Glasgow West End Dining and Drinking by Roy Beers
Find out what the restaurateurs are planning and what's new and wonderful on the Glasgow Eating and Drinking Scene.
absolutely no-one has more lowdown than Roy Beers.
February, 2010
Beers for Souvenirs
Despite my genuine affection for the products of our sponsor, Innis & Gunn, I hadn't actually consumed an I&G for a week or two, and intent on getting a couple in for the weekend I made the habitual trip to Waitrose - where I was pleased to find the hugely popular Rum limited edition in stock.
And, since I mentioned a while back that despite its well-advertised determination to stock quality Scottish products Waitrose was (with a few notable exceptions) pretty dull, drinks-wise, I was also delighted to see things have moved a great deal forward in the beer department.
There's still a superabundance of bland English standard brands, which I doubt can be shifting terribly quickly, but besides the genuine quality also on offer - for example Fuller's - there are also many more quality Scottish beers on offer.
I won't run through the whole list, but a take-home minicask of Stewart's ale from Edinburgh - which has a growing cachet as the thinking drinker's alternative to the ubiquitous Deuchar's - was a very refreshing change from the ordinary. Jacobite ale from Traquair was there too, besides some of the best beers from Sinclair Breweries, and Inveralmond.
Meanwhile steady success for the core Innis & Gunn Original beer has led to several quality Glasgow outlets asking if they can stock some of the variants, and not only the Rum version. You'll find Original and Blonde in major supermarkets (and Rum in Waitrose), and if you root around in some of the better bar outlets you may be lucky to find some of the well-regarded Canadian Cask variant (brewed to celebrate Canada Day, and to reward Canadians for their huge enthusiasm for quality Scottish beer).
Limited edition batches available in the UK market also include IPA and Triple Matured, each with its own distinct taste credentials, but since we are talking craft rather than mass production you won't find all of these available all of the time.
But I do happen to know some of the best places locally for sourcing Innis & Gunn, and these range from Oran Mor, which I understand typically carries the whole range, to first class offsales and beer specialist The Cave at Kelvinbridge - which from a beer point of view is surely the best shop in the west of Scotland.
You'll also find Limited Edition variants at Uisge Beatha in Woodlands Road, and at the Lismore in Partick, as well as in the Bon Accord at Charing Cross (a pub which does a sterling job on beer generally). Back in licensed grocers, it's also worth checking out Peckham's.
Meanwhile we've received a despatch from the splendid Kinloch Lodge on Skye, run by noted cookery writer Lady Claire MacDonald, who takes that whole quality Scottish products thing very seriously indeed.
Full marks to this establishment for doing in practice what we beer aficionados have been battering on about for years - making a decent selection of beers available as well as the customary wine offer.
In fact various beers are matched with particular dishes they're reckoned to partner particularly well, and in Innis & Gunn's case the dish of choice is a seafood extravaganza. Oddly enough I haven't yet tried this particular combination, as in this rather grim winter weather the general inclination is frequently towards a hearty meat dish (assuming you're a carnivore), but the picture in this section - reminding me of the west coast, balmy and scarcely-believable summers of yesteryear, Arisaig, Tarbert Loch Fyne ... sort of put me in the mood.
Dining in at Mother India
Regular readers of this column will be aware we don't really do "reviews", as such, beyond occasionally asserting that such-and-such a place is consistently good, or that it's interesting and imaginative ... or offers a particularly enticing dish. Instead we like to draw attention to new and potentially engaging arrivals on the dining and drinking scene, and pass on the sort of information you'd probably find out all by yourself sooner or later.
However there are exceptions, and while I've no intentions of writing a "review" of Dining In at Mother India (Argyle St, diagonally opposite Kelvingrove), I did venture there very recently for what turned out to be the best Indian meal I can remember in many years.
The concept is of course a chip off the same block as parent venture Mother India (and the Wee Curry Shops), but in a setting which invites questions and discussion about the cuisine even more than in these other restaurants.
At first sight there's nothing remarkable about the place at all. It has a comfortable "cafe" feel to it, and the decor - much as with the Wee Curry Shops - is restrained and unpretentious, but rather cosy. The music playing is, much hackneyed word, "eclectic", and seems pitched at just the right volume to be of interest without getting in the way of conversation.
Apart from the slim but choice dining-in menu there's also a full takeaway menu and a chiller cabinet full of microwaveable Dining In readymade dishes. One nice little touch here is a selection of Fentiman's soft drinks to choose from, because I'd long decided that Fentiman's ginger beer was the perfect accompaniment to Indian food, as is (depending on the dish) its lemonade.
The staff service is exemplary, managing the difficult feat of running a busy shop while engaging in pleasant (and informed) conversation about the cuisine, and what particular dishes are all about.
Being "attentive" when help and information is required and elsewhere when it isn't is something of a waitering art - and at Dining In they have it down to a tee.
It's unusual, too, to have a waitress-manager who not only knows all about the food but is also very obviously passionate about it in a totally genuine way - and able to convey all of that in a few well-chosen phrases.
