Summer salad

This is a very tasty salad that isn't really that healthy! The good thing about this salad is that you can choose your toppings yourself and have any combination that takes your fancy.

For the salad you need
boiled and cooled baby potatoes, baby spinach, chopped chives, spring onions, red onions and cherry tomatoes

For the topping you need

feta, bacon grilled and dried, red peppers that you will have grilled and peeled and marinated in garlic and olive oil,



peppered mackeral.

It's a good thing to make when friends are coming over as it can be healthy if you leave off some fo the toppings, it can be veggie, it can be fishy or down right decadent.

Sausage pasta.

This is very tasty and i urge you to make it. It is a Nigel Slater recipe and one of my favourites.

You will need

2-3 cloves garlic
3 good quality Italian sausages
1 glass vermouth or white wine
creme fraiche
chilli flakes
chestnut mushrooms
fresh basil

Chop the garlic finely and saute it until golden brown, add the sausage meat which you will have removed from the sausage skins, add to the garlic and allow to brown. It is good if the meat sticks to the base of the saucepan as the goo is the tasty stuff. Once the meat is browned add the vermouth and agitate the goo off the bottom. When this is done add as much creme fraiche as you want, you can use 0% fat yoghurt if you want to be healthy. It's good to have lots of sauce as it is pretty darn tasty. Turn the heat down and mix the creme fraiche and meat together, add the chilli flakes as much or as little as you want, then add the quartered chesnut mushrooms and cook until mushrooms done. I throw the basil on at the end before serving. I usually have this with Conchiglioni pasta so the yummy sauce and meat get inside.



Be sure to have some bread handy to mop up the sauce as you will want to clean the saucepan of every last drop of it!

Piece: my new favourite place

Piece is just round the corner and makes very good sandwiches. It has been open nearly a year and is owned and run by two very friendly guys, one who is Irish and one from Birmingham apparently. I had gone in back in November round about the time of my birthday and it came up in conversation that it was my birthday so they gave me a free cupcake, how nice. On Friday they make a tree onion soup which sounds delish but given how hot it is at the moment i have not yet tried it. Over that last couple of weeks I have sampled a number of their 'pieces' but have come up with a favourite of my own. Ciabatta with roast garlic mayo, red onion, roast chicken and salad.



It is yum. They also do a thai stye pork which is very tasty. Although I am still off coffee from the looks of satisfaction on people's faces they do this well too.

Monachyle Mhor

I am ashamed to say that I can't remember this meal in very much detail. I don't have the excuse of being drunk, more, that I was already in a food coma having been far too greedy at Mhor fish at lunchtime!

We chose to go there to celebrate our second wedding anniversary having heard positive reports from two lots of friends. Not wanting to miss an eating opportunity I planned it so that we would go via Callander to Mhor fish for lunch, then drive the rest of the way to Monachyle Mhor in the Trossachs. It was a pleasant mistake to make. Eyes being bigger than pregnant belly, I ate way too much at lunch which can be read about here. I thought I would be hungry by the time dinner came round at seven-thirty, but boy was I wrong.

The drive to the Trossachs is a picturesque one but I will warn you that the last half an hour leading up to the hotel is quite stressful, primarily as it is one track, with a loch on one side, a hill on the other and very few passing places. I would not like to attempt this track in the dark as there are no lights. I felt I could have done with a Gin and Tonic after that drive but had to make do with a mineral water.

The hotel itself looks very trad from the outside but whoever did thier interiors really knows what they are doing. Architectural and contemporary but still personal. Me likey. Our room was one of the larger ones and we had our own steam room, which I couldn't use but HI could and did. The bath was huge and very relaxing.




A shot of our bathroom and entrance to our room,

We went down for dinner and all I can remember was thinking damn this food is really good I wish I was not so full so I could appreciate it more.

The amuse bouche


bloody orange sorbet very refreshing



HI's Mallaig oyster which he said was good.

HI's fish course, very tasty but can't remember what it was!



HI's main, again can't remember what it was although it looks like slow cooked veal or beef cheek.



My fish course, some sort of beignet?



My hake, very very good
I ended up leaving food on my plate that I would normally have polished off. We actually asked if pudding could get sent up to our room to eat at our leisure, a request that was readily granted.

So, it's not the cheapest but worth saving up for for a special occasion. I would go back for the food and the hotel but not for the drive! One last thing- go hungry!

Martin Wishart: a final fling.

Whilst preparing for our trip down to London at the end of June, I read about the best lunch deals in the big smoke and it was while I was reading about the fabulous lunch at Le Gavroche, it suddenly hit me: I am not going to be able to have that lunch for a long long time. This trip to London will be our last before the arrival of He who must be obeyed and, although we are able to fit in a couple of dinners we will not have time for lunch, due to getting the train there and back and attending a wedding. So, with fine dining opportunities becoming scarce I was suddenly overwhelmed with an urge to fit in one last fancy meal.

Where to have such a meal?
Martin Wishart of course.

