Food & drink

Dunfermline’s Food and Craft Weekend, 5 & 6 May

Know your Columbian from your Costa Rican? Coffee …that is. Cafe Wynd, along with Unorthodox Roasters, will be giving you the low down at their coffee tasting at 5pm this Saturday 5 May, as part of Dunfermline Food & Craft Weekend. Prefer bubbles to Bolivian? Head for the prosecco van in the Kingsgate by local company, Dapper Drinks. For the craft part of the Food & Craft Weekend –  art

Cafe Wynd Opens in Dunfermline

Stewart, 34 and Lynva Forrest, 33, have just opened a new cafe in Dunfermline called Cafe Wynd. After years spent studying a degree in film, and roles in location management, for productions such as Outlander, Stewart is returning to a former life in the cafe and restaurant business. Previous stints in the catering business included cooking for the boutique hotel restaurant, No 11 Brunswick Street, Edinburgh, and for Harvey Nichols

Win a meal for four at Basil, new Indian restaurant, Dunfermline

Basil, a new Indian restaurant, which recently opened in Dunfermline‘s Carnegie Drive is offering Avocado Sweet readers a meal for 4, up to the value of £100, as a competition prize. No restaurant opening would be complete without Sammy the Tammy, pictured above, with owner, Ram and DAFC captain, Callum Morris. Basil, is owned and run by Parsuram Sigdel, or Ram, who readers may remember from Ashiqs, an Indian restaurant in Bridge

Smashburger Dunfermline Opens

Smashburger opened its doors in Dunfermline in early December 2017 – it’s the company’s second branch in Scotland – following closely on their first Scottish outpost in Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow. The chain may be new to Scotland’s burger scene but the company has seen a rapid expansion in the United States since the first restaurant opened in 2007 in Denver, Colorado. Indeed, the fashionable industrial interior tells us that it’s

Chilled afternoon tea and Christmas shopping at National Galleries of Scotland

It’s worth remembering that there’s an oasis of tranquility on Princes Street in Edinburgh. Hard to believe in the run up to Christmas but the National Galleries of Scotland is a calm retreat from the demented streets of the city centre.  Forget the bunfight in the retail hell elsewhere; instead enjoy Christmas shopping in both of the National Galleries’ stores. There’s the shop near the Princes Street entrance which has

Aelder, a new Scottish liqueur made from elderberries

Two inventive Scottish guys have avoided the crowded gin market and turned their attention to neglected Scottish liqueurs. Rupert Waites and Tom Chisholm have created Aelder – a rich liqueur made from wild elderberries, a range of botanicals and whisky. Instead of passing the port after dinner, diners can pass this lighter Scottish alternative. Still complex in flavour,  the subtle addition of whisky counterbalances the sweetness of the elderberries, and,

Manna House Bakery opened in South Queensferry

The excellent Manna House Bakery has opened a second branch in South Queensferry – although baking for two cafes means even less sleep for the owner and baker, Drew Massey. The pastry may be flaky but bakers are anything but – daily 3am rises are not for the faint-hearted, and, in Massey’s case, he’s baking for his original Edinburgh Easter Road branch as well as the new shop.  One consolation

Juniper restaurant, Old Churches House Hotel, Dunblane

A selfie with Andy Murray’s gold post box might be reason enough for his fans to pay Dunblane a visit. For everyone else, the place itself is worth the trip. It has all the hallmarks of a small, quaint town; there’s a river running through the centre, an attractive stone bridge and a winding, narrow high street. For the first time visitor, however, the surprise is the sheer scale of

Bowhouse Food Weekend, Fife, 23 & 24 September

Bowhouse Food Weekend, St Monans is this Saturday and Sunday, 23 and 24 September. Free to attend, the two-day event will showcase the produce that the harvest season brings in the East Neuk. Hosted in a beautifully restored barn, the market will also host regular tastings, talks and demonstrations from chefs and producers. Children’s activities, as well as information on local walks, and a chance to see a selection of the

Bowhouse Food Weekend – farm based food event this Saturday and Sunday

This looks a lovely event – a food festival and makers’ market in a revamped covered market barn in St Monans this weekend. Organisers  Bowhouse are food wholesalers who describe themselves as ‘a place where food makers work to make their products from the wonderful raw ingredients of the East Neuk and its coast.’ They hold regular food makers’ markets on their farm where customers can meet producers and taste