Another Day In Paradise.

For the uninitiated the title of this post is ironic. If you are not clear exactly what irony is?  Well read on...

You know there is a certain time of years that all the light bulbs just blow. Usually just as winter kicks in and you need them. Well clearly there is also a time when commercial catering equipment just goes. And in the case of Howies it seems just when we have bought back the business we sold 5 years ago.
So that was yesterdays challenge.

The ice machine.

The dishwasher  at Waterloo and a fridge at Victoria Street.

A dishwasher but not as we know it. Well this one works.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Friday is not a great day to phone someone and go ‘HELP!’ as all commercial kitchen engineers are already running around sorting out other restaurants whose equipment has burst. So we tried everything/everyone. We googled, begged, and had some joy a as the fridge was fixed and then the ice machine too.  But try as we might we could not find someone to sort out the huge up and over dishwasher.

So I have just heard late last night that the Ops Director was in there strapped into ye old rubber gloves where she had a late late sweaty night washing the plates manually.

After a long long day in the office, on the floor, and then in the kitchen washing dishes.  CBE, Knighhood & OBE required.And a holiday. A lie down and a whisky.

Have you ever been faced with an ever increasing mound of dishes. The plates, forks, spoons and knives of 120 odd folk? Well just imagine it... then times it by ten. It is hell.

My first job to supplement the pocket money as a 15 yr old was as a dishwasher at The Crescent Hotel in Aberdeen. A wild eyed chef called Raymond ran the place with a mad eye and a sharp knife. Up to my oxters in boiling water with a film of sweat on my face was how I spent many a miserable hour. The head dishwasher – yes there was a pecking order was called Marlene – after Marlene Deitrich. That is where the resemblance ended.

Woman being blindly guided into emptying machine 1954.

I can recall that hell as if it were yesterday. And if we don’t find someone to fix our darn machine it won’t feel like yesterday it will be today. Off to get some Marigolds in preparation of the day ahead…..

Victoria Street - water cracker!

It's been a bit mad round here. When is it not? Suddenly a week has gone.
So anyway, a PS on the Vic St refurb.
We opened up happy, decorations done. Radiators up. Art hung. Glasses polished. Deliveries in. Music thrumming gently in the background. Tantalising smells wafting from the kitchen, the waft of warm bread being sliced in preparation for the imminent arrival of our lunch customers. Of course it couldn't last. It never does.
So as we drank in that one moment of perfection and peace there was a sudden loud and very wet sound... sort of giant kersplooosh broke the moment.  Quickly flinging the door to the office open we saw the culprit. The blooming' boiler - the only part of the entire restaurant inside and out we hadn't touched. As we started the refurb we looked at it, admired it almost, and agreed it looked robust and stalwart. How wrong were we? I looked at it now. It was as if it objected to being ignored as all around was upgraded, painted and fussed over so it just got angrier and angrier until it just burst and poured it's cold, effusive contents onto the laptop, and the office all round.  It is of course the thing that holds Howies world in it's belly. ****. So there it is, perched on a radiator dripping as I write whilst we hover, as if at the door of intensive care awaiting the surgeon - in this case John Lane our IT guru to give us the prognosis. Gulp. It's going to be a long night.

Yes I knew you'd want to know the name of the radiator company - OK then here they are www.bestbathrooms.com

Art, paint, music and food. Perfect.

Victoria Street is open once again. Fresh, welcoming and with 

some great art on the walls.Chris Bushe - a brilliant Scottish painter. 

A fabulous Sam MacDonald picture, an artist from the Scottish islands who makes big battered copper pictures of shoals of fish and

 some Kelly Stewarts scenes of Edinburgh & Paris- all of it

 original stuff and really at home in the restaurant.

Thanks to Chris and his team in the kitchen and Jo, Karen and the front of house team...everything was put back, polished up and looking great for the opening.

Of course the usual last minute traumas occurred as count down to opening drew close. A new coat covered in paint, front door continually blowing open to freeze assembled diners, wireless music stopped so we were in silence. To be honest music is only ever used as a background in Howies, but being a Radio DJ & musician  for years it is something I am more passionate about. So rather than plug on with the antique Amp I sloped off and bought  the groovy new Sonos system which I have been coveting for myself to be honest but at least it let me get my hands on it.

Now I am not an itinerant plugger of all things but seriously this guy at Richer Sounds, Garry (with two r's) was great.  Being a woman more often than not in a place full of hi-fi, wi-fi, streaming, Mp3 players and the like I get used to being spoken to like I have had my brain removed. Garry was great though and so I left confident to go and install it myself which I did. It worked beautifully for 10 minutes then my new title as super techno geek became more useless techno gook until John Lane our super duper IT man  saved the day swooped in found an anti virus program was taking up about 70% of the hard disc sorted us out and Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt. So all is good. The sounds are grooving and the place is jumping.

When  I say jumping I mean packed to the gunnels not a spare seat in the place. In fact it reminded me of the good old days in Victoria Street.

