Fringe Review: Shitty Mozart

Richard Bath finds proof that ‘just because you can, it doesn’t mean you should’ at this one man show. ★★ The premise of this show is that Mozart was cloned, but that because the boffins used one of Amadeus’s pubes, the sub-optimal result was a replica with next to no musical talent. This one-man multimedia concerto was…

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Fringe Review: Adults Only Magic Show

Richard Bath heads out for an adults-only night of magic and comedy. ★★★★ Short version: I really enjoyed this, and it was comfortably the best thing I saw in the opening couple of days of the Fringe. It didn’t start promisingly with amusing but dick-obsessed compere Magnus ‘Danger’ Magnus delivering some smutty innuendo that would…

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Review: The Crusoe, Lower Largo

Richard Bath heads to Lower Largo for a stay at the Crusoe to see what has changed at this boutique hotel next to the quay.   Once upon a dream, the Crusoe in Lower Largo was one of those destination places where lots of city folk went for short breaks. It might be golf in…

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Review: Pompadour, Edinburgh

Richard Bath heads to one of the smartest dining rooms in Edinburgh at the Pompadour to try out the six course tasting menu offered by incumbent new chef Dean Banks.   Regular readers will have witnessed my increasing discomfort at the speed with which prices, especially at the pointy end of the Edinburgh market where…

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Review: SUSHISAMBA, Edinburgh

As someone who reviews a lot of restaurants in Edinburgh, there’s a handful of questions which recur on a regular basis. By far the most frequent is “what’s your favourite restaurant?”, but then there are a whole bunch of others jostling for elbow space. Where are the best private dining spaces? Where’s good for gluten-free…

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Review: Ardfern, Edinburgh

Richard Bath tries out the latest eatery from award-winning chef Roberta Hall McCarron. I’ve been lucky enough to have reviewed more than my fair share of fancy dan, 10-course tasting menu-style establishments over the past few months – most of them new openings – so it was nice to get back to somewhere more earthy.…

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Review: Fhior, Edinburgh

Ever since Scott Smith opened Fhior in 2018 with the express aim of championing Scottish produce, it’s been one of those restaurants which has established a really solid reputation without quite making the step up from Michelin guide to Michelin-starred status. With his astonishingly complex new ten course tasting menu, the Aberdonian is clearly making…

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Review: Under the Table, Edinburgh

In Edinburgh’s New Town, Richard Bath is pleasantly surprised by new subterranean restaurant Under the Table. Our IT department run all sort of analysis of what readers like, what they spend time on and what turns them off. The short story is that readers like short reviews. They don’t want a list of dishes and…

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Review: Cromlix House

Cromlix House is a building that I used to know well but haven’t visited for several years, so it was great to find my way back there recently. Ten years after the Murrays opened it, the most obvious thing is how completely yet sympathetically it’s been updated. Significant amounts of tennis winnings have conspicuously been…

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Review: Cardinal, Edinburgh

Richard Bath headed out to try the latest venture from Michelin star chef Tomás Gormley.   Tomás Gormley shot to culinary fame in 2023 as one half of a preternaturally young team when he and collaborator Sam Yorke landed a Michelin star for Heron in Leith within months of its opening. The twentysomething duo then…

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