A Food Loving Day out in Dundee

Scotland Food & Drink’s Regional Ambassador, Shona Kate Gillespie, enjoys a day out in Dundee and tries out some great local food and drink experiences.

A day out in Dundee – whilst it’s not a five-star resort in Barbados, being a tourist in my own city was the best way to shake off the Winter Blues. In place of nipping through to Edinburgh or heading to the countryside for the day, I convinced my slightly dubious other half to ‘pull a sicky’ and discover Dundee with me for a day. As the Regional Food and Drink Ambassador for Dundee and Angus, I’m hugely passionate about eating, drinking and shopping local, so putting together an itinerary which highlighted a handful of local businesses was not hard. When I’m on holiday, I look for cultural activities, memorable locations and quirky experiences – factors that were high on the agenda when planning a home-holiday!

Dundee is a cutural hub with a great choice of both design and historic exhibits to visit, really I was spolied for choice when planning our activity. Axe throwing was a very close second choice- however after reading rave reviews of The Dundee Cooking Academy, an introductory cook school for the morning was the clear winner. Run by Lewis Donegan, The Dundee Cooking Academy offers a diverse range of courses from sushi to vegan culinary skills, they even offer a kids course for parents and children, run by Lewis and his 4 year old daughter! What I loved about booking our course was the option to select which dishes we wanted to master, a great way to make the experience personal. 

Based in Bank Street, the Cooking Academy is a 5 minute walk from the Train Station and easily walkable to bars and restaurants in Dundee city centre. Warmly welcoming us with a glass of wine, the course was run by professional chef Lewis, whose stories of working in world-class restaurants and tales of his time on masterchef were highly entertaining. 

After refilling our glasses, Lewis began the class with an introduction to chopping skills, gathering us around the demo-kitchen to see how it was done before sending us back to our own individual master-chef style work benches. Clearly in my element, competitively chopping shallots has never been so much fun. Step-by-step we learned how to cook the perfect steak with whisky sauce, sipping wine and tasting as we progressed. Lewis expertly guided us through and gave individual tuition on every element, and made the experience a great laugh.

Over the mini course we learned about local butchery, quality of ingredients and simple techniques to step up our home-cooking skills. There was a great balance of demonstration and hands-on cookery, Lewis’ teaching style was not over-complicated or long winded, plus he made the class very sociable. Do not hesitate to book a course at The Dundee Cooking Academy, a great experience for couples and the ideal gift for those who have everything!

Or if you want Lewis to do the work for you then you can always book a table on a Saturday night at the Howff Secret Supper Club, which is located downstairs. I won’t say too much as it deserves a write up all of its own.

Next up, I wanted to explore Birchwood Food Emporium. I made a mental note to explore Birchwood after lock-down and am ashamed it took me this long – if like me you’ve endlessly stalked their social media channels without visiting, please take action and visit immediately! Located on Commercial Street this gem is the ideal spot for people-watching, or a coffee date that turns into lunch -filled with wonderfully warm, vibrant energy.

Knowledgable, chatty baristas recommended multiple dairy-free alternatives for our pick me up and although we only planned to stop in for coffee, we stayed for hours. Naturally we stocked up on goods from their pantry because we didn’t want to leave.

Given that we were now masters of the kitchen, our dinner plans had to be pretty extraordinary and so booked a unique dome dining experience at Taypark House. ‘Dine at Dome’ was introduced by Glenn Roach and the creative team at Taypark in December as a temporary experience for the festive period, after selling 1,000 covers in 2 weeks, the domes are now available until Spring for incredible dining experiences under the stars. A magical meal, enjoyed in the complete privacy of our very own dome, lit by fairy lights in the grounds of a stunning Baronial manor, it was almost too romantic!

Our wonderful hosts guided us through the 5 Course Tasting menu and helped us connect to the in-dome bluetooth speaker, setting our own vibe for the evening. Excellent food and service are at the heart of Taypark House, our meal was cooked to perfection and the friendly team offered intuitive levels of service. Opting for after-dinner cocktails in the snug bar by the fireplace was the perfect end to our day.

Dundee is known as the city of discovery and for me, it’s actually the spirit of re-discovery that we do very well. Constantly evolving, embracing demands of modern culture and creating unique experiences for tourists and locals to enjoy. In a post-pandemic world it felt great to re-acquaint myself with my home-town, and if like me you wish to re-discover a day out in Dundee there is no time like the present.

For more ideas on how to spend a day out in Dundee exploring the local food and drink offerings check out our bespoke guides.