Edinburgh Restaurant Festival 2015
Chile festival at the Botanics
Glenogle facelift
London Oriana Choir
Queen Elizabeth captain to be guest of honour
Three of Edinburgh’s top chefs came together for one night only on Thursday night to curate a collaborative menu for almost 200 hungry guests, celebrating Scotland’s outstanding natural larder through use of the finest local ingredients and kicking off the Edinburgh Restaurant Festival for 2015.
Mark Greenaway, Paul Wedgwood and Craig Hart each meticulously devised a course of the menu, showcasing their personal flair and placing a firm spotlight on the outstanding quality and diverse dining offering available in Scotland’s capital today. They were also joined by Italian chef Maria Dimaglie, whose live cooking demonstration and ‘primo piatto’ on the night celebrated the 50th anniversary of Edinburgh’s twinning partnership with Florence.
The sell-out event was the first in a jam-packed festival programme, which highlights Edinburgh’s enviable food and drink credentials and puts the city on the map as one of the top food and drink destinations nationwide. With more restaurants per head than anywhere else in the UK, Edinburgh houses an impressive and eclectic array of bars and restaurants, from Michelin star destinations to pop-ups and quirky dining experiences. With many of these award-winning venues participating in this year’s restaurant festival, it’s the perfect opportunity to try something new.
From 8-18 October, the Edinburgh Restaurant Festival will offer local foodies plenty to sink their teeth into with over thirty of the capital’s most-loved restaurants offering irresistible three course lunches for £15 and three course dinners for just £25. From city favourites, Contini Cannonball, Kyloe, Cucina and Fisher’s in the City to recently launched The Beer Kitchen by Innis & Gunn, there is something for every culinary palate.
John Donnelly, Chief Executive of Marketing Edinburgh said: “This is our second year of the Edinburgh Restaurant Festival and I’m very pleased to see such an impressive food offering across the ten days. Our This is Edinburgh campaign is fundamentally about reminding Edinburgh locals why the city is such a fantastic place to live, work and study and our world-renowned dining offering is a huge factor in that, this being reflected in the footfall figures from last year.
“Figures at the end of last year’s festival showed 48% of locals dined at somewhere new in the city centre, with all respondents enjoying their dining experience saying they would visit again, and 62% of businesses seeing an uplift in trade. Not only this, but we know food and drink is one of our major assets. The food and drink content on our website, where we keep users updated with new openings, events and insider tips, is consistently in the top 5 most viewed sections of the site. I have no doubt that this year’s wide ranging, exciting and appetising event programme coupled with an outstanding collective of participating restaurants will once again put Edinburgh on the map as a honey pot for great food and drink.”
So where are you going for lunch or dinner today? Do tell us!
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh launched a new publication and accompanying exhibition at the weekend. The large format book will feature 81 newly-commissioned botanical watercolour paintings showing the remarkable diversity of plants associated with the woods and forests of Chile.
The exhibition featuring many original watercolur paintings displays the skill of three award-winning artists Gülnur Ekşi, Işık Güner and Hülya Korkmaz and highlight the important research and conservation work undertaken in Chile by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
The paintings – commissioned for the decade-long RBGE project Plants from the Woods and Forests of Chile – provide a taste of the richness of Chile’s forested habitats. Some of the most iconic and important woodlands and temperate forests in the world, these areas are under great environmental pressure. The exhibition provides an explanation about why organisations such as RBGE are fighting against time to conserve these natural resources and protect the services they provide for the survival of humankind.
The exhibition in the John Hope Gateway will run until Sunday 6 March 2016. Admission is free.
The gym and studio at Glenogle Swim Centre in Stockbridge is due to get a £55k facelift. Work will take place from 10pm on Thursday, 15 October and will re-open at 7am on Friday, 30 October.
The gym, weights room and fitness studio will have:
- A new squat rack, benches and equipment in the weights room
- New flooring in the gym, fitness studio and weights room
- Painting in all areas
Brand new, top spec cardiovascular equipment in the gym will also be installed in December 2015.
David McLean, Fitness Manager at Edinburgh Leisure said: “By the end of this year Edinburgh Leisure will have invested £1m in top of the range fitness equipment in five of our fifteen gyms.
“We want to offer our members and customers the opportunity to use the best fitness equipment that rivals any of our competitors. We are therefore constantly reviewing what we have on offer and our range of fitness and activity centres across the city are encouraging Edinburgh folk to lead healthier, more active lifestyles with the latest technology and equipment available.”
In the heart of the city centre, between Canonmills and Stockbridge, Glenogle Swim Centre rare and harks back to the time of Victorian baths, but with a modern twist. Fully refurbished in 2010, ‘Glennie’s boasts a beautifully restored Victorian swimming pool and a gym with state of the art equipment and new free weights room, fitness studio, sauna and steam room.
Further information is available on www.edinburghleisure.co.uk. Follow Edinburgh Leisure on Facebook (EdinburghLeisure) and Twitter (@Ed_Leisure).
The Edinburgh Singers welcome the London Oriana Choir on Saturday 14 November for a special collaborative concert in St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral, Palmerston Place at 7.30pm.
Tickets priced £12 (£10 concessions, under 12s free) are available from The Queen’s Hall box office.
The Edinburgh Singers: www.edinburghsingers.org.uk
London Oriana Choir: www.londonoriana.com
St Mary’s Cathedral: www.cathedral.net
Queen’s Hall: www.thequeenshall.net/elsewhere/shows/the-edinburgh-singers-with-the-london-oriana-choir-2015
One of the country’s most important naval officers is to speak at a dinner at the Royal Scots Club, Edinburgh. Captain Simon Petitt is the Royal Navy officer in charge of HMS Queen Elizabeth during its construction. He will be taking time out from this massive job to talk to members and guests at a Club dinner on Wednesday 14 October.
HMS Queen Elizabeth will be the lead ship in Her Majesty’s fleet and is due to be launched in 2017. She is the biggest and most powerful warship ever constructed for the Royal Navy and will be utilised by all three sectors of the British Armed Forces. Its eight acres of deck can carry more than 40 aircraft and will help to support war efforts as well as overseas humanitarian aid operations.
Captain Petitt joined the Royal Naval Engineering College Manadon, Plymouth as an Engineer Officer in 1985. He has served on HMS Chatham and HMS Ark Royal and took part in the Sierra Leone conflict. Despite his vast experience he was surprised to have been chosen as Senior Naval Officer on HMS Queen Elizabeth in 2012 and he will tell of his experiences since then at the dinner.
Outside guests are welcome to apply for tickets to this Club event, which begins at 7.30pm and costs £25 per person.
The Royal Scots Club, with some 2,000 members, has an open membership policy for men and women. Annual fees and membership application forms are available from the Club secretary or the website www.royalscotsclub.com
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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
