With the flyering in full swing and happy tourists lining the streets, I rocked up with my fringe guides and a coffee in hand to my first show of the Fringe at the Stand’s Comedy Club II near St Andrew’s Square to see the vivacious JoJo Bellini and her Kitchen Cabaret.

Featuring the songs of Tom Jones, JoJo will more than entertain, she will also feed.  In the course of an hour show, we were treated to soup prepared from scratch along with welsh cakes.  The songs are cleverly intertwined with the cooking and memories of Jo Jo’s Grandfather who was Welsh…

Butter, yes butter, features heavily in the show.  And not perhaps always in the way you might imagine.  Plenty of audience interaction serves to provide a show that did at times have me belly laughing at slap stick moments of pure cabaret.  Had JoJo been any less enthusiastic, the whole thing may have come across as naff but her energy transforms the show.  She gives it her all: singing, cooking and a good amount of sweat order to entertain you for the mere price of a couple of drinks.  What’s not to love? A cracking show to start the season, reminding me exactly what the fringe is about; people dying to share their love of the pure art of entertainment.

Jane Pendry is The Plus One’s Director in Edinburgh.  She is borderline obsessive about good food. Having spent a year travelling she has returned to her home town to pursue her passions for exciting events, food and writing. Follow Jane at www.ediblerambles.com 

£8 (£6) JoJo Bellini’s Kitchen Cabaret

Each day at 13:20 (except 15 August)

Disclosure – The Plus Ones were invited as kind guests of Premier