Originally it was  a Pierre Victoire and the long suffering husband Howie and I had our very first ever date there. Struck by the tangible atmosphere - there's something about being in a stone medieval room with history literally all around right next to Edinburgh Castle that stays with you. It does.
So when Pierres closed it was a natural expansion of Howies at that time to buy it and open which we did.

It is one of the best locations in Edinburgh make no mistake so when we sold up 5 years ago it was with a tear in our eye but hey ho on we went.

Who would have thought January 2012 we would be back in there. And delighted too. It's familiar territory and was like being in the company of a great old friend yesterday sitting there for lunch.

The new January menu that Chris produced was a joy from start to finish. You may think of course I am biased but not really.
Having been a judge on Iron Chef on Channel 4 last year I can't help but be critical. But the smoked salmon on a bed of leaves with Thai dressing, followed by creamed spinach & goats cheese crepe is without a doubt my new obsession. I will be in there daily eating it. I will.
The others had great food too.  Hell it's easier if I just show you the menu. And the £8.95 is not a misprint.

January Lunch at Howies Victoria Street

2 Courses £8.95 

STARTERS (all available as main courses)
Soup of the day (v)	£2.65	£3.50
Traditional Cullen Skink served with a cheddar cheese crouton	£4.15	£6.15
Traditional haggis, neeps & tatties with thyme jus	£4.05	£6.70
Bruschetta of grilled sardines with rocket salad and a lemon & thyme dressing	£4.15	£6.55
Herb crusted deep fried brie served with a homemade beetroot & horse radish relish and dressed salad leaves   (v)	£3.95	£6.15
Warm salad  of shredded beef tenderloin, julienne tomato and rocket with a honey mustard vinaigrette	£4.25	£7.05
Hot smoked Scottish salmon with Thai dressed salad leaves	£4.15	£6.05
MAINS
Homemade Scottish beef & venison burger on a toasted flour bap served with a spiced apple chutney and fried vegetable crisps: add organic cheddar or bacon for an extra 50p each and add fries for £1		£6.95
Chunky roast pumpkin chilli served with aromatic basmati rice and a fresh herb yogurt (v)		£6.15
Creamy chicken pot pie  with carrots, celery, peas and warm puff pastry lid		£6.50
Scottish salmon fettuccini with leeks and citrus crème fraiche		£6.85
Warm  spinach, roast red onion & goats cheese crepe  with dressed rocket  salad (v)		£6.95
Freshly landed catch of the day -seabass - yuml		£7.95
Casserole of the day -  It was beef yesterday - with creamy mash - perfect		£7.15
Puds include in the infamous banoffi, dark chocolate & ginger torte, afogatto, poached pear, cinammon panacotta. Nice.
I must away....Howies Waterloo is shut today ofr 3 days for a makeover too....it's never dull this business they call restaurant that's for sure....will keep you up to date....phew....

Refurbishment of Restaurant Day 2

There we are the circular sign on the right.

We are in the process of completely doing up our restaurant in Edinburgh's Victoria Street. It is one of the most beautiful streets in the world-that is official not just me bumping my gum and it was looking particularly lovely  early this morning in the winter sun as I went back to see how refurb Day 2 was going. Ridding ourself of purple, red, black the biggest decision is colours. Which one?

John Graham

John Graham & John Corrigan

On the left you can sees John the painter daubing a few colours outside for us to decide which is the one  we want to coat the whole exterior. Wet they all looked a bit glow in the dark but John was well prepared instead of waiting hours for it to dry he just went marching into his van and returned with a hairdryer which you can see he is drying the wall with.





Meanwhile John the painter/hairdryer holder on the left meets with John the kitchen equipment supplier in the middle who is clutching a clipboard and also talking to the long suffering husband David Howie about life, Hobarts, fridges, hobs and dishwashers as the spark arrives.
'Hello' I shout and invite him over and introduce him to the others. 'This is John'.
Yes the electrician is also called John. John Strachan.
So now we have 3 Johns.

A non John in the Jon Smiling.

Well more accurately we have 5 if you count the two Johns inside - the ladies and the gents which are also being gutted and done up. I won't dwell on them but here's a photo of smiling man who is in the process of doing up the Johns...he is smiling because he is happy in his work but mostly because he is not called John.

Next our IT/music guy who pitched up next can you guess what he's called? Yup ....he is. John. John Lane.
You couldn't make it up.
Well you could but no-one would believe it.

So, which colour do you like? I wonder if it's the one we've gone for.
I am off there again today and will report back.


My challenge for today is to find another John on site.

You challenge is to come up with collective noun for a number of Johns.

A nudge? A clump? A host?

Oh and a colour!

Victoria Street Refurbishment Started!

Very excited about  our refurbishment which kicked off today January 8th, 8am at Howies, Victoria Street, Edinburgh.

Here on the left you can see the Howies sign on the current exterior which is Purple and Black...don't ask why - I don't know, you see we have just bought the restaurant back after 5 years so you would really have to ask the previous owners......so..anyway inside and out we decided it's time for a change.

Here are some of the photos of the ‘before’.

As you can see a mishmash or colour and all sorts of quirky bits and bobs .

