After a whirlwind couple of weeks, from first hearing about it to actually delivering it in action, we were delighted to play a part in bringing Restaurant Day to Edinburgh, for the first time, on Saturday past. Two dynamic trios were at the forefront of Edinburgh’s contribution.

First up we had the lunchtime shift at Giovanni’s on Northfield Broadway, which was taken on by Rose, Arianna and I, representing the Total Food Geeks.

As part of our geeky endeavours, we’d been thinking this month about how best to reduce food waste, with the work of Zero Waste Scotland’s Love Food Hate Waste campaign firmly in our minds. We produced a menu to match this idea, with all proceeds going to local charity The Cyrenians.

Rose was labouring under a glut of carrots, so put them to excellent use in spiced carrot cakes. Arianna made pasties, pies and quiches using classic seasonal leftovers, like parsnips and broccoli. I made two soups, the first of which used leftover morning rolls to thicken a hearty mushroom soup, and the second used leftover salad to brighten up broccoli soup.

The recipes from the day will soon appear on the Total Food Geeks website, so keep an eye out for that.

Huge thanks go to Mauro and the team at Giovanni’s who looked after us brilliantly and were generous both with time and facilities to support the event. Thanks also to Chris Smith who snapped some lovely photos.

With my “hard part” of the day completed, I toddled off towards the familiar confines of Union of Genius on Forrest Road. The menu was a little different from usual, with our second heroic trio, Danielle from Edinburgh Foody, regular saloneer Lea , and Indian cookery specialist Meena from Chai Lounge, cooking up a menu that focussed on delicious risotto, with rice kindly provided by Gallo, but then led on to scallops from EatFish and Meena’s outstanding “Leith Mess”.

The evening was jollied along by beer contributions from Ammoun Voyages (some custom brewed delights leftover from their recent launch) and Tennent’s new “Black T” variety.

The evening was lively and interactive, with the added attraction of a little auction of items to add to contributions to their chosen charity, the Trussel Trust.

Huge thanks go to Bruce from Union of Genius who was on site to supervise in his usual assured fashion, Graham who kept drinks topped up very nicely, and Brendan MacNeill who took some great photos.

We were delighted to see regular salon contributor Emily Dewhurst, from Kitchen Press, bring together an excellent event in Dundee, too. They definitely win the puntastic award for their “Special O’Cajun” gumbo party.

So it’s onwards and upwards to more events on a grander scale for the next Restaurant Day. The 2015 dates have now been published, so we look forward to hearing your ideas and making plans to develop the Scottish contribution to this tremendous carnival of food.