Scottish Food News – February 2016

This February, one of the country's coolest restaurants pops up in Glasgow while there's beer and wine a-plenty in Edinburgh

Feature by Peter Simpson | 02 Feb 2016

We begin this month with the whiff of burned New Year’s Resolutions stinging our nostrils. Face it mate, you were never going to learn to ride that unicycle, so it’s time to find something better to do. Thankfully, the Edinburgh Pub Craft Club are here to help. This month’s meetings at Paradise Palms blend delicious drinks and a Miami Vice-esque setting with classes on weaving dreamcatchers and making linocut prints. Just think, you can learn new skills from a trained professional and have a lovely cocktail at the same time – we believe it’s called 'multi-tasking'. 2 & 9 Feb, 41 Lothian St, £15, book via Eventbrite

Bow Bar Winter Beer Festival

Next up, beer! The Bow Bar kicks off 2016 proper with their annual Winter Beer Festival, which runs until 7 February. The taps will be positively heaving with seasonal beers from across Scotland, the UK and beyond. Beers to watch out for include the Winter Spiced edition of the Outaspace Ale from Food and Drink Survey winners Drygate, and Track Brewery’s Sonoma pale ale, one of the favourites of your fellow readers down in the Northwest. Until 7 Feb, 80 West Bow

Spring Wine Panel at Bon Vivant's Companion

Conscious consumption is the order of the day at Bon Vivant’s Spring Wine Panel, with the chance to influence the wine lists at the Edinburgh restaurant and adjoining bottle shop. You’ll sample dozens of tipples and vote on your favourites, with the most popular heading behind the bar for the spring. A chance to try nice wines and ensure the good ones come back again? We’re sold. 23 Feb, 6.30pm, 51 Thistle St, £10, book via Eventbrite or instore.

Inver pop-up at bakery47

Across in Glasgow, one of your favourite new venues of 2015 – the delightful bakery47 – hosts a two-night pop-up from the team behind hotly-tipped Loch Fyne restaurant Inver. It’s been named one of the coolest in the country, and lavished with outrageous amounts of praise. It’s an hour and a half by car from Glasgow, so this might be your best shot at trying it out – be sure to leave some room for us. 24 & 25 Feb, details at bakery47.com

The Pitt returns to Leith

Towards the end of February, Edinburgh outdoor food pop-up The Pitt returns after a triumphant pre-Christmas debut. Expect a range of stalls and stands from some of the city’s best street food vendors, including Barnacles & Bones, Jones & Son, and Food Survey winners Lovecrumbs and Babu Bombay Street Kitchen. That lot, and a host of others, are all crammed into a cosy little space down in Leith for the first in a series of dates over the coming months. Plenty of tasty food, and very little walking from stand to stand – long may this continue. 27 Feb, 125 Pitt St

Scotland and food discussion in Glasgow

Also taking place that weekend down the M8 is a discussion on Scotland’s somewhat mixed relationship with the world of food. Approaching Scotland’s food culture from social and environmental aspects, the FoodThought event will bring together speakers from across the foodie spectrum to look at exactly what we’re getting right and/or wrong, and what we all need to do to make things better. 28 Feb, 7pm, Fred Paton Centre, 19 Carrington St, Glasgow, free, book via CCA [NOTE: This event has been cancelled]

http://theskinny.co.uk/food