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Favorit
The inspiration for the freshly opened Favorit on Edinburgh’s Teviot Place came from New York's do everything delis. While our understanding of delis is often limited to places to buy good olives and a half pound of pepperami, in the States they are gleaming temples of hot and cold culinary delights. Open all hours, they serve everything from decent coffee (rarer than you might expect in the States) to stupendous sub sarnies to full blown meals. Eat in or takeaway, they are there to meet all your tastebuds’ needs and to wish you a pieasant day to boot.
Favorit is similar. Open a whopping 8am—3am, seven days a week, it's a combination cafe, bar, deli and gadget shop. Small enough to hear the hiss of the coffee machine, it’s a cosy little joint that serves everything from Stella to calabrese and picante sausage tapas.
The managment want it to be a place that people use rather than an occasion-led bar. The kind of place that people drop in to, hang for a while and then drop out. The sort of place that the Americans might call a neighbourhood bar/cafe.
To that end, Favorit is very welcoming; it's sleek but not too chic. The large glass windows allow passers-by to see in as easily as customers can see out and the decor is familiar, almost like a refurbed diner, rather than being intimidatingly over designed or coldly minimal. Your more mature auntie wouldn’t feel ill at ease here although she might not feel as comfy as the students from nearby Edinburgh Uni. Laidback and lulled with a Massive Attack soundtrack during the day, it gets a bit more lively past midnight and fills with a
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Favorit: munching from early to late combats and bodywarmer crowd. On a recent late night foray, an overheard conversation consisted of one young bloke saying he was bored of clubbing every night but that Favorit provided a chilled alternative.
The food is simple but well done with pastas, salads, wraps and home made cakes making up the bulk of the menu. As befits a place that draws on American delis, they’ve gone to town with their sandwich selection. The Monterey, made with Black Forest Ham, mature cheese and pickles on onion bread, is a prime example. Those with a sweet tooth will be pleased to see that they carry a selection of Ben and Jerry's ice creams. A possible life saver when the late night munchies attack. (Jonathan Trew)
iii Favorit, 79-20 Teviot Place, Edinburgh, 0737 220 6880.
Drum And Monkey Sink into the richly upholstered seating and marvel at the complexmes of this Bloody Mary. Vodka and sherry are standard components in a decent Bloody Mary, but the Drum And 'vlonkey add green ginger and their own blend of spicy tomato JUice.
Drum And Monkey, 80 Queen Street, Edinburgh, 0737 538 87 7 7.
Cottiers The exact :ngredzents of a
C ttiers’ Bloody Mary are a closely guarded trade secret but the “GSJlIS speak for themselves. PrevIOusly moribund bods have been rescirrecteo and :t's thought that when Lazarus got up and waiked, Cottiers brew may have had a hand in somewhere. The word ’nutrneg’ has been mentioned, abhg
Five bars . . .
where you can reinvigorate your liver with a sizzling Bloody Mary. Maison Hector Not so much a cocktail as a frUitbowl in a glass, the MaisOn Hector Bloody Mary is a fearsome beast on the spice front. Practically a meal in itself, this little fire cracker Will jump start the most bleary-eyed day. Maison Hector, 47 Deanhaugh Street, Edinburgh, 07 37 332 5328.
102 THE “ST l5—29 Ap' 7999
Bar Bola This is serious stuff, SCientifically thOught thr0ugh and prepared With a surgeOn’s skill, the Bar Bola Bloody Mary uses celery salt, tabasco, Worcester sauce, lemon leCG and — this is where it gets good — a dash of beef consomme and V8 vegetable JUice A blueprint for health and long life if ever there was one. Bar Bola, 744 Park Road, Glasgow, 0747 339 2992.
with a more E‘fllgmal‘C bits and bobs' Cottiers, Hynd/and Street, G/asgow, 0747357 5825.
Nicolsons Recently revamped isee Side orders), Nicolsons offers a CiVilised setting for Bloody Mary mayhem. Collapse in a sofa in the lounge and savour the dOuble shot of vodka, Juice and what their menu terms ‘spicy nonsense'.
Nico/sons, 6a Nico/son Street, Edinburgh, 0737 557 4567.
Spit or swallow
It’s all in the best possible taste. Most restaurants wle allow you to bring your own \vine if they are given priOr not2ce, but Will charge corkage for the priVilege — as much as £12m some places. This may seem astronomical but, in the majority of cases, will work out much better value when considering the restaurant mark- up on wine. It’s worth it for large parties or speCial occasions, but remember to ask well in advance A c0uple of good food mines to take along are'
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Domaine Spiropoulos 1997 (£449 A deceptively vanilla nose leads to a bone-dry palate from which emerges grapey floral flavours and a bitter grassy finish. An organic Greek wine that’s perfect with fish or any mediterranean dishes,
I, ll . ll‘x t- Ptomaine des Blagueurs {449‘ Made by one of California's most Successful and eccei‘tr c producers, Randall Grahm, this wine has a nose full of cherries and toffee, flavours of v.r‘.cn are richly present and pepped up with a soft spiCy finish, The length and fullness normally associated with a more costly nine v.:ll complement ali meat dishes 'Jane Quinn
m Both Wines avai/ab/e from Oddbins