by using traditional ingredients like haggis and whisky but we try to present our dishes in new and interesting ways,’ Ross and Fulton tell us. ‘Our heather honeycomb dessert is served as a giant slab on a board with a hammer for guests to smash and get stuck into.’ Each evening, table plans are drawn up around large communal tables so diners can gather round for a feast. Four courses championing the best of Scottish produce are served from an open kitchen alongside plenty of wine, beer, and gin and whisky cocktails. Making use of the acts in town for the festival, there is also live music every night.
Although the main dinners take place from Wed– Sun at 7pm, Dram & Smoke have other plans in the pipeline, including meet-the-supplier events and daytime sessions at weekends because, you know, hair of the dog and all.
Dram & Smoke Pop-Up Dining, The Biscuit Factory, 5–28 Aug (not Mondays & Tuesdays), 7pm, £40.
5 P O T
S L L A T S D O O F
CREMA CARAVAN A touring retro food truck dishing out crunchy, custardy crème brûlées. St Andrew Square
LOV MEXICAN Traditional Mexican grub made with a i ne selection of Scottish produce. St Andrew Square
SECTION 33 Pop-up dining specialists serving reasonably priced, tasty, Scottish treats. Assembly George Square
PAD BBK Fresh, authentic Thai food that remains a favourite with veggies as well as meat lovers. Assembly George Square
CHEESY TOAST SHACK Gooey gourmet cheese melts served up from a quirky food truck in Summerhall’s courtyard. Summerhall
RECOMMENDS . . . RECOMMENDS . . .
LOCANDA DE GUSTI LOCANDA DE GUSTI EDINBURGH
By importing artisan products from Italy and combining them with produce from Scotland, Locanda de Gusti serves
unique dishes in the tradition of Southern Italy. Pair with Moretti Regionale alla Toscana or alla Siciliana.
locandadegusti.com
32 THE LIST FESTIVAL 4–11 Aug 2016