I woke up this morning to another beautiful winter’s day in Edinburgh. I woke slowly: my warm bed, purring cats, the sun streaming through the slats in my blinds, and delicious Greek food last night had led to me dreaming of sitting with a glass of wine in a white-washed vine covered taverna. I was perched high above a rocky beach, sunglasses propped up on my head, book in hand, looking out over a blue ocean. No wonder I didn’t want to wake up.
As I left the restaurant last night I had wracked my brain trying to remember how to say goodnight. I had remembered yassa, as I raised my glass and said yassu in reply. Sadly I only remembered kali nichta as I put my hood up against the rain. I used to speak conversational Greek, honed from years of family holidays spent on a scooter bombing along back roads of island after island. From Corfu, to Zante, from Aegina to Poros, Paros, Antiparos, Andros, Tinos, Thassos… The fear of flying off was balanced by the fear of running out of petrol yet again, miles from anywhere.
…or maybe it was years of honing my chat up line on the beach with the cute Greek boys.
S’agapo. M’agapas? (I love you, do you love me?)
I still prefer kalamata olives, I cook with Greek olive oil, and I even grew to like sharp spiky retsina and mythos beer. I love dolmades, beef stifado with cinnamon, spanakopita, and bread to dip in taramosalata and tzatziki. Greek food, along with that of its neighbour Turkey, will always taste like holiday to me.
My last holiday to Greece was a disaster. A month after the LTEx had walked out I was to spend a week en-famille in a villa on Corfu. Greece was still the same, the vines, the cats, the sleepy old men outside the post office, the bobbing boats, the cheesy waiters, but I was depressed, sad, ashamed. I don’t remember the sunshine, just bleak, lonely days.
Now 5 years later I am going back, this time to the home of Corelli and Pelagia, to a villa in Pessada on the Island ofKefalonia. We will hire a scooter, bomb around the island again and sit in taverna after tavern under those vines…and then lay by the pool. Heaven. Time to wipe away those lingering traces of the past, bring on the sun.
…does any country make you feel the same way as Greece does to me?
Miss S x
P.s If you want to visit Greece without leaving Edinburgh I’d highly recommend Edinburgh’s only Greek restaurant My Big Fat Greek Kitchen. Excellent yummy food, great atmosphere and friendly staff and they do takeaway too. This post is nothing to do with them, I just wanted to say how good it was.
I had thought I had ‘no plan’ November sorted, well apart from my graduation and a wedding next week I had nothing planned; and as especially after my work trip to Manchester was cancelled the weekend past should have been a quiet. But in my life ‘no plans’ weekends never ever happen and my time was filled with friends and family, a trip west to Glasgow and far too many very big meals.
On Friday night, B, his father and fiancé and I checked out Edinburgh’s new ‘gourmet’ steak restaurant Kyloe at the Rutland Hotel. We had high hopes after seeing rave reviews from the Edinburgh food blogging community. Sadly I have to say B and I both left a little disappointed.
For a start the service was shambolic at best; whilst the food came promptly, the staff failed to clear wine glasses or side plates leaving our huge table littered with debris for most of the meal. With what seemed like 5 waiters / waitresses serving our table, there was no communication and at one point I started laughing in disbelief as a waiter scanning our bulging table of empty glasses and plates cleared away one pint glass leaving the rest.
But what about the food? That is the point isn’t it, for service can be sorted with a little bit of sense and a bit of training, plus I must admit the restaurant was very busy. Well, my starter of Ceviche of Sea Bream (£6.50) with chilli and pink grapefruit might have been a little too reminiscent of Martin Wishart’s ceviche of halibut with mango and passion fruit but it didn’t suffer for it. I couldn’t taste the chilli but the citrus marinated fish sang with the grapefruit. On the other side of the table the linguine of Shetland Crab (£7) went down just as well. Other starters of mushrooms (£6) and game pate (£6.75) were raised by excellent bread.
