FOOD & DRINK
All Rhodes lead to roam
Author, TV presenter, restaurateur and chef, Gary Rhodes is coming to a stage , near you to show you how to cook. Will you be able to keep up? Words: Jonathan Trew
As a child, Rhodes must have been unbearably energetic. At the age of 36, he still fizzes With fervour. He speaks rapidly, words tumbling over one another as though there might not be time to get them all out. Rhodes is in his new restaurant in London called City Rhodes I'm in Edinburgh and speaking to him on the phone. Although I can't see his hands, it's easy to .magine them aning all over the place as he talks. It’s difficult to imagine that he's Sitting down.
Rhodes has written three books, has had three series of his own television programme, has released an audio cassette of home cookery tips, he writes Columns for a fistful of newspapers and magazines, he has two Michelin starred restaurants and is hoping for a third. Monday to Friday, he leaves home at six and doesn't get home until eleven at night. Most people would perhaps be thinking of slowing down a little, delegating authority, consolidating, putting their feet up even. Rhodes has got other ideas. Namely, a 25-date cookery roadshow in practically every major venue in Britain. Cookery as the new rock ’n’ roll is the unlikely cliche that spraigs to mind.
’There's going to be more to it than Just cookmg,’ he enthuses. ’I'm not gomg to be one of those guys who Just goes on stage and says (at this pOint Rhodes adopts an effete RP accent) "Right, and now I'm going to show
Shof
vegetarian vegan
macrobiotic organic Mon - Sat
10am - 7pm Sun lZnoon - 4pm
83 Clerk Street 0131-668 2067
118 THE lIST 7»--20 Nov 1997
Gary Rhodes: whipping up the cream of British cuisine
you how to make a Victoria sponge." That's not me.’
Instead, Rhodes promises that he w:II make something of an entrance. He refuses to say how exactly, but it would be fun to see him take the Meatloaf route and roar on stage in a Harley. The rest of the show Will involve Q and A sessions, demonstrations, audience participation, a short film of out-takes and mishaps from Rhodes' TV series and further surprises. The chef as showman?
'I can’t wait to get on stage. I think I’ve always been like that since my school days. I was always a little bit afraid of the stage but then something came out of me,’ he ponders. ‘l don’t know what it was, but I know that I’m one of these sorts of frustrated pop stars who can't sing But I'm going to try to get as close to that as I can '
This desire to perform is not a new thing. Long before Rhodes was appearing on TV he was accosting strangers in supermarkets, rummaging through their baskets and suggesting alternative purchases along With serVing suggestions. Surprisingly, no
one brained his bonce With a bag of spuds for poking his toque where it wasn't wanted but then Rhodes in the flesh is as personable as his on-screen antics can be brash
'I like meeting people,’ he explains ’If somebody asked me what I would
Long before Rhodes was appearing on TV he was accosting strangers in supermarkets, rummaging through their baskets and suggesting alternative purchases along with serving suggestions.
rather be domg for the rest of my life' working in the kitchen, dOing TV or domg the stage, the stage would be very close to coming out on top. On the stage you are in control, I love working in the kitchen, but yOu are led by what people order When y0u are working on TV you are led, up to a point, by a producer or director On stage, I am in control ancf, hopefully, I can make the audience feel that I am talking to all of them personally'
Edinburgh: King's Theatre, Sun 9 Nov.
Side orders Winterglen
It's been a bit of a red .etter day down at Winterglen Restaurant on
' Edinburc';h’s Dundas Street Not
content with gaining an entry .n. the I998 version of The Good Food Gourde,
they’ve also scooped the guide's Restaurant Of The Year Av.a'::' I.‘ir:st
restaurateurs would stop there, titlt oh no, co-proprietor Blair Glen had to go one further and get an AA rosette as well
Hearty congrats all round and anyone v-rho wants to try \\’ii‘.tt‘-rt;'e"'s "ind-am Scottish food for themselves ca.“ "take a booking on OIBI 477 7C6?
1 13th Note
Glasgow's spiritual home of Io-f:
bands, The 13th Note, will close as
doors on Wednesday 72 November for
the last time Ho‘s/ever, lovers of sc uzzy
, bands and the bar's fine vegan food
need not pine for to:: long, as the 13th Note is moving to the former site of the Ventura pub on King Street If all
' goes according to plan then the doors
will be thrown open again on Monday I December. Plans are also afoot to
open a 13th Note club venue on Clyde
Street.
Brunch With Paragon Having deCided against attcT-rnptang some convoluted metaphor about mtlSlC being the food of love, we'il jtlSi stick with the facts on this one Glasgow Royal Concert Hall is
‘ launching a new series of Sunday
lunchtime concerts performed by the Paragon Ensemble. Anyone who feeTs peckish can complement the recitals With a meal in Splash, the Concert Hall's recently revamped restaurant.
The doors open at noon, and a two- cOurse lunch is yours for the special price of £7, while three courses v.r;lI cost £10. Tickets to concerts in the Strathclyde SUite are £6 (£3.50). Splash will serve dishes along the lines of pan fried Supreme of salmon on a bed of baSil couscous With sweet and sour dressings On 16 November, the fzrst Sunday in the series, the Paragon Ensemble Will be serVing Mozart's Quartet in C and his Clarinet Quartet If) A. Bookings can be made on Old? 287 551 I
l The Brunswick
Since it was taken over by new owners
' in June, there have been some changes at the BrunsWick Hotel Cafe on
BrunsWIc k Street in Glasgow’s Merchant City. Before working at the BrunsWic'k, Andrew Bic'kerstaff, the head chef, toured all over the world feeding the likes of Madonna, Ben low, REM, Brian Adams and We tnev
Houston. All this travelling has <;.ven
Bickerstaff the opportunity to exntt'e the diversity of ('lilS’llf‘ available a'ntxtd
the globe, in fact, you cou'r: sav t"at