Bessie It was Sunday evening and Christchurch seemed eerily quiet. I’d spent part of the day understanding some of the impact of the 2010-11 earthquakes. The city is still peppered with crumbling buildings and a huge amount of reconstruction work. Coupled with quiet streets in the city centre, the effect was quite ghostly which I …

Black Cow After a cracking lunch at Stillwater, I was lamenting that I didn’t have a chance to visit for dinner. I had already arranged to eat in Black Cow for more steak-focussed delights. It was a pleasant surprise to find that it was in the same ownership as Stillwater, which I quickly worked out …

Ziyafet Friday night on the means streets of Almaty and horsemeat beckoned. A little Googling suggested Turkish steakhouse Ziyafet might be a good option so I took a stroll in their direction. On my way there it was conspicuous that restaurants were all very quiet. A holiday the following week meant that the following day, …

Chop House Bruntsfield The Compass Group look to be going from strength to strength. Since their early days with Sygn and Monteith’s, they’ve progressed to the outstanding White Horse Seafood & Oyster Bar and now three branches of the Chop House steakhouse brand.Oysters I visited their original branch in Leith shortly after it opened and …

Steak Brasserie The halls of 12 Picardy Place have been home to many, many restaurants down the years. I first diner here when it was the Hallion, then Martin Wishart at Home House, then Mark Greenaway, then Fish Eatery. And that’s in just a little over a decade.Calamari It now trades as Steak Brasserie, a …