I did consider other places. I looked at Kitchin's menu, nothing took my fancy, Plumed Horse, same again, Wedgewood, nope, Grainstore not this time. I did fleetingly consider Paul Kitching's new place 21212. He certainly has a band of loyal followers judging by the posts on egullet. The place only opened on Thursday, and I usually like to give a place to relax into itself before visiting, especially if it involves the long and arduous drive from Glasgow to Edinburgh (!). I read the reports on egullet with interest but it all sounds a bit gimicky for me. For now refined French is good enough for me.

Rachel was joining HI and I, and since I am not drinking we decided to drive.

The place was full by the time we arrived and to our surprise there were many men there having lunch before going to the rugby! We were greeted by Stephen who we have not seen in ages. He offered to subsititute any dishes I cold not eat on the tasting menu but, for a change we decided to go al la carte.

But first the amuse bouche:
tomato water both Rachel and I said we could drink a pint of this- very refreshing and so savoury, something that looks like posh coronation chicken, and a mushroom mouse.



Freshly baked bread.



To go with the freshly baked still warm bread we had one of the best discoveries of the day: 'the best butter in the world', available at Henri's.



unfortunately it was not till I got home that I realised it was unpasteurised. Oops. I don't think Stephen realised either as he was so careful with all the other things I ate.
Bizarrely all three of us were going to have the same starter but then HI reminded me we had the option of truffle risotto, so I went for that, whilst the other two had the lobster croque monsiuer with veal tortellini



As usual the truffle risotto was happy tummy making



and the lobster and veal an elegant but interesting take on surf and turf.

For my main I had the beef shin, HI had the tongue, kidney and sweetbread plate and Rachel had the seabass.
The shin was very intense and rich



The offal plate (boom boom)



got the thumbs up and Rachel was very pleased with her sea bass



although I think she slightly preferred the version she had at Cameron House which was prepared with fennel.

The style was much more traditional French than the last time we were here, where foams and soils featured. It seems a deliberate move away from what is fashionable. I can't make up my mind if I think it is a good idea as I really like our meal the last time as well. Oh well it's for minds greater than mine to tease out.

HI and I could not pass up the Tart Tatin given it is one of my favourite puddings and one I have tried to perfect many times at home. This process has been made much easier by the purchase of a proper French Tart Tatin dish all the way from France. I personally prefer thinner tart's with a larger surface area to apple thickness ratio, but HI the traitor, said it was one of the best he has had. It did look quite impressive especially as it was wheeled out of the kitchen on it's own trolley and served to us by the nice young lady who had helped prepare it.



The cheese cart always features highly on any trip here and did not disappoint however we were so excited I forgot to take a picture! The cheese cart man- I really must ask him his name, was so informative that I was too busy listening to what he was saying to take photos. Rachel also had a pudding wine that was meet with cries of 'it tastes like juice".

The meal was very pleasant and relaxed. I like coming here because it's so consistent and you know that you won't have a meal that disappoints. The service will be top notch without being stuffy, the surroundings elegant, the food elegant but interesting.

The only thing I would say is that I think the tasting mneu is the way to go. We usually opt for that but given my dietary constraints and shrinking stomach the al la carte seemed like a safer option. I wondered if the portion size in the la carte would be larger but they weren't really, and besides, the glutton in me prefers the multiple tasting opportunites provided by the tasting menu!

Lunch at La Trompette

This was the last meal of our trip. We were 7 for Sunday luch and we had a jolly time indeed. Given the size of our party they sat us quiet early which suited us fine. They put us at the back, maybe realising we would be slighlty exuberant but this also worked in our favour as we had enough space to relax and for once the staff was quire laid back, and shared a laugh or two with us. The service this time, was much better, as previously it has been on the extremely slow side.

Given the meal was a while back, I can't quiet exactly remember what each dish is, sorry! But hopefully the pictures will tell the story.


"Boudin blanc with sautéed spinach, madeira sauce and pistachio nuts" Damian always orders this and always finishes it.


Some sort of confit salmon which was unfortunately too salty for Emma's taste


My goujons. Not something that I would normally order but many of the starters were not pregnant lady friendly. Hard to fault but not particularly exciting.



Red mullet with some sort of risotto nero



Duck magret, crisp pastilla of confit leg and foie gras, glazed endive, spiced duck jus


Roast breast of poulet noir, glazed chicken wings, pomme cocotte, braised parsnips. I think this was Neill's main and he liked it lots.


Grilled calves liver and bacon with potato gnocchi, onion rings, rosemary and madeira. HI ordered this of course, and his little face looked very happy.

Given my food restrictions I was not able to order as I normally would, thus my starter was a little tame for my liking whereas my main the beef hit the spot. My pudding too was exceptional.



It was a almond tart served with cream and it was lovely. Not something I usually eat but I ate it all.



Victoria's grapefruit granita was also declared a success.

Given you get high quality food for the reasonable sum of £37.50 for three courses (£47.50 for four to include cheese) it must be one of the best lunch deals on offer, apart from Le Gavroche of course. But then who wants to wear a jacket to lunch all the time?

Please bear with me..

In what may be a vain attempt to get the blog registering back on Google:


Glasgow food blog

Glasgow food blog

Glasgow food blog!!


So there.