Review: Mamasan, Glasgow

Ellie Forbes tries out the new Thai BBQ menu at Glasgow restaurant Mamasan, where the chefs prove cooking over coals is worth the hype.    When it comes to cooking over coals, we really are playing with fire.  There is an art to properly cooking with a BBQ, as I am sure anyone who has messed…

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Review: The Carbon Lounge, Edinburgh

In Edinburgh’s thriving and continuously growing restaurant and nightlife scene, it’s easy to find creative food, atmospheric bars, tasty cocktails, and exciting entertainment.  But how often is it that you find all under one roof? The Carbon Lounge, in Edinburgh’s Cowgate, brings together Sichuan and northern China’s rich and flavourful street-food with nostalgic east-Asian cocktails.…

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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: Glaschu, Glasgow

When I saw the owners of Glaschu were opening a second restaurant in Glasgow – MAISON by Glaschu – I was eager to try it. But much like with films, it’s not always wise to see the sequel before you have sampled the original. With that in mind, I decided it best to first try…

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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: Sanja By Sagar Massey at The Kirkhouse Inn

He might only be 25-years-old, but Sagar Massey already has a career enviable by chefs twice his age. Raised near New Delhi in India, until leaving for Scotland in 2014, he is renowned for using the spices of his homeland to embolden Scottish fine dining.  A finalist in the BBC’s Masterchef – The Professionals in…

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In a nutshell, Chef Gary Townsend: ‘I’d be a Scientist if I wasn’t a chef. I am  fascinated with how things work’

Gary Townsend has had an illustrious career spanning 20 years working in some of the UK’s top kitchens. Townsend recently announced that he will be opening his own fine dining restaurant, Elements in Bearsden, Glasgow.   What’s the closest thing you have to a signature dish: I love Scottish seafood and langoustines always feature on…

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Review: The Spanish Butcher, Edinburgh

I’ve always struggled to correctly identify the streets that flow North from Princes Street over George Street in the capital, so I’m marching in what I hope is the right direction to locate the newly opened The Spanish Butcher. I’m reassured when I see the horizontal yellow and red stripes of the Spanish flag wafting…

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Review: Cherry Blossom Tuesday at Tattu Edinburgh

I’m not sure what alchemy was involved in the scheduling of Tattu restaurant’s Cherry Blossom dinner for the first warm day of the year in Edinburgh, but I’m certainly not going to question it. This was my first visit to the modern Chinese restaurant tucked away on West Register Street, and sitting below the thousands…

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