Street Food

There’s a definite waft of fresh paint around Edinburgh right now, starting with news that popular watering hole Dreadnought have bought Wee Leith Shop. This tiny place (seemingly abandoned during one of its legendary tarot readings) holds a special place in Leith folklore. They’re planning a weeny bottle shop, so cheers to that. Dine are getting ready to open their third space with work galloping apace at the Tollhouse in Canonmills, while Kora is set to replace Southside Scran for Tom Kitchin in Bruntsfield.

In Glasgow, fish is very much the flavour of the past few months. Joining Crabshakk Botanics (see review, page 27) are Kelp in Cowcaddens Road, with a commendably tight selection of small, sustainably fished plates; Bearsden’s Scallop’s Tale, which combines restaurant with posh chippy (always a winning combo); and Fat Lobster’s long-teased opening is imminent too. Bucking the trend are Gōst, a new grill-house championing grass-fed ex-dairy beef, while Jimmy Lee returns to his hometown of Hamilton with a third branch of Salt & Chilli Oriental, his take on Cantonese street food.

In Aberdeen, Kevin Dalgleish is set to open his first restaurant. Amuse promises a ‘relaxed yet refined’ dining experience, with an on-trend outdoor area and bar space for guests to enjoy. And finally, it’s happy birthday to the Royal Highland Show (Thursday 23–Sunday 26 June), 200 years old, and well and truly back post-pandemic. Come to Ingliston for the tractors, stay for the Highland coos: just don’t miss the chance to eat your way around the best of Scotland’s larder when you’re there.

side dishes

Jimmy Lee of Salt & Chilli Oriental

street food

We choose a street and tell you where to eat. Suzy Pope finds European delights and vegan treats as she makes her way along Edinburgh’s Easter Road

POLENTONI

Polentoni’s sandwiches alone give foodies a reason to venture to Easter Road. Italian ingredients like spicy salami and artichoke pesto sit between slices of fresh ciabatta. Since switching to hatch service, their popular fried eggs drizzled with truffle oil are now served on sourdough bread. We only hope their dine-in homemade gnocchi returns some day.

LITTLE FITZROY COFFEE

Stopping by for a caffeine hit, you might be tempted by Little Fitzroy’s fully vegan menu (bar a few pastries, including the delicious Ukrainian honey cake). Pomegranatetopped salads with zingy dressings are on display alongside tempting homebaking.

OLD EASTWAY TAP

Old Eastway Tap opened at the end of 2021, serving cask ales from Cross Borders: think rich porters and zesty IPAs. The atmosphere is laidback and friendly with a little hipster charm. Hot toasties and charcuterie boards offer fuel between pints, but the focus here is very much the beer.

THE PERCY

The Percy restaurant and Persevere pub are owners Konrad and Dorota’s homage to Polish cooking (and drinking). Cured Baltic herring comes with a suggested shot of vodka and there’s no chance of leaving hungry after a main of rich beef goulash and crisp potato pancakes. The adjoining pub has all the dark-oak grandeur of a traditional Scottish joint, but with a huge mural of Warsaw proudly displayed.

TWELVE TRIANGLES

Twelve Triangles offers a place to stock up on slow-fermented sourdough loaves and pastries made onsite. Bigger lunch options come in the form of stacked sandwiches, featuring their handmade ricotta, spicy kimchi, chutneys and jams between slices of rightly famous crusty sourdough.

RESTAURANT

CRABSHAKK BOTANICS

Crabshakk’s second venue comes 13 years after the original trailblazed in a very different Finnieston, back when it had more caged off-licences and house-clearance shops than dining hotspots. For a while, Crabshakk was one of only a few serious seafood specialists in town, offering a rare casual crab-and-cocktail approach. They’ve gone for a similar vibe here, a tad upscaled to befit the impressive A-listed Botanic Gardens Garage (also home to Ka Pao).

The classy yet relaxed bar-bistro feel is helped by plenty of dark wood and mesh, which partly obscures, partly frames the industrial guts of the building. Original artworks abound. A neon version of the company motif (human head with fish in mouth) greets diners, while large map artworks, subtly done to the point of abstraction, depict the harbours at Port of Ness on Lewis and St Monans in Fife. Both are childhood hangouts of Crabshakk’s owner and executive chef (a longtime staffer) respectively.

Bar snack favourite deep-fried whitebait is a potent hit of salty seafood goodness and a nice lead-in to the accessible menu, boosted by plenty of specials. Tempura squid, with an umami-inducing soy and coriander dip, is a real treat, if a tad oily. The fish with chips similarly suffers. It’s an odd deep-fryer misstep given the quality on show in everything else.

