Ahh… smell the shit and seaweed in the air. That’s the smell of the fresh summer seaside breeze, the stench of highly oxygenic and smog-free air, something which I was assured time and again is duly absent in the vestiges of London.

I hope you will forgive my brief absence from this blog, as I am still only just recovering from the holiday season gone by. I spent much of it being holed up in a caravan park in little known Kinghorn in Scottishland. I took in a wedding, took some photographs and had literally gone to The Dogs for a swift chew in Edinburgh, which coincidentally coincided with the Fringe fest. I feel compelled to share the view with you…

So after haggis, nips, tatties and stovies at the wedding reception, I was duly informed by my lovely tweepers on twitter that there was resplendency to be had near the centrepoint in Edinburgh. It’s been four years since I was last in this town, and was glad to be received by the similar enchantingly cloudy skies that ruled over the street bagpipers. We had little time in Edinburgh, so we decided against the might of The Grain Store and opted for the stripped down, canteen splendour at the dogs.

Yes, the name itself speaks of the eccentric nature that surrounds this venue – I will keep the dog jokes to a minimum – kick started by David Ramsden (since 2008 I think) as an answer to the ‘gastropub’ culture which invaded London. The idea of marrying the very best of British (Scottish) produce with the very reticent nature of British (Scottish) cooking, to create the ultimate form of comforting genius. Of course, I’m no observer of the Edinburgh dining scene, but word of mouth suggests that The Dogs is a hot local favourite. We arrived as a party of five at one in the afternoon for dinner, and the first floor eatery was completely packed to the brim. Table turnover seemed high enough, as the leaving diners assuredly nodded and tapped the boys on the shoulder to insist that the food was well worth waiting for. The waiter told us to come back in an hour, and off we went to the goth-witch themed Jeryll & Hyde, next door to refuel with T-bombs.

While we wait, I studied Mr Ramsden’s track record on the iPad and noted how he had quietly built an empire of Dogs in Edinburgh. Beneathe the top dog, is amore dogs, which as the name implies, serves stripped-down food with an Italian accented. In the basement, the aptly named underdogs is a watering hole, and further away in Rose Street, Sea Dogs had opened earlier this year, unsurprisingly for seafood.

I really liked the Georgian setting, art-deco black and white tiled flooring and stone dogs that greeted you at the large front door. Up the creaking wooden stairs and into the white-walled, tall ceiling rooms at the summit. Cue the spiderman soft toy hanging off the chandelier. More unvarnished wood embraced this party of five as we settled into the comforting space. Looking over the room, were portraits of dogs, and more dogs. An abundance of natural light came crashing in to the room, thanks to the huge windows, it bounced off the glistening white walls, creating a very innocent and inviting atmosphere to dine in. It is a beautiful dining room, and one can tell that every soul in the room loved it too, what with the orchestral buzz of chit chat which had enlivened it. What a celebratory setting it was.

Two menus alternate in service at the Dogs, though unfortunately for me, the more interesting suggestions of coley with crushed potatoes and peas with herb mint oil; devilled ox kidneys and pork belly, mustard, pease pudding were not available for lunch. Instead we ate from the ‘day menu’ that featured sausage, mushroom and fennel casserole; pigs trotter and pigs ear salad and a ploughman’s lunch. Don’t see many of those on menus, and startlingly, all dishes averaged £5 each!

There were lots of comfort dishes that I wanted to order, completely torn with choice. As we watched the food fly onto the neighbouring tables, we were amazed with how jaw droppingly good all of it looked and smelled …Giant chips and fish, ohh, I want… All grub was presented in rather cutesy bowls, and the elements were layed on dollop upon dollop. Heartwarming.

Pork pie, poached egg and pea sauce. £5.60

I was so very glad I settled for this pork pie. Dense, immense with a crumbly and buttery puff, the intense saltiness of a damn good hock, and the sweetly, grainy mush and mash so lively one could almost taste the skin of the peas, on the tip of the tongue. The softly poached egg was the proverbial icing on the cake. What a crowning achievement, simple, wholesome, beautifully cooked and unashamedly modern. I really enjoyed this.