So it's a nice place (bring your own bottle if you want to drink alcohol) with friendly, intelligent staff, but what about the food?
I read occasional reviews of new city centre ventures and ask myself why most of them bother - other than to make a few quid from the undiscerning. This place is the berries. A single spoonful of a Dining In chicken curry (for the sake of argument) makes you feel almost daft for having dined at some of the more average establishments among Glasgow's seething Indian restaurant scene.
It's a bit old-fashioned to ask for pakora as a starter, and I don't think they were even on the menu, but out of curiosity I asked if there was any going and was presently served a portion of mixed pakora, as light as air and as unlike the stodgy standard fare of years gone by as can be. The fish pakora (something I've never previously much fancied) was so exquisite we ordered two portions to take home to enjoy next day.
Everything else about that meal was superlative, from its low key but confident presentation to its astonishing repertoire of subtle flavours and textures.
Meanwhile it's nice to see that the Edinburgh branch of Mother India (in Infirmary Street) has just won the Indian Restaurant of the Year award, beating some fairly stiff competition - the only example of a Glasgow-based Indian restaurant enterprise registering a resounding success in the capital that I'm aware of.
I could rattle on about Dining In all night, and go into much more detail about the cuisine (but have a look at their website and you'll get the general idea about what's on offer), but my final point on this one, at least this time, is how utterly reasonable it all is.
Many restaurants of the sort which feel entitled to have a guid conceit about themselves bung a few quid on to the prices, and perhaps etch the menus with gold filigree, but at Dining In the prices are absolutely average.
For our fairly lavish meal for two that night, albeit we didn't drink, we spent more or less exactly the same as we would have at a restaurant offering a much less memorable experience.
It emphatically is not the sort of place, then, which you would only visit for a special treat, and is well within the range of even modest budgets.
I know from a previous conversation with owner and all-round Indian chef extraordinaire Monir Mohammed that there are no plans to greatly expand the current collection of around nine outlets (including Edinburgh), because they are not a "chain" in any conventional sense and his feeling is that quality could be under pressure.
I don't know if Dining In is the best Indian restaurant in Glasgow, but it is certainly well-placed within an elite list of maybe a dozen which are "serious" Indian food propositions, and is one I'd cheerfully recommend to absolutely anyone.
"Scuzzy" Argyle Street
I had a chortle about the most recent chattering-classes restaurant review in the Herald's Saturday magazine, where bouquets and brickbats are regularly dished out with apparent equal enthusiasm.
This week it was about the Athena Taverna in Argyle Street - immediately adjacent to Crabshakk - but said very little about either the restaurant or its cuisine, offering us for example the fact that the cuisine, in this Greek restaurant, was "Greek" ... which sort of implies once you've been to one Greek restaurant you've been to them all. There are certainly loads of common reference points and standards in Greek cuisine, exactly as with Italian or (most) Spanish restaurants, but they're certainly not all the same. I still haven't found a good Sfakian goat stew in Glasgow ...
The Athena Taverna, run by the grandson of the chap who ran the original (and sadly missed) Taverna in Pollokshaws Road boasts a traditional family kitchen ethos, and anecdotal reports I've had from friends who are seldom wrong suggest it's a cut above the average. I'll explore it as soon as I get the chance.
But most of the review centred on the alarming frequency with which ventures have been launched and then disappeared in the could-be Restaurants Heaven of Argyle Street, although it fairly pointed out that Fanny Trollope's is a "stayer", one with a massive and under-publicised reputation.
It also called Argyle Street itself "scuzzy" - which sounds vaguely Italian - and I sort of know what is meant here. Depending on your point of view it's a traditional Glasgow shopping street or part of an "improving area", and boasts some not-very-attractive shop fronts which add character or lower the tone ... depending on your point of view.
From personal experience I know traders are on the whole guardedly optimistic about the area's future, which I think would be booming by now had it not been for the rude interruption of the recession.
The Herald reviewer (Ron McKenna), rightly observes there are some "jumping" bars in the area, for example Lebowski's, the Ben Nevis and The Goat - all three of these are very different one from another too - and I've said myself several times that the street should really be seen as part of an "area", like Woodlands, since literally two minutes' walk round the corner brings you to places like Big Slope, Mother India and Konaki which are all, in their own particular ways, superb.
Ron had asked someone if they knew what the Athena site had been in its most recent incarnation, and was left guessing ... wrongly, as it happens.
In fact the immediately preceding venture was Andre's Bistrot, before which it was the short-lived Kelvingrove Cafe.
I can't remember what was going on in there before that - it has a more complex history, possibly, than the seven cities of Troy.
Ron seemed to think this chequered past presaged a tricky time ahead for Athena, but I'd cautiously suggest the new owner has arrived with the right concept at the right place and the right time.
However, he's right in that the whole area would benefit from some sort of marketing and improvement "action plan", and could easily be "developed" as a destination venue for visitors - and in peak season there are always several hundred visitors from overseas staying at local hotels, nearby, even before you consider Glaswegians looking for somewhere a bit different to their usual weekend haunts.
