FOOD & DRINK
NEW RESTAURANT Peckham's Underground
Peckham's rs a haven for gourrnands The vrntners and vrc‘tuallers have made rt their business to sate the longrngs of Scottish fans of fine foods through their chain of shops After branching out rnto the world of restaurants on the West coast, they have extended their operations rnto Edinburgh \vrth Pec kham’s Undc—érground
Located in the basement of the Br'untsfreld store, the restaurant substitutes the dark wood and olde uor‘lde charm of the shops wrth the contemporary elegance of stainless steel tables, voluptuous berry red sofas, booths and soft lighting The menus are gurr'ky, removed from the realms of the ordinary by the likes of an ornelette of caramelrsed bananas, which nestles among the more traditional brunch
W- n mum r m
If you're a fan of what's on offer upstairs, you'll want to check out the restaurant
options, and the unusual dessert of apple lasagne The evening menu exhibits the same kind of eclectrcrsm. Traditional fare lrke beef in Guinness complements more adventurous, international dishes lrke creamy Balinese chicken.
'We wanted it to be somewhere that appealed to a wide range of people,’ says Kenny Purdre, food servrces manager, ’and also a place in which we could reflect the same kind of foods sold in our delrs and retail outlets ' The logic being that if you’re a fan of what's on offer upstairs, you'll be more inclined to check out the restaurant, A benefit of vrsrtrng Underground rs the option that, if the wme lrst doesn't satisfy your needs, for a corkage charge of [4, you can choose an alternative from the selection on sale in the shop upstairs, a truly rounded Peckham's experience rDawn Kofrei Peck/rams Underground, 165 Brunts‘fre/d P/ac'e, 0737 228 2888
WATERSTONE’S
116 THE “ST 13 ‘27 Ap' 2000
anionic BBIIIIBND'S vegetables
COOKBOOK Dishy Kevin Gould (Hodder £25)
When London grocer Kevrn GOuId was asked to write a cook book, it looked lrke rt rnrght be another glossy metropolitan offering. It was going to be called, wrth tongue slightly in cheek, Shopping And Cooking. But Gould found he couldn’t go down that route. 'Food has become a type of soft porn,’ he says. ’In the same way that a middle aged guy might look at a picture of a girl, a lot of other people were gettrng hold of the River Cafe cook book and gorng, "phwoaar, skate wrth black butter”. In the same way that the guy w0uld never tOuch the girl, they'd never actually cook the frsh.’
So instead, he kept hrs publishers in the dark and set out to create srrnple, infallible recrpes and test them on real people. Gocrld, who trained as a chef and rs a sought-after food columnist, took to the streets outside hrs shop With a bag of ingredients and a photographer and stopped passers-by to ask then if they could cook. If they sard no, he sent them off wrth some food, and a simple flow chart recipe. ‘All the prctures in the book are real food, cooked by real people in their own krtchens.’
The result rs Drshy, a kitsch, colourful, cookbook wrth the clearest instructions you’ll come across Recrpes lrke duck wrth hairdryer (how to melt that layer of duck fat wrthout gettrng electrocutedi and menus ’to impress a
Not your average gastro-porn
couple you call your frrencls but don't really know that well’
But rts not Just jokes, GOuld rs a serious and knowledgeable writer who rs particularly good on the traditional cookery of Persra and the Middle East. Whrle hrs technrcal savvy helpfully reveals tricks of the trade in srrnple terms, he has no rllusrons about the base motivation that many of us have for gettrng busy in the kitchen ‘lf I want to get my wife rnto bed l'li cook her a good meal,’ he says ‘Get Dishy and get lard" :Morra Jeff'r'ey‘
Delia and Jamie both had to start somewhere, so if you think a parsnip crisp is a polite way of breaking wind, we advise you read on.
The List has a selection of cookbooks. (outlined belowi to give away and inspire the most needy of chefs. Simply tell us in no more than five words why you deserve to win. All answers on a postcard no later than
Wednesday 26 April to: Parsnip. The List Ltd. 1.1 High Street. Fdrnhurgh.
EH1 iTE. Return of the Naked Chef (NH?! S‘;‘;‘ Spirits & Cocktails rB'ixi'Yi s‘.":’~ ~33 Bloody Delicious (Zart‘ubeé‘ L»‘.’>:'i.:i:‘r Cooked to perfection i\.".rrl:a." Sophie Grigson‘s Meat Course fir cisctr‘. :" '92“ Oz Clarke‘s Encyclopedia of Wine Clarke.- :‘.‘:’>..i;,‘ Hot & Spicy Book Soicvrior‘ é‘:,“.:?:i Rice Cookbook liens; sees Fruits of the Forest ‘8? 't 5‘ l” Antonio Carluccio's Vegetables (Itir'irc‘ it: :2 t . , A/Iczookbooksareamr/ab/e1!? l7.r2'1fe.'.s‘tor>e':; store“ i "‘e
Tuesday 30 May, 6.30pm till 7.30pm JAMIE OLIVER
will be at Waterstone's Sauchrehall Street. to sign copes of rm; nev. :xxw
Return of the Naked Chef.
iii/me :2 ~’/ be served to (1/! those who