Bill Oldfield

Thoughts from a food obsessive

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A hidden gem of a restaurant at the Fringe

Finding a gem of a restaurant while at the Edinburgh Fringe #thisisedfringe #edfringe

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival

I spent a week at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe just recently. I’ve been a few times now, and if you’ve never been, you’re missing a wonderful yet daunting experience.

Nowhere in the world is there collected so much talent in one small space. In less than a month there are more than 3,000 shows with more than 50,000 performances in more than 300 venues. Anybody can…

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Kedgeree

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Summer in the City

Summer in the City

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Are you being served?

Bill Oldfield's thought's on the sensitivity of waiting staff: Are you being served?

A nice, sensitive waiter!

We all know there are things that irritate us about waiting staff. It’s a particularly subjective and personal matter but, in a recent unscientific survey carried out by yours truly, there appears to be some common complaints.

Over all, it doesn’t seem to matter how competent the waiter is, whether he can carry six plates at once, pour wine with one hand while the…

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Ox tongue and wood pigeon terrine with toast

Pigeon breast, pigs trotters and ox tongues are not found in many people’s kitchens. And if you were to ask your butcher for the ingredients, he’d probably raise an eyebrow. Not necessarily because he doesn’t have them, rather that he rarely gets asked for them.

Don’t be squeamish about the trotter. It’s there to add flavour and make the terrine hold together. Lovely.

Serves six to ten

Two to…

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North Sea lemon sole with dill butter and samphire

One of the most evocative of smells is that of the sea and I don’t think anyone’s managed to bottle it yet. But samphire’s a herb or vegetable with an aroma that when fresh, instantly teleports you to the seaside.

Sometimes referred to as sea asparagus but more accurately called glasswort, samphire is found on coastlines and is mainly harvested, in the UK, from the mud flats of East Anglia…

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Saving your reputation

Read Bill Oldfield's latest blog: Saving your reputation.

I’ve written before about the necessity of good promotion and marketing to make a restaurant successful. When most people think of marketing they think of advertising but that’s only an element of a wider marketing plan and, for many independent small businesses such as a single restaurant, advertising can be beyond their budget; at least to make a significant effect on their business.

It’s…

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Are you getting my message? There are many reasons as to why restaurants are such risky businesses and so many fail but one of the biggest is that they’re not very good at telling people that they’re there.

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Planning without permission

The well-known restaurant on Claypath in Durham

Driving back from London late one Sunday evening a few weeks ago, I found the A1 closed for maintenance somewhere in the depths of Northamptonshire or Nottinghamshire or some other such sounding place. Annoying. You somehow think that because you’ve chosen a quiet time to travel, you can control the long journey and arrive home at approximately the…

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Smoked haddock pan haggerty We’ve had pan haggerty on the menu in various guises for years. Traditionally, this Northumberland dish is vegetarian and simple to make by just baking together potatoes, onions and cheese with a touch of seasoning.

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Don't be fooled by processed food It’s like a war out there. Who would you trust? After all, it’s down to you. You’re the one who’s going to determine whether you survive and ultimately succeed.

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Weighty matters - who's fault is it? So, it’s official. Clothes are now to be sold in four sizes: small, medium large and normal.

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Lamb with swede gratin When it comes to turnips and swedes, you and I may differ about which is which depending upon the origin of our respective influences.

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Wild rabbit in cider I’ve called this Wild Rabbit in Cider because I like the idea of using rabbits that have run free and lived a natural life prior to coming to the pot.

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Your call’s unimportant to us So you’ve decided to come to our restaurant. We’re delighted and hope that you’ll leave happy at the end of your visit.

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The critical nature of restaurants “Who does this Oldfield bloke think he is?” you might ask. An engineer writing about food is surely about as relevant as the pope pontificating about marriage.

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Pea and wild garlic flower salad with goats cheese

Pea and wild garlic flower salad with goats cheese

You may have noticed that we’ve had some sunshine recently and that temperatures have crawled  above freezing. This means spring is in the air and wild garlic is starting to show. And wild garlic is food for free. Excellent cooked like spinach but also great, raw, in salads.

Also known as ramsons, wild garlic grows in woodland, along river banks and where the bluebells grow. Different from the…

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