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LEARN TO LOVE BRUSSEL SPROUTS SIDE DISHES
Donald Reid asks whether, despite recession fears, 2009 has actually been a vintage year for restaurant openings?
Four local food experts give us reasons to relish the much-maligned winter vegetables and make them a Christmas dinner showpiece
Craig Dunn Executive head chef at Michael Caines Restaurant @ Abode Glasgow. Peel off the outer leaves and boil in salted water for 8 to 10 minutes. Refresh in iced water, drain off and dry: then pan fry in a little unsalted butter and add some chopped chestnuts and bacon or roast for ten minutes in an oven at 180C with some turkey fat. Avoid overcooking, as they change to a dull green colour and release a toxin – that’s what puts a lot of people off. Chris Jones Runs Stair Organics, an organic vegetable box scheme for Glasgow, Ayrshire and Renfrewshire. I hated brussels all my life. As a kid I could only eat half of one to win my mum over on Christmas Day. Having been growing and selling organic veg for ten years, I decided to try them again. And they are fantastic! They were still cooked the way my mum used to, except these were organic. Try them steamed or stir-fried with cashew nuts.
Fiona Burrell Principal of the recently opened Edinburgh New Town Cookery School. Sprouts keep better if they are bought on their sticks. Look for compact, smallish sprouts and don’t put a cross in the base, which can cause them to go soggy in the centre. Cook them uncovered in a pan of boiling salted water for 6 to 8 minutes. Serve immediately with a little butter, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Dirk Douglas Director of Earthy Foods & Goods. Keep brussel sprouts outside in the cool – a bucket of water covering the stump of the stalk. Then pick them to suit: the bigger ones shredded into a stir fry with duck and some hoi-sin sauce, the smaller ones simply steamed and drizzled with butter, or matched up with Kentish cobnuts, peeled and dry-pan roasted. Dig-in!
fast food joints offer reheated pre-cooked plastic- packaged gunk, Jack’s offers freshly made, tasty fare that clearly demonstrates the owners’ belief that the food is just as important as the fast – even the salsa and guacamole are made fresh in-house every day. The place is decorated minimally to the point of starkness, but can’t be beaten for attentive and genuine service.
THE EDINBURGH LARDER 15 Blackfriars Street, Old Town, 0131 556 6922, www.edinburghlarder.co.uk, £8 (lunch) This café-deli takes over the space vacated by the relocating Spoon, and is out to forge its own reputation as a well-intentioned, well-informed breakfast, lunch and snacking spot just off the Royal Mile. A large glass display carries cheeses from places such as Loch Arthur and Mull, along with Scottish salamis and Acanthus pork pies from Glasgow, with local connections running right through to the tea (Eteaket) and coffee (Artisan Roast).
ILLEGAL JACK’S 113–117 Lothian Road, West End, www.illegaljacks.co.uk, £11 (lunch/dinner) The menu focuses on Tex-Mex, but whereas most
Full independent write-ups on all the restaurants listed here can be found on our online Eating & Drinking Guide, list.co.uk/food-and-drink. Prices shown are for an average two- course meal for one. Note that some menus may be restricted in favour of set-price Christmas menus.
■ Twelve months ago the hospitality trade was clearly anxious about the developing recession. Tightening of belts was inevitable. Not all would survive. Local newspapers were quivering with the anticipation of reporting meltdown in the restaurant trade. Instead, 2009 has seen a remarkable
crop of openings and developments. Edinburgh’s restaurant scene in particular has a lot to boast about. Tony Borthwick’s Michelin star confirmed the capital (and, indeed, Leith) as the UK’s second city for high-end dining, while there was also the opening of Paul Kitching’s brilliant or bonkers (or both) 21212, Roy Brett’s seafood spectacular, Ondine, plus new or expanded openings from admired local operators Tony Singh (Tony’s Table), David Ramsden (amore dogs), Jean-Michel Gauffre (L’Artichaut), Victor & Carina Contini (the Scottish Café at the National Gallery) and Frederic Berkmiller (L’Escargot Bleu). The bar scene, despite new licensing regulations and a fire sale by the larger chains, came up with Treacle, Holyrood 9A, Lebowski’s and the West Room. The one discordant note was the closure in the autumn of delis such as The Store, Mel’s Bells and the larger of Herbie’s delis in Stockbridge.
Times were a little harder through in
Glasgow, but it was by no means carnage. The one closure that had discerning local diners gnashing teeth, No. Sixteen on Byres Road, was back open under new management by May. A startling number of large restaurants appeared: La Vita Spuntini, Mediterraneo, Sapporo Teppanyaki, Slumdog and, most recently, the seriously glitzy Restaurant on Blythswood Square. As in Edinburgh, some good existing operators chose not to hunker down but march on, including Balbir Singh Sumal (the Tiffin Rooms), Allan Mawn (Velvet Elvis), the Left Bank team (Two Figs) and Monir Mohammed (Dining In). In addition, there were returns to the scene by Ferrier Richardson at Tuscan Square and Jim Kerr with his Dining Room, while Crabshakk has been a huge hit on the fast-developing Finnieston stretch of Argyle Street. Far from being corked, the 2009 vintage
may well prove one we’re savouring for some time to come.
17 Dec 2009–7 Jan 2010 THE LIST 11