They wanted him to put a cork in it

Published on Monday 23 March 2009 08:54

HE'S from Cork and he's got bottle. In the deep mid-winter and an even deeper economic downturn, Len McCarthy opened a coffee bar bistro in Leith's regal Bernard Street.

He's called it Kitsch and had he been the vulnerable, I dare say innocent, sort he'd have put the shutters up early doors.

Along with business partner Alison Kennedy (the Lyceum's theatre mananger) he opened on December 17 and a solicitor's letter hand-delivered on Christmas Eve (charming!) strongly advised them to change the name from Kitsch-in.

There's more. They've got three ducks flying on one of the walls. "My mother was appalled when she saw them," says McCarthy, as affable as he's vulnerable. "We're 25 seats seven days, essentially bistro-ish, serving nice things to nice people. Pretentious we ain't."

That's a relief in a Leith lumbered with pretentious nosh, celebrity chefs and plundered wallets. Kitsch was a nail bar for three years and nail bars, like celebrity chefs, are for filing away with yesterday's left-overs.

Re those ducks, by the way, so far Len and Alison have not had a registered letter from the Hilda Ogden Estate.

Enter Michael Winner: "Truly, I just can't believe we have so many celebrity chefs. Soon we'll have celebrity plumbers and celebrity bus drivers." Not to mention celebrity columnists.

Oh, and before I burp, let me add that "amuse bouche"has broken out, like a rash, among restaurant reviewers. The French for "taster" but the cleverclogs slavering on to their bibs won't have anything as mundane as "taster" tarnish their rancid reviews.

On red alert

Rearing its ugly head again, the ginger issue. Hullabaloo in Canada after a schoolboy was targeted when a Kick a Ginger Day website appeared on Facebook. More than 5000 said they'd attacked redheads before the site was closed.

A waitress in England won 17,000 compensation after being tormented by her boss for her red hair, so watch who you're calling ginger. Before long we'll have to be wary os using the word ginger at all.

I'm on my guard already. I no longer ask for a ginger snap, nor do I ask for ginger ale with my whisky. Ten per cent of Scots have red hair and, I always say, better red hair than nae hair. Did I hear somebody say Gordon Strachan?