the ubiquitous blog

One of the things I like about living in Edinburgh is that there are plenty of good, affordable restaurants. Some of my favourite places to eat in Edinburgh include: The Gurkha in Morningside (the first Nepalese restaurant in Scotland, now much copied but never bettered) the food is always good there and the service is excellent. La Partenope, a wee bit of Napoli in the Haymarket, good food and genuinely friendly service. Hanedan in Newington, a real gem of a restaurant, if they are full you can go to the pub across the road and they will fetch when a table come free. Should it be raining they will bring an umbrella to keep you dry as you cross the road, now that is good service, and the food is excellent. And the The Wild Elephant also in Newington, lovely Thai food and very friendly service, well worth a visit. These are just a few of favourite Edinburgh eating places.

However, last night we decided to try somewhere new, Il Positano on Newington Road, it was a novel experience, I had never met a rude Italian waiter before, the service was truly awful. Asking about the food was a big no no, when I asked about the wine I was told I could have red or white. The food when it did come was disappointing, Ulli’s pizza was more like something out of Pizza Hut, with a thick crust. She wasn’t even allowed to finish eating it before her plate was whipped away, we were then left sitting for half an hour before the desert menu was offered. I ordered a tiramisu what came, eventually, at least bore some resemblance to tiramisu (unlike some things I have been served in the past which were more like trifle), but the savoiardi were soggy having been over soaked in coffee and there was thin smear of mascarpone. To add insult to injury the thing had been sprinkled with drinking chocolate instead of coco powder and drizzled with chocolate sauce. No true Italian would call this tiramisu, it was just rubbish.

This wasn’t the worst of it, my main dish was downright dangerous, I had ordered a sea food dish with pasta. When I lifted the first mussel shell it was empty, the meat had fallen out, to my shock I found all the shells were the same. The mussels and cockles were obviously dead before they were cooked, this is very dangerous. Eating dead shellfish like this carries a very high risk of food poisoning, it can kill you. By eating at Il Positano I was effectively playing Russian Roulette, I did feel ill last night, but fortunately have recover this morning.

I can’t remember the last time I left an Edinburgh restaurant without leaving a tip, but there was no way I would leave a tip at Il Positano. I am never going to eat there again!

As a long time subscriber to Personal Computer World magazine, I was shocked and saddened to receive a letter today telling me that the resent August 2009 issue (which I received in June, I don’t understand the dates on computer magazines either), is to be the last. Personal Computer World magazine has been running for over 30 years and has been one of the more readable computer magazines available in the UK. I for one shall miss it, I have learnt a lot over the years from reading it and I am not sure what I will replace it with. Personal Computer World RIP.