I am standing in a room bustling with chefs on the 6-month course at Edinburgh New Town Cookery School (ENTCS). One of the dishes they are creating is a delicious sounding spicy chickpea soup and a clafoutis is also on the menu. Fiona Burrell, Principal and owner is showing me…
I’ve just spent the weekend in a place buzzing with life, good food and great people. Under an hour’s flight from Edinburgh, Belfast has truly captured this girl’s heart. A whirlwind few days saw me eating and drinking the finest produce, meeting some of Northern Ireland’s top chefs and most…
It was an extraordinary sight, several train passengers embracing staff as they left the train. But there they were on the platform at Waverley one Summer evening. But then it had been no ordinary trip. We’ had just spent the day experiencing Orient Express hospitality on their Northern Belle train. For…
Tacos are, to use the American vernacular, awesome, even amazing. I first had tacos as a child in Sweden. They were the crunchy variety, filled with mince and topped with grated cheese, sloppy salsa and sour cream. Since then I have made my own hard-shelled tacos, tried soft shelled ones…
Some six or seven years ago I had spinach and artichoke dip for the first time. A friend of mine, then living in Broxburn but originally from the US, served it as snack before dinner. It was creamy, reassuringly green and very tasty. That remains the best spinach and artichoke…
Holidays are wonderful. You change your perspective and habits for a while and eat, drink and nibble things that you wouldn’t normally. The thing I enjoy about the US is that it is so similar to, yet so different from, the UK. The portion sizes used to put me off…
Recently, I received a press release from the Four Seasons hotels enticing me to take a culinary break at a far flung location. And whilst I could dream of jetting to the Seychelles just to go and catch a fish which would then be prepared by the head chef for…
Istanbul is an amazing city. It’s perfect for a weekend break and is easily reached. So after you’ve visited the Blue Mosque, the Topkapi Palace and the Spice market (and many, many more delights), where to eat? Let Lunchquest introduce you to the best steak anywhere. Over to you Blythe.…
You might consider going all the way to Kerala to discover how to cook vegetarian food a trifle excessive, but I cannot think of a more enjoyable way to do so! We spent a week at The Pimenta on our foodie holiday. As a meat eater, it could have been…
I’ve become rather obsessed with India over the last few years, not least when I discovered Atul Kochhar on the Great British Menu and started cooking dishes from his two great cookery books. He gave me an insight to a subtle balance of spices and flavours with very easy to…