Crab cakes are meaty bite-size morsels, pan-fried to a crisp golden exterior, just containing the deliciously dense meat inside. Smoked and cured dishes are deftly handled, from a homemade gravadlax on rye bread enlivened with celeriac remoulade to an enjoyable monster of a club sandwich packed with smoked fish chunks. Desserts feature a lovely crème brûlée-esque salted caramel tart with ginger ice-cream and a big, beautiful berry meringue. (Jay Thundercliffe)  18 Vinicombe Street, Glasgow, crabshakk.co.uk

NEWSLETTER VITTLES

Crowdfunded and stuffed with new angles on the food and drink scene in the UK (and occasionally beyond), you won’t find any sponsored content or advertising features in the Vittles newsletter. Subscribers get a weekly article in their inbox, usually covering an endangered food culture, insight into food production or perhaps a look at a small segment of society through their food traditions. You can also log in to their website and browse through past articles and features at your leisure.

Vittles tackles subjects beyond the usual foodie drinkie news, reporting on things like a rise in demand for mutton during Eid and a sheep slaughterhouse in England or looking at the language used to talk about meat farming.

In his introduction each week, founder Jonathan Nunn often references Vittles’ weakness himself: its Londoncentric coverage. But they’re actively working to counter this with the Red Wall Feasts column covering northern England and occasionally diving deep into the food heritage of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. If you are visiting London, though, the Newcomer’s Guide To London (Parts I And II) feels like being hand-held by a local through the capital’s culinary labyrinth.

Overall, Vittles is a worthwhile and impressive project, elevating the topic of food and drink to a philosophical and cerebral level (yes, even the column about pre-packaged snack food). It’s a genuine delight when it drops into the inbox. (Suzy Pope)

 vittles.substack.com

I fell in love with Monkey Shoulder the first time I tasted it. Not just the whisky, but the brand and its Made For Mixing ethos. When it comes to whiskies that aren’t afraid to play with the cocktail shakers as well as the dram glasses, accept no substitutes – it’s got to be the OG for me. When other brands try to emulate the fun and excitement MONKEY SHOULDER Ambassador to ScotlandJody Buchan BASED IN EDINBURGH of Monkey, we shake things up and keep people guessing. We’re just about to launch our third member of the family. At Monkey Shoulder, we don’t just release a flavoured version of our liquid or play by the usual whisky rules of simply adding it to a cask for ‘finishing’ – we go big. Keep your eyes peeled for something fresh and exciting, dropping this summer... I recently began filming an online show called Speed RAILL (Random Adventure to Interview Local Legends) where I journey across Scotland on the Monkey Shoulder motorbike to interview bartenders who serve the best drinks, as I visit the best places to enjoy Monkey Shoulder. Whether it’s in a cocktail, in a highball, paired with food or enjoyed on its own. It’s hard to pick just 3 venues to talk about but, in no particular order, here are some of my favourites. Be sure to check them out if you want to find out what we’re launching soon.Venues

THE WORKSHOP, ABERDEEN

Located at Shiprow Village in Aberdeen and presided over by Aberdeen’s Milo Smith – creator of the Drumstick cocktail (yeah, that one!) –this cool, subterranean hotspot boasts amazing cocktails, beers and just oozes atmosphere. A repurposed archway underneath Aberdeen, it is illuminated with candle-light and serves up deliciously crafted cocktails. The back bar is extensive and has something for every taste, for every mood and whatever time of night that you happen to visit. Look out for their featurette on SpeedRAILL (via YouTube or my instagram @jodyspiritual), coming soon.

UNO MAS, EDINBURGH

Spanish for ‘one more’, opened just prior to the ‘L’ word (lockdown). This late-night cocktail bar has something for everyone. Whether you’re interested in a locally brewed beer or an in-house, signature cocktail, their award-winning bar team, Uno Mas have you covered. With live music nights, open-mic shows, DJs every weekend and fantastically curated playlists, they really do make it very easy to answer the question; Uno Mas? It’s also an industry hangout, thanks to its later opening hours, so if you want to drink the best cocktails with some of the city’s best makers and shakers, it’s the place to be.

HOOT THE REDEEMER, EDINBURGH

Sister venue to Panda & Sons and Nauticus, Hoot is the quintessential party venue. Designed like a fairground, there are arcade machines, boozy ice- creams and even a grabber machine to ‘design your own cocktail’ with the team bringing their magic to your randomly selected ingredients. You simply can’t visit Hoot without ordering one of their slushy cocktails. I tend to get one as a palate cleanser while I peruse the menu. . Word to the wise; book a space. Even if there’s two of you, just going for a quick drink, they’re so fun and popular, you may be disappointed if you just turn up.