Welcome to The Pellicle Mixtape, a monthly feature where I (Pellicle co-founder Jonathan Hamilton) will be asking people from across the food and drink industry to create a playlist set to a theme of their choosing.

The hope is to gain a small insight into that person and their place of work through not only their song choices but also the thought process and level of obsessiveness they put into their mixtape. I’ll also be asking them what they’ve been enjoying eating and drinking recently, and finding out what else has been exciting them in the world of food and drink.

In this, the fifth in the series, I’m very excited to feature Jessica Elliott Dennison of 27 Elliott’s café in Edinburgh.

There is no hiding how much I love going to 27 Elliott’s. Since moving back to the city in September last year I have lost count of the number of times I’ve been into her neighbourhood café in the Sciennes area of Edinburgh. Whether it’s for an incredible breakfast, where eggs play a leading role, a lunch of seasonal changing dishes from her cookbooks, a supper club on a weekend, or simply to pick up a coffee on the walk to work, 27 is always there for me.

In fact, a lot of Pellicle work is done in the confines of those walls. I can’t adequately describe how beautiful the light is there, especially with the low-lying winter sun through steamy windows, so you’ll just have to go and see for yourself. The food which Jess and her excellent team put out from the kitchen is some of my favourite in the country. A recent highlight was a bite of someone else’s anchovies on toast—an intensely delicious mouthful of salt, acid, citrus and textures—and followed by my own slice of prune cake. Not many places can make a prune so wildly appealing. I had to have it.

Despite all this repeated custom on my behalf, it was only last summer when Jess and I actually met for the first time as we collaborated on an event—in Brauhaus in Edinburgh after Wild Wine Fair. I curated the drinks menu of beers, wines and ciders, and played some music alongside others including Stephen from Triassic Tusk Records, and Jess cooked up some incredible rustic bean dishes in the corner of the busy bar. It was a fun event to work on together, with a room filled with happy faces and full bellies.

We even wore coordinated stripes.

Over to you, Jess!

Volume 5 — Food Writer and Owner of 27 Elliott’s Café Jessica Elliott Dennison

These tracks are the sounds of my creative sweet spot of the year. I find that at around this time each year I’m at my most imaginative and inspired. I’m post-Christmas, so feeling well-rested, well-exercised, and I’ve forgotten what working stupid hours feels like.

These January days are the ones in which I dream up new ideas; concepts for the next book, collaborative projects or even just menu and dish ideas. At the moment I’m pulling together a beautiful little space a few doors down from the cafe into a shop with my friend, the artist Phillipa Henley. (It’ll be called 21 Elliott’s—see what we did there!).

The thing I miss most about living in London is the food markets, so we’re creating somewhere we’d like to shop ourselves, curating all the best bits from our favourite producers. Think good bread, our own pickles and jams, fruit and veg, and store-cupboard ingredients that we’ve discovered on our travels. Then workshops, producer-tasting nights and the occasional bit of kitchenware thrown in.

As these are the background tracks to dreaming, planning and mood-boarding, expect chilled hip-pop from Mos Def, spiritual experimentation from Santana and uplifting beats from Claptone and Maribou State.

Hopefully, they get you feeling chilled and creative, I’m clinging on to the feeling for now!

What have you been drinking recently?

Lots of pink rhubarb kombucha, made by the brilliant Caitlin who runs our front of house at 27. After a month of eating brown stodge in December, it’s a delight to be working with all things pink/purple at the moment; blood oranges, radicchio leaves and Yorkshire-forced rhubarb.

I chop and simmer the rhubarb in a star anise and fennel seed syrup, then spoon the bright lengths onto yoghurt and cakes. Cait holds on to the juice and mixes it with our kombucha mother where it transforms into a special little drink that fights the January grey skies.

Wine-wise, I’m really into Mr ‘Allesandrino’ at the moment as it’s just such bloomin’ good value. He’s a juicy little guy from Lombardia; no added sulphur, berry vibes, with a little fizz, and really brightens up these dull, grey skies. (Just realised there’s a strong theme with the need for fun pink fizzy liquid at the moment).

Where/What have you been eating recently?

I had a mince pie with eggnog custard at Edinburgh Food Studio just before Christmas, and honestly, I haven’t stopped thinking or talking about it since [I too had one of these and I can attest it was incredible—ed]. I’m gonna hound them next year to see if they’ll make them for the new shop as it was absolute perfection.

Last weekend I was down at Wright’s Food Emporium in Wales to run a Tin Can Magic supper club. Joel Wright imports some beautiful french natural wines (which we get in at 27), his Mum Marryann heads up the kitchen, and his dad Simon runs front of house.

On the Friday night, I sat down to have dinner with the whole family and their potato cake blew my mind. Think laminated pressed potato, deep-fried until super crispy on some layers, and really soft on others, then dunk into the aioli. Absolute posh-chip heaven, and hit the spot for soaking up Joel’s wines.

What have you been reading recently?

I’m pretty bad for only reading cookbooks, to be honest. I try to read a novel in bed, but tend to fall asleep after 3 pages!

I’m really into Gather, Cook, Feast by Jessica Seaton at the moment. The landscape photography by Jonathan Lovekin (who also shoots Nigel Slater’s books) is just stunning and makes me want to escape the indoors and the swap the digital world for walks and cooking over fire in the countryside.

Cover photo by Matt Russell