Sadly, however, the city council is in the throes of painful cutbacks, entailing job losses, and while it has assiduously developed visitor traffic for the city centre and its shopping attractions has done absolutely zero for the west end - still less poor old scuzzy Argyle Street
At the moment the area is still something of a guilty secret, not quite sure whether it's arriving on the map or stuck in permanent shabby genteel limbo.
It has a different problem from the potentially excellent nexus of streets around the Tron Theatre (King St, Parnie St), where art galleries, collectors' shops and print studios suffer from proximity to the occasionally downright dangerous Saltmarket.
But it does at least have established local assets and the capacity to generate more,
and every time a bar, restaurant or cafe stays the course the whole proposition gets a little stronger.
Much more on the individual outlets in this hidden jewel of Glasgow dining in future columns.
West End Persian Cafe
The oddest dining experience I've had recently was in the West End Cafe at Kelvinbridge, which many will remember as Trattoria Trevi of years gone by.
Aware that it was being relaunched and was "new", in some sense, I dropped in one day to see what was on offer.
There were no menus in view that day, and when I asked for one I was just a tad surprised to be handed a completely Persian menu - not just a couple of token dishes, either, but a complete repertoire of starters and mains from the land of Omar Khayyam.
Bamboozled by choice, and recovering rapidly from the discovery that my cuisine options had fled Italy in the direction of the Persian Gulf, I opted for Zereshk Polo Ba Morgh - chargrilled chicken breast served with saffron rice, forest berries, pistachio and almonds. I loved it, particularly the sultanas in the exquisitely prepared rice.
Unless I am very wrong sultanas are anathema to Indian rice cookery, which is odd given the near proximity and culinary interaction of Indian and Persian cuisine styles,
and I now want to find "how they do that", by way of getting the consistency of each constituent ingredient exactly right. The chicken fell off the bone and was clearly the product of a sophisticated marinade.
A creamy and reassuringly slightly sour home made yoghurt was offered as a complimentary side dish, and it rounded off a very tasty surprise lunch.
There's much more I could say about the Persian options, which many lamb dishes (as you'd expect) but - apart from appetisers - no vegetarian dishes - however on further investigation it turns out this venture also has a full traditional breakfast menu, even including the appalling but ever-popular roll and Forlorne sausage, and has also since launched a quite separate prix fixes lunch menu, at two courses for £7.25p.
This has options such as that old French standard coq au vin, braised duck leg, a homemade beef and lamb burger (with chunky chips), and pine nut linguini.
There are also side dishes of rosemary and garlic foccacia, mozzarella and basil salad, and garlic bread, while starters include chorizo cous cous in a spicy tomato sauce with crusty bread.
The new incarnation is obviously still finding its feet, and there may be some new flourishes to the menus since I visited, but unless they've done it already I'd strongly recommend putting something really overt in the window to advertise the Persian cuisine, which is the star of the show.
Meanwhile farther up Great Western Road at the foot of Cecil Street the former Aladdin's takeaway and cafe (which did a very nice chicken kebab) is reopening as Persia ... so, added to Paradise on Kelvinbridge (and for that matter Sherezade deli in Bank Street; and the Persian cafe in Partick) we're suddenly being treated to a whole "new" cuisine.
We've also got Mediterraneo in Byres Road, a cafe-restaurant which offers a superb Turkish mezes among its many other attractions.
Last time I called, however, I had a burger and chips, it being a freezing cold day, and it was first class in every way - including its accompanying salad.
It reminded me not a little of the fabulous fare (including burgers, dim sums, etc) to be found at Lily's Cafe (run by the talented Lily Sung) in Ingram Street.
Nowy Polski sklep
Eh? It means "new Polish shop", if you can't read Polish, and it's at 142 Queen Margaret Drive. After studying the indecipherable entries on its leaflet for a minute I realised the whole thing appeared in English on the other side - and the offer includes fresh Polish bread delivered daily, sweet rolls, traditional sausages, freshly prepared fish, home made pierogi and bigos, and a wide selection of ready meals, herbs, sweets, juices and "lots more, at a low low price".
This sounds like a very welcome new arrival, complementing the Polish deli in Hyndland Street, and of course also adds to the area's now incredible selection of high quality delis with the added attraction of a distinct national cuisine to enjoy exploring. It's open 11am to 6pm Monday to Saturday, and is closed on Sundays.
Literary Quiz Night
Among many other things the West End is cornering the market in exotic pub quizzes.
For example at Uisge Beatha in Woodlands Road (where substantial cash prizes can be won some weeks) part of the contest also includes gaining a particular score on the dartboard.
But (again back on the Argyle Street beat) The 78 in Kelvinhaugh Street has come up with a genuine Something Completely Different for its quiz night on Tuesday, March 9 (at 8.30pm).
It's a literary quiz night, which sounds a bit intimidating but might be fun, and all the proceeds go towards Oxfam's continuing work in Haiti.
All are welcome (so you do not in fact have to be an English Lit undergraduate, though it may help), and teams can be any size. There will be prizes on the night, too, with a raffle for a special prize.
January, 2010
Cheers to the field leader
Nice to see, at the very start of the year, our