My cervice of Sea Bream (after this i failed to take anymore photos as it was too dark)
But, so far, no steak. For our mains, B and I had both pre-picked the Kyloe steak boards (£18) even before the display of ‘slabs of meat on a board’ was brought out for our perusal (This display of all the meat varieties is certainly not for those faint of heart or of cooked meat only persuasion) but after seeing B’s father’s excellent slab of rib eye (£24) across the table, I think we might have made a mistake.
Whilst our waitress had excelled in telling us the cooking time of the various other cuts, sadly, there was no choice of how the meat was cooked on the steak board, and whilst I cannot fault the Hardiesmill Farm meat itself, nor am I a well done girl (rare for me at best) the bavette (a cut as a francophile I usually enjoy) could have done with a little longer, as it spent most of the meal slipping across my plate. The feather steak wasn’t thin cut enough for me and the prime rib had been replaced with a tiny cut of onglet which our waitress described as having an ‘offal’ taste; at first not hugely tempting, describing it as ‘gamey’ might have been better for the easily put off.
For me, the onglet it was the best part of the whole meal, along with an excellent bottle of Argento Malbec (£23.50) and the sides – the plum tomato, shallot and basil salad (£2,75) and Hand cut chips (£2.75) were particularly good.
Without the 40% discount voucher, dining at Kyloe on a regular basis would be beyond my monthly eating out budget, however, I’d definitely be back if the onglet was put on the menu full time. However, onglet – or to give it it’s proper english name – skirt steak – is a much cheaper cut than the rest of the menu and it might not fit in so well with the ‘gourmet’ theme.
…btw this is my own review, not a press trip, but if you want to try Kyloe are still offering a 20% voucher via their website.
After spending most of the night and next day with the meat sweats (it’s a real affliction I promise!) I finally managed to drag myself across the central belt to Glasgow for a long over due night out with Pollypoptart. Italian food at Viva, meeting her lovely sister and hubbie and a birthday party at Home in the Merchant City made for an enjoyable night, topped off with compliments on my new Brat and Susie kitten top. Love.
Sunday saw B and I crawl out of bed (after dislodging cosy sleeping cats) for a wander around the new Stockbridge Market and a nosy in vintage clothes emporium Those Were The Days. The Stockbridge Sunday Market is a great idea; I wish someone would start one closer to me.
After a quick trip to the supermarket for provisions, we topped up the meat levels with a roast chicken and red wine and watched in horror as Frankie stayed on the Xfactor for yet another week. Sadly I have to say good bye to the pretty eyes of Charlie Healy of The Risk. At 25, I am officially allowed to lust after him, I wonder if he would like a cougar?
The sun shone all weekend and it continues here today. The count down until Australia has now begun firmly in earnest as the Christmas lights have gone up across town. I can now excitingly say – 7 weeks to go!
How was your weekend?
Miss S x
restaurants and bars
Mai Tai baby or a Singapore Sling, get your cards behind the bar and get the cocktails in
Autumn is well upon us and for the last few weekends B and I have been making the house cosy, bedding down for winter to come; this year we will be prepared for the worst. Nothing to me says cold weather more than soups and stews and spicy comfort food, the kind I have been making for Food Fridays, but I am a cook not a chef and my offerings are not tried and tested, tasted and perfection.
When I have my pub (I will, it is a little dream of mine) I thought that my winter menu would be a great big pot of stuff, served with crusty bread and pints of perfect real ale. I guess all my cooking is in preparation for that.
I was introduced to a modern slow cooker on Friday, by a friend who has been selling its virtues for a few weeks. Now, my first memory of a slow cooker was the smell in my mother’s hall of sticky sweet marmalade or the boggy, earthy smell of mince and tatties on a Sunday afternoon. It was never a pleasant memory.
