Dale catches up with Ros Erskine for some top food and drink tips for January
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00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Video Bulletin for this Monday.
00:04My name's Dale Miller.
00:05I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman and I'm joined by our Food and Drink Editor, Rosalind Erskine.
00:12Ros, we're going to talk about all things food and drink for the New Year shortly, but just firstly, the front page of today's Scotsman.
00:21A picture of the weather.
00:23It probably hasn't produced the snow expected in some parts of the country this morning,
00:28but still 70 school closures largely in the northeast part of the country and some ongoing disruption.
00:35So please check at scotsman.com for the latest around the weather.
00:40And also we led on a preview of John Swinney's speech.
00:44John Swinney delivering his first keynote speech of the New Year in Edinburgh this morning.
00:49You'll be able to get updates on that speech at scotsman.com throughout the day as well.
00:54So please stay tuned in.
00:57Ros, we all would have eaten and drunk way too much probably over the festive period.
01:03I'm sure I wasn't alone in that.
01:05But a new year and often we form resolutions and January is a big month for that, isn't it?
01:11What's happening?
01:12What are the trends being spoken about for January?
01:17Yeah, well, you've got your usual kind of longstanding ones, which is dry January.
01:21So people giving up alcohol for the whole month of January, possibly because they've overdone it at Christmas,
01:26maybe want to be a bit healthier.
01:28And you've also got Veganuary, which took me quite a long time to work out how to say a few years ago.
01:34But that's when people go vegan for the month of January.
01:37And so, yeah, there's lots of sort of press around those two for January.
01:43There's also some other food and drink trends that I looked at towards the end of last year,
01:48started this year and spoke to some Scottish food and drink businesses.
01:53And there's chat of restaurants maybe changing their menus a bit more often because people want to get out their comfort zones,
02:00try new things. If they're going to go out and treat themselves,
02:03they maybe want to see something a bit different on the menu more often.
02:07There's also chat about people being more aware and understanding of provenance and things like regenerative farming.
02:14So if you're going to spend money when you're at a bakery or maybe a cafe or things,
02:19then you kind of want to know that it's come from Scotland or that it's been farmed or made in a sustainable way.
02:25So that is that's going to continue to be quite popular.
02:28And drinks as well, the beer, some people in the beer industry have said that there's going to be more focus on Scottish beers.
02:35And then you've got Vaux City in Edinburgh who do all the sour beers.
02:39They are continuing to do some weird and wonderful flavours, all to do with nostalgia.
02:43So they're looking at sweets we used to have when we were younger and turn them into sour beers,
02:47which obviously is not going to work for people doing dry January,
02:50but you can sort of try that in February if that's something that you want to do.
02:55Obviously, we've got lots around food and drink.
02:59You can read at the Scotsman site.
03:01If you don't want to keep consuming heading into January, please tune in and read all the latest there.
03:09We always watch the Michelin Guide and who may be getting any extra stars, particularly here in Scotland, Ros.
03:18But excitingly, the awards for the UK and Ireland are going to be held in Scotland next month, aren't they?
03:25And you've got a bit of news to report around the Michelin latest.
03:29Yes, so they're coming to Glasgow for the first time in Scotland.
03:32That's really exciting. I'm looking forward to heading along next month.
03:36Every month, inspectors talk about their favourite places they've been to sort of inspect, obviously.
03:43And for December, there was one new addition from Scotland and it's Cardinal in Edinburgh.
03:48And so we're doing a little piece on that at some point today.
03:51But yes, it's an exciting time because, like I say, first time in Scotland to come into Glasgow at Kelvin Cobart Gallery.
03:58All the top chefs will be there and we'll find out whether or not Scotland's going to get another one, one, two or possibly three.
04:06Don't know. Never had one Michelin star restaurant.
04:08And so, yeah, that'll be something to look forward to and something to put in the diary for if you're going out for some fine dining this year.
04:17Ros, I'm going to put you on the spot here, putting dry January and Veganuary and other trims aside for this month.
04:26Where do you think could be an up and coming venue or venues throughout this year?
04:31Where are you excited about either visiting or how they might do when it comes to awards?
04:38So my favourite restaurant of the last sort of few months and where I spent Hogmanay actually was Falican in Glasgow.
04:46I reckon they're on course for some exciting news.
04:51Don't know about February, but in the future I could see that. It's a seasonal tasting menu.
04:57The chef Craig is really brilliant.
05:00It's a really good career and is set up in one of the arches near SWG3 just down from Argyle Street in Finiston in Glasgow.
05:08It's a really cool venue, really nice menu. They're doing a lot of different things with Scottish produce and lovely drinks as well.
05:14So I would definitely be going back to that one in the spring, having been there in the autumn and the winter.
05:19And yeah, I mean, Edinburgh is always great for good food, fine dining as well.
05:23So I think we will definitely see another Michelin star coming to Edinburgh in February.
05:29And then like me, if you're continuing to host some people across January, just to try and keep those January blues at bay,
05:37Ros has produced a whole heap of articles around best whiskeys to drink and cooking options across the festive season.
05:44I think Ros is still, a lot of it's still just as relevant across this month as it was over the Christmas period.
05:50You can find that at the Special Scotsman food and drink site.
05:54There's a food and drink tab in our navigation bar on the homepage that takes you directly to everything that Ros has covered.
06:01Please follow us on Facebook, Instagram, X, we're on Blue Sky as well.
06:06And go out and buy a copy of the paper tomorrow for all the latest, including some of the stories that Ros has spoken about there.
06:14Ros, thanks to you and thanks to everyone else for joining us.