A touch of theatre
JULIET LAWRENCE WILSON IS SET TO GIVE SCOTTISH GASTRONOMY A GLAMOUR
BOOST. JONNY GOODALL WENT TO MEET HER
Hold on to your haggis, but Juliet Lawrence Wilson, owner of the Stockbridge Restaurant, is aiming to put some glamour into Scottish gastronomy.
Originally from Stirling but raised in Edinburgh, Juliet is the first to admit that popular Scottish food does not enjoy the best of reputations, but that its classic cuisine deservedly does. Those who enjoy food will delight in her home-cured salmon, game terrine with onion marmalade, venison en croûte and “posh fish and chips with a summer pea salad”.
While Nigella exults in her Domestic Goddess role south of the border, Juliet’s role model is the late, great Fanny Cradock, the Barbara Cartland of cookery. Tellingly, her other inspiration is Keith Floyd.
It is certainly obvious from the cover of her recent cookbook, Dinner with Juliet, that she’s not about to “do a Delia”.
As camp as Christmas in a white satin evening gown, Juliet is posing beside a candlelit table set with lobster, champagne and a single red rose, while appearing to be juggling three magic stars in the palm of her hand.
Like Samantha, the housewife with supernatural powers from the cult television show Bewitched, it looks as though she has merely to wiggle her nose for her Grand Marnier soufflés to rise with ease.
A self-taught chef, inspired at a very early age by her grandmother’s “Saturday morning baking extravaganzas”, Juliet is driven to succeed. She currently writes two columns in The Edinburgh Evening News and her forays into television are beginning .....
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By Jonny Goodall
Section : Scotland Profile
Page number : 27