The restaurant has two separate dining rooms.

The front room has 3 huge picture windows that look out onto Victoria Street - Victoria Street was built hundreds of years ago and is genuinely regarded as one of the most beautiful streets in Europe as it snakes from Edinburgh's Grassmarket to George IV bridge, The Royal Mile and Edinburgh Castle just round the corner.
Every shop or restaurant here is a one off. So if you want a real flavour of medievil Edinburgh look no further....I digress.

As you can see red, whitea silver extraction pipe and splodges of teal on the wall. These are the colours we are looking at painting it - no not all of it just the pillars and arches. Final decision on colours tomorrow with John the patient and delightful painter.

If you would like to keep up to date with the inevitable stramash (Scots for everything going wrong, then right, then quickly wrong again) then click the follow button at the top right hand button of this page.

 This is the bar which is usually stacked with bottles, glasses, coffee cups and smiling staff but it's all been cleared out for the big turnaround.
Colours have been difficult to decide upon. Howies logo is teal and cream so why mess with something so delicious we are just using those lovely hues to do the whole jing bang (Scots slang for the entire project).

 The current window display is mainly brushes, rollers, and large plastic buckets. We are only shut for 4 days so you can imagine the pressure on turning it round fast. We have 7 - yup count 'em - 7 brides for 7 brothers no no no I mean 7 painters in there with scaffolding, dungarees, a loud radio and a propensity to whistle out of tune.


This is the back room. An in fact the only thing we've done since buying Howies back mid-December is to rehang this amazing battered copper chandalier which was originally an gas fired one in the Victorian era. Tis a thing of beauty so much  so it's being lowered during the refurb so you can see it properly...it's a beezer (Scots slang for a beautiful example) and was hanging in the very first Howies we opened 21 years ago and we've carried it with us ever since.
The high chairs are looking for a home as there just is no room for the little darlings. They look like Ercol and will be wending their way to an Edinburgh charity shop unles you would like one? Free to your lovely baby.
We need stacking high chairs for our mini diners - baby changing facilities also being fitted into the ladies loo. We do love the wee ones. Good news cludgiewise too  the loos  are being done up too - I didn't think you would appreciate those photos...no I thought not.

 Part of the exterior here. The middle section...black, blue, purple and the most attractive addition of the plastic hanging basket which will be ritually burnt as it is truly a hideous thing.

The whole place was done properly a long time ago and since then has been patch painted and occasionally tweaked so it is well overdue a great big wash of coherent colours.

The picture windows were full of people with their noses pressed against them today wondering what on earth is going on. So do tell them......

That both inside and out it is all being done…..exciting stuf. I shall post an update - meanwhile if you want to book a table for the reopening click HERE

Deer Deer Deer what next?

Do you like the photo? A stag the casually walked past the house we were staying in the Scottish Highlands. What a beauty! Of course little did it know we were inside talking about food, specifically Scottish game or to be even more specific venison. Still having had venison on Hogamanay (New Years Eve) and then for lunch on the 2nd he was safe just this once. After much discussion we sorted out our January offer which is up and running so if you’re in Edinburgh or Aberdeen click on the relevant city for details of what we're up to.

Public Holiday but not for the Restaurant Business....

Highland Cattle - yeh they look cute but by goodness they taste even better. (Sorry Coo)

Yes two whole days off. The1st and the 2nd then bang! The 3rd January it's back into the frey.
Closing Howies for 2 days sounds like heaven but in reality it means the second the doors open again we all hit the ground running.
Phone messages, emails and texts for bookings are taken as deliveries start piling in from 10am sharp.
We have no freezers in Howies so we get deliveries every day except Sunday and if we've been shut for a couple of days that means we start from scratch again. Wouldn't have it any other way.

Yes yes of course this adds pressure on the chefs but vitally it gives us the ability to be seasonal and change the menu every day. Yes we have our stalwart favourites but at this time of year in Scotland there is a plethora of game available.  Lordy it's tasty stuff. Venison, pheasant, rabbit, hare, partridge and the like gathered from the Glens and cooked fresh. Wonderful. This January we have a great supply of Scottish pheasants so there are lots of tweaking on  a variety of pheasant recipes  to decide which ones cut the mustard and are on the list.

So as you read this the chefs are getting all their delicious ingredients together and preparing for the cook off. Yeah!

This is a joy.

The head chef cooks everything on the menu. Every starter, every main course and every pud and then we all get together to taste and give feedback as to what's good, great and an absolute beezer.

There are 3 Howies Restaurants but we are not a formulaic set up on any level so the chefs design their own menus and with tasting, testing and talking we end up with 3 cracking and unique menus.
Head chef at Howies Victoria Street is Chris.....Waterloo Place is Stevie and in Aberdeen we have a new head chef starting on the 6th....more of which later....

I intend to try everything. EVERYTHING. Of course there will be salad on the menu this month - well there has to be for me or I may combust.

Menu highlights here in next post....but right now....I'm off to pluck a pheasant......please fill in your own joke here........oh and here are some highland coos in action on the Isle of Mull on the West Coast - cute !