Seafood pie with boiled potatoes. £5.80

To my left, my companions were all coo-ing in unison, three of us had the pork pie, Matt the Yorshiremen, proclaimed that his seafood pie was so amazingly excellent, that he insisted I try a spoonful of this broth of the deep. And I agreed, the distilled exilir of haddock, mussels and dare I hazard, celery. Ee by gum.

Millet cake, cheese sauce and tomato chutney. £5.25

Finally, the last variation on the table, was this heavy muffin with heaving lashings of a heavenly white sauce. It carried a faint sweetness about it, and was a little like a lasagne with the pasta replaced with the millet cake.

Butterscotch pudding with Banana, £4.40

Oh my lordy lord, this style of cooking seems most suited to pudding. Half the table went for the butterscotch pud, and was this lovely. A whippy mess of sugary stick-to-your-gym butterscotch with a coalescing compote of banana, all of it served just abit above body temperature. I thought this was superb. Freedom and a sense of wonder imbued the cooking and presentation, there is soul!

Bakewell pudding with jam and custard. £4.40

Last but not least, another heartwarming, meltingly jammy, sugary gob of golden goodness, joy, tenderness and a good measure of cream. Fantastic.

As London pubs become even more laboured with overachieving kitchens, obsessed with churning out food that sail ever closer to a higher level of sophisticated complexity, one cannot help but feel fatigued with the progression of the genre. Which is why, the meal at The Dogs was a complete breath of fresh air for me. A reboot of the senses. A celebration of nothing but simply cooked, and simply delicious food. A reminder that the good life is and should be democratic and needn’t be weighted down with the expectation of pretension. We paid about £12 each, the cost of which includes a glass of wine each – stupendous value for money, considering the sheer quality of food we had. Might David Ramsden consider a Southern outpost, I suggest calling it The Gods, for its flipped geography. For now, I suppose I have to make do with St John Bread & Wine.

The Gist of It

The Dogs
British, £15pp
110 Hanover Street
Edinburgh EH2 1DR
Tel: 0131 220 1208
Train : East Coast Connections from Kings Cross.

Pack Leaders: the red mangetout ; Joanna Blythman for s1 ; Pascal Wyse for The Guardian ; Jay Rayner for The Observer

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I think I’ve covered most of the wine basics in five parts and feel as if this would be the perfect post to write about some alternatives to the grape staple.

There is so much stuff out there to try, it would take you a lifetime to experience it all. The human quest to continually search for methods to refine the hedonistic has reached the point where you can find alcohol being made from pretty much all kinds of starch based foods out there. I’m not going to go into every single one, instead I’ll highlight the two which I think most of you will find interest in: sake & scotch whisky.

1. sake

Or japanese rice wine, is about as close as you can get to a wine alternative. The general conception is that sake is meant to be had warm… but the truth is, it’s meant to be had cold. Like wine, sake has several grades of refinement and each of them affect the quality and ultimately the taste. Without wanting to go into too much detail, the best sakes are made from using the purest water and having the rice milled to it’s tiny core , ie, stripping away all the rougher outer bits.

Great sake can be fragrant, fresh and pure – with slight hints of sweetness. Sake’s highlight is it’s purity – so you will notice the smoothness straight away when you drink it. Think, superior light cream, not hard like water, but almost like water, but protected by silk going down your throat. Great sake tastes like that.

Now as with wine, temperature plays an important role in sake drinking. The warm stuff is usually what is referred to as ‘filtered sake’ . Filtered sake is about the lousiest grade of sake you can get. Interestingly enough, it’s not made from rice … it’s made from the shells of the rice. While it still carries the same characteristics.. it won’t be as smooth as higher grade stuff, which is why it is served warm to thin out the hardness and to amplify the little flavour in the sake.

Real sake ( ok well, real to me anyway ) is served cold. Generally speaking, they fall broadly into two categories: dry & crisp or sweet & wet. Personally, I prefer it bone dry and crisp since you get the great flowery fragrance and purity coming through. But sometimes a little sweetness can be nice.