This meal blew that memory out of the water – rich beef that fell apart on the fork with a spicy chili sauce, served with tequila beer. He has promised bbq beef with coleslaw and corn next. I think I may hang up my apron, I have found my pub chef, if he will have the job!
Talking of tequila, my friend served us Patron after the meal, a tequila brand I hadn’t had before, we had the aged Reposado variety (oak agaed tequila, whatever next!). No lemon, no lime, no salt, no trying to drown out the taste, this was tequila how it should be. Perfect.I have been reliably informed that there will be 9 bars, lots of hot bar men including the boys from my favourite local haunts The Raconteur, The Bon Vivant and Tonic, not to mention Oloroso, Tigerlily and The Voodoo Rooms, as well as lots of prizes, lots of booze and lessons on how to throw the perfect cocktail party – and all in a church. Heavenly. Actually, don’t worry, its being held at Mansfield Traquair, one of the most amazing venues in Edinburgh.
I will be joining the boys and girls from one of my favourite local magazines I-on Edinburgh as well as a few Edinburgh bloggers (let me know if you are coming) so it will be heals out, hair done, nails honed to perfect to hold that cocktail glass with aplomb. Look out for photos of the devastation later as I have a go at shaking things up a little.
Have a good week guys, cheers!
Miss S x
Cocktails in the City, Mansfield Traquair, 26th October 2011, 5.30-9pm.
Tickets are £15 from the website – but this includes 3 cocktails. You also get the chance to win a dinner for two at Harvey Nichols, or a Tasting Cocktail Menu for two at The Balmoral Hotel Bar, or my favourite – a Gin Master Class for 6 people at 56 North. Yes please!
restaurants and bars
Love withers with predictability; its very essence is surprise and amazement
One of the things I miss most about not living with B is the anticipation of seeing him. By this I mean on date nights, getting ready, getting dressed up, waiting for the knock on the door, or a taxi ride to our destination – I of course look forward to him coming home every day. Date nights have become a priority in our new arrangements, we need to take time to make things special, to make our relationship rise above the daily prison of the mundane.
So on Friday I put on a new dress (my H&M cat dress) and new shoes (Vanessa Bruno Athe cowboy boots – very 90s I thought) prettied up the hair, put on perfume for the first time this week (the very sexy Agent Provocateur L’Agent from my Boudoir Prive box), did the legs, and announced we should go out!
Now trying new restaurants is one of my passions. Luckily Edinburgh seems to have a new opening on a weekly basis – I still haven’t got round to The Honours, Castle Terrace or The Mulroy – but first on my list had to be on of my other passions – Japanese food. I had first read a review of Koyama over on The Edinburgh Eats blog and I had been rather impressed by the size of their err, bento boxes. I do love a bento box.
We should have realised by the relief in the waitress’s voice when we called for a reservation that we would be faced by an empty restaurant at 7.30pm on a Friday night. As B pointed out, Koyamo occupies the space that was once Monster Mash on Forest Road, firmly located in student central, where 10% off chips is usually the deal of choice. We almost didn’t go in, but we decided to be trendsetters, arguing that at least the service would be personal.
Luckily our Bento Boxes didn’t disappoint (miso soup, chicken teriyake, rice, salad and tuna and salmon california rolls) at £12.50 were great value and as we oohed and ahh, the restaurant started to fill up and by 9 was buzzing, with sizzling hot plates and beautiful glistening fish being dished out to tables all around us.
Koyama might be operating in a busy market place, competing with the likes of a hoard of established Japanese restaurants (and being brave opening now in the face of the arrival of Wagamama) but with 10% student discount, great portions and a 5 minute roll home, we both agreed it that on a first visit it certainly held its own. I am just praying that it doesn’t fall foul of the curse of this unit, or become too popular, the problem is that becoming a trendsetter, can make it a trend.
Date nights are important to me and B, but how do you make your relationship special in the face of the mundanity of life?
Miss S x
P.s apologies for the cheesy pictures! Especially to B who rarely appears on this blog 