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SIDE DISHES NEWS TO NIBBLE ON
IF YOU’RE HEADING
south for Christmas look out for the the new wave of
Scottish food and drink exports. Richard Muir (pictured), of Café Fish in Edinburgh, has acquired Livebait in Manchester with former Urban Angel head chef Dave Spanner in the kitchen. Meanwhile, BrewDog have just opened their first London pub in Camden, while The Bonnie & Wild is doing a roaring trade selling Scottish seafood and game from a part-time restaurant in Chapel Market, Islington.
AMONG THE ARRIVALS into Scotland is a new concept from Hotel Chocolat, who have opened a store in Frederick Street in Edinburgh featuring their first ever ‘Coffee vs Cocoa Bar’, where cocoa beans are roasted, ground and made into hot drinks in the same way as coffee.
IN GLASGOW the state of mind is New York with Brooklyn Bar & Diner, now in
the former fire station at 33 Ingram Street, the site most recently vacated by Balthassar. Step in for burgers, soul food and WEST ales.
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B elow street level on narrow, quirky St Stephen Street in Stockbridge in Edinburgh is a tiny restaurant. Until recently it had been home to Redwood, in which Californian chef Annette Sprague charmed diners for a couple of years but near-enough exhausted herself. She has passed the space onto Paul Gunning, a 31-year-old local chef who has enjoyed a typically varied, though hardly star-studded, cooking career in Edinburgh, France, London and Australia. In opening Purslane, he has taken the same bold, brave but relatively lonely step made by many yet-to-be-famous chefs. Your own place, your own cooking, and no guarantee there’s anyone prepared to pay money to eat it.
Redwood proved to be worth the steps down into the subterranean unknown, and Purslane offers its own promise. The place has never looked smarter with bronze-coloured wallpaper and hand-painted botanical decorations, but with room for a meagre 20 diners intimacy, informality and a certain raw honesty are unavoidable. With just one member of staff out front, Gunning steps out of the kitchen when he can to meet, greet and glean feedback. Purslane’s menu is unelaborate and, naturally, evolving. It has moments of cheffy ambition, with a neatly crafted rillette of smoked mackerel accompanied by a deep purple wedge of beetroot jelly, while ‘Cock a Leekie’ is an enjoyable deconstruction involving a postage-stamp of chicken,
54 THE LIST 15 Dec 2011–5 Jan 2012
There’s not yet sufficient evidence to place Purslane among the city’s future stars, but it’s still worth a punt. Why? £20 for two courses is a modest sum for engaging contemporary cooking. You’re also investing in hope. A city where small, brave restaurants are given a chance is surely a better place to live.
PURSLANE
33a St Stephen Street, Stockbridge, Edinburgh, 0131 226 3500, purslanerestaurant.co.uk
Wed–Sat noon–2pm, 6–10pm; Sun noon–2pm. Closed
Mon/Tue [open Mon–Sun in Dec]. Ave. price two- course meal: £12 (lunch) / £19.95 (set dinner)
BAR CRAWLER VESPBAR 14 Drury Street, Glasgow
The notorious cobbles of Drury Street have taken on a healthy Mediterranean glow thanks to Carluccio’s on the corner and this cool little Italian caffè-bar. Its small bar area and moodily lit wraparound mezzanine have a subtle retro style, while more blatant is the dispensation of consumables with prosecco on tap and pizzas available by the metre.
Going underground You can fear for an independent opening its door without fanfare or PR-hoopla. Yet as Donald Reid argues, a vibrant dining scene needs the small guys
A restaurant offering a sense of discovery In uncharted waters the odd sandbank lurks
leek and prune terrine over which you pour a jug of warm chicken consomme and sprinkle balls of chicken confit croutons.
Mains carry less punch: a confit of pork belly and celeriac fondant as colourless as the late autumn weather and a salmon fillet with dhal and coconut foam that’s asking for an injection of exotic heat. Desserts reaffirm the assurance the small kitchen has with smaller dishes, with a light, cleverly textured chocolate marquise and pannacotta perked up with some sweet pumpkin purée.