I alluded to sake grades earlier, my japanese is fuzzy, but if you keep the few items in mind the next time you run out to buy a bottle (or order in a restaurant) look for these things:

• Honjozo – filtered stuff, made with added alcohol and preservatives because of dodgy rice. Not very good. Usually served warm, equivalent of table wine.
• Junmai – Pure and made only from rice, pure water and koji ( the fermented bits) . Cold please.
• Ginjo/Dai-ginjo – Same as junmai but made from rice polished down to 60% its original size. Dai-ginjos is made with rice down to 50%. Served cold.
• Junmai Daiginjo – The above two but maybe added with residual alcohol to bring out more aromas and flavours. The top of the range. Can only be served cold.

Prices per bottle can range from anywhere between £5 to £££ (refuse to slap a number) , although if you spot a bottle which is a dai-ginjo or a junmai daiginjo going for around £30 and is refrigerated in the sake shop – then buy it. If you are in london, then the best place to buy sake is japan centre in Piccadilly circus.

If you want to eat sushi and drink sake try sake no hana (if you have deep pockets) which is Alan Yau’s latest venture and has an exclusive sake list with no wine on it. If you are hit by economic woe, then look up donzoko. It’s a great little japanese restaurant with the walls adorned with huge bottles of sake (a la kill bill style) . They also happen to house a japanese karaoke bar in the basement;  serving cracking noodles, great sushi and a huge sake list.

2. scotch whisky

There are actually lots of different kinds and they are made all over the world, but probably the most well-regarded ones come from the scotland. The ‘scotch’ is made from distilling malted barley several times until you get a golden hued liquid which carries the sweet fragrance of the beautiful malt it was made with, and also hints of smokiness which was imparted to it by the oak barrels it sits in for years and years before it gets bottled.

Generally speaking whiskies fall into two major categories, namely the single malts and the blended malts. Single malts are made of pure malted barleys from one distillery (hence it being ‘pure’) while blended malts  as it name implies, is a mixture of grains and malts. Whisky lovers lean toward single malts as it tends to produce whisky of more distinct character and taste. Having said that, it does not imply that blended malts are a slouch (far from it) as it can be argued that a blend of several good stuff invariable leads to a great drink in itself.

Of course, the only way to find out is to drink it.

The guiding principle in differentiating grades of whisky is by it’s age. Typically the lower range ones will be matured in their oak barrels up to ten or twelve years. At fifteen years, you’re getting toward the mid-range, eighteen is formidable and anything over twenty one years will be stunning.

Like wine, different whisky brands will have different characteristics, for instance it can range from being mellow & sweet, with hints of fruits & honey to being superbly strong, oaky and so hard it almost burns when it goes down. Personally, I think whisky is an acquired taste (well, arent all drinks an acquired taste?) as you really need to be able to tolerate the heat in order to appreciate it. And it can get very, very hot.

The brand names you should know about are glenfiddich ( sweeter I find ), glen morangie ( stronger ) , chivas ( for the blended aficionado ) and glenlivet ( well balanced ).

Of course, like wine – the lesser known producers will make stunning examples which are hard to find. If you’re hunting for a nice christmas present and you happen to be in London then you won’t go wrong with vintage house in soho. In addition to a super whisky section, they also have their own cellars (under the shop) and carry a wide selection of bottle matured champagnes such as a 78′ Dom. I’m told that matured champagne loses its fizz over time and turns into a buttery cream like the same way a french chablis ages. Well perhaps when there is cause for a huge celebration, I’ll go try it out and let you guys know about it – till then, I’ll stick with my budget conscious barolos.

Before I forget, if you really want to buy a ‘real’ bottle of whisky then the easiest thing to do, is to get yourself to scotland. You can start in edinburgh where you will find a smattering of whisky shops surrounding the beautiful castle. Be forewarned though because the rain is literally cats and dogs. Aside from that, it’s a beautiful city saturated in historic stone buildings… and also a hive for punk culture.

In part seven, the final post…

We’ve almost, come to the end now! that’s six weeks so far, next week is going to be the final post to conclude the seven part series so do come back for that one in seven folks.

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