Scottish catering and hospitality news in Scotland

Cruise and Hugo Boss have selected The Devil's Kitchen, one of Edinburgh's most innovative and up-and-coming outside caterers, to entertain their shoppers tomorrow to celebrate the unveiling of their redesigned feminine boutique on Castle Street. Devil's Kitchen's owner, Dario Pacifici, has helped fashion a pink theme with champagne, fairy cakes and other pink delicacies, with live music to add to the party mood.
For the men's stores, Dario has created a more masculine theme to reflect the darker colours of the clothes and the more demanding appetites of the customers. Live jazz will be playing in the store at No 94 George Street while visitors to Hugo Boss will be able to enjoy DJs and percussion while they taste whiskies from Braemore distillery.
'It's fun to do something like this as there is so much scope for creativity,' says Dario (pictured). 'You buy designer clothes for their quality and cut, and that's what I'll be reflecting in my food and drink.'

Join Dario and the team at 31 Castle Street and 78, 80 & 94 George Street.
Braemore Whisky tasting at 94 George Street from 5-8pm.

Visit The Devil's Kitchen online.

Last month's Monopoly-themed 2005 HCIMA President's Ball, hosted by the Association's President Robin Morden, raised over £1,400 for the local 'Help a London Child' charity. The Ball attracted 200 revellers who wined, dined and danced the night away at the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel in London. Among them were 23 lucky prize-winners in the Monopoly-themed 'Community Chest' raffle.

The HCIMA is also very grateful to all the organisations that so generously supported the 2005 Presidentā??s Ball,' said Petra Clayton, Director of Marketing and Communications. 'They all made a major contribution towards making the ball an enormous success and a truly memorable occasion.'

Over 400 guests were wined, dined and entertained at a successful HIT lunch on Monday 7 November at the Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa in Edinburgh. The event raised over £47,000 toward bursaries for students joining or currently in the hospitality industry.
The lunch menu was created and cooked by Andrew Fairlie, Philip Garrod and Roy Brett, formerly of Devonshire Gardens and Malmaison Group, now head chef for Rick Stein.

John Strachan, The new HIT Edinburgh Chairman, gave a rousing speech of thanks to outgoing chairman, Peter Murphy, and Andrew Fairlie (pictured) spoke of his fascinating experiences cooking at Gleneagles Hotel, and in particular the demands of looking after delegates at the G8 Summit July. John Morgan of the Merle advertising agency entertained guests before auctioneering maestro Alexander Meddowes extracted an almost record-breaking amount from the guests, including £1,100 for a flight in a fighter plane.

Roti, one of Scotland's newest and highly acclaimed restaurants, has launched its first lunch menu in response to increasing demand.

'Since opening in August for dinner, we have been keen to offer guests lunch at Roti and Christmas time has provided the perfect opportunity to do so,' said Co-Founder, Tony Singh. 'The gourmet menu is ideal for a festive business or office lunch and our concept of proper Indian food is just right for people looking for something a bit different.'

Roti online

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, together with Jeanette Orrey, the Soil Association's school meals policy adviser, presented Hurlford Primary School, Kilmarnock with the Soil Association's School Food Award at the BBC Good Food Show in Birmingham yesterday,

Representatives of the four winning schools from around the UK were treated to a Jamie Oliver cookery demonstration before they received their awards.

'There are lots of winners in the Soil Association School Food Awards - the schools which serve healthy, tasty meals, the local and organic producers who provide the ingredients, and above all the kids who are going to grow up knowing what good food is and where it comes from,' sais Oliver.

The winning schools also received trophies designed and kindly donated by Bristol Blue Glass, and an electric pasta cooker worth £2500 generously donated by Hobart UK, manufacturers and suppliers of catering equipment to schools across the UK.

Primary schools from Newton Abbot to Inverness submitted entries to the awards, of which there were three categories for schools to enter: The Highland Spring School Dinner Award for the best lunches, The Times Body & Soul Food Education Award, for the best educational approach to food issues, and the Soil Association Food for Life School of the Year, for the school with the best all-round approach.

Since January 2003, the Soil Association has been working to raise the quality of school meals and has been providing schools with a practical blueprint for doing so. Its ground-breaking report, Food for Life, exposed a shameful under-investment in school dinners and played a key role in prompting Jamie Oliver to tackle the issue of school food through his high-profile TV series 'Jamieā??s School Dinners'.


The four winners of the Soil Association School Food Awards 2005 are:


Soil Association Food for Life School of the Year Award (£2,500 of school kitchen equipment):
Hurlford Primary School, Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire

The Times Body & Soul Food Education Award (£1,250 of school kitchen equipment):
Thomas Fairchild Community School, London

Highland Spring School Dinner Award - two joint winners (£1,250 of school kitchen equipment each, plus a term's supply of water for pupils):

Landscove C of E Primary School, Newton Abbott, Devon
Lethbridge Primary School, Swindon

For more information about the Soil Association's Food For Life project, visit the Soil Association website

Among a mere forty restaurants in Scotland including Restaurant Martin Wishart, Number One at the Balmoral and the King's Wark, No 3 Royal Terrace was one of only four restaurants in Edinburgh to feature in Egon Ronay's 2006 Guide.
No. 3's sister restaurant, The Howgate near Penicuik, also featured in this year's Guide.
'We are absolutely delighted,' said Steven Worth, Head Chef and partner. 'Egon Ronay is a culinary institution and it is a privilege to be numbered among his chosen few. We are doubly delighted that both No. 3 and The Howgate were included.'

Nine Scottish institutions were among twenty primary schools from England, Scotland and Wales which have successfully made it to the 2nd round of the McDougalls Healthiest School Food Award.

The competition is designed to showcase the primary schools that have successfully introduced a healthy eating approach. Each caterer was required to work together with their head teacher to complete a questionnaire that asked for examples of how they have implemented healthy eating, by adopting a whole school approach as well as
in their dining halls.

'We have been totally overwhelmed with the quality of entries, as the standard has been extremely high,' said Coral Rose, Marketing Manager of RHM Foodservice, the company behind the new award. 'The work that schools are undertaking both inside and outside the classroom is amazing. The holistic approach that the schools and the catering staff have taken has seen some great results.'

The judging panel included representatives from RHM Foodservice and supporting bodies LACA and ASSIST. Ideas and initiatives include theme days in the class lessons and canteen, as well as featuring cartoon characters on the menu to associate various foods with healthy eating fun. Other schools have developed food diaries, talks on kids' favourite foods and scrapbooks with photos of the staff and children making healthy snacks and foods.

The successful 20 will now submit an example of a week's menu cycle for analysis by a panel of nutritionists. The three deemed by the judges to be the best will be notified and a site visit arranged for the judges to see for themselves the schools' achievements and how well the approach is received by the children. The winning school will be announced at the end of January 2006.

The primary school that scoops the prestigious title will receive £2,000 cash and £1,000-worth of McDougalls and RHM Foodservice products. Two further schools will be highly commended, receiving a cash prize of £750 and £500-worth of McDougalls and RHM Foodservice products each.

Visit the RHM website website or the LACA website
for more details.

The nine lucky schools making it to Round Two are:

Douglas Primary School, Lanarkshire
Dykesmains Primary, Ayrshire
Howden St Andrews, West Lothian
Hillhead Primary, Caithness
Kelburn Primary, Ayrshire
Meldrum Primary, West Lothian
Netherlee Primary, Glasgow
Newtongrange Primary, Midlothian
St Patricks Primary, Dumbarton


The closing date for round two is Friday 9th December 2005.

The Glasgow branch of the Berkeley Scott Group is celebrating the launch of its Permanent Recruitment team at their Glasgow city centre office.

The office opened in late 2004 but handled only temporary recruitment business, with permanent recruitment being handled by the company's Edinburgh office. As a result of strong growth over the past year, the Berkeley Scott is delighted to announce the launch of the Permanent recruitment division in Glasgow.

The teams held a celebratory party to mark the occasion at The Living Room in Glasgow, with guests including clients, candidates and Berkeley Scott Chief Executive, Roddy Watt.

'The past year has seen sustained growth in the Glasgow area and we are delighted to now be able to offer local, personalised service to our clients on the permanent side as well,' says the firm's Regional Manager for Scotland, Sarah Kay.
'Berkeley Scott has built an enviable reputation for service and personal attention to detail, and the whole team is committed to ensuring the service we deliver our clients and our candidates is of the highest order.'

The Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre has appointed Susan Morrison as its first female Director and General Manager.
Susan, 35, joined The Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre on a part-time basis at the time of the official opening in May 1988 when she was a university undergraduate. After she graduated she joined the business on a full-time basis and progressed up the ladder to become General Manager in 2000. She has been personally instrumental in creating the Scotch Whisky Training School and launching the much acclaimed and award-winning Amber Restaurant.

'We are absolutely delighted to welcome Susan onto our Board,' said Alastair McIntosh, Managing Director of the Centre. 'She has a wealth of knowledge and experience in our business and she has played a crucial role in the success of the Centre over a number of years. During this time our visitor numbers have increased to 247,000 per year and has steadily grown the popularity of the Shop, the Bar, Amber Restaurant, and functions and events.'

In recognition of her enthusiasm and involvement in promoting Scotch Whisky both at home and abroad she was also invited in 2000 to join the Keepers of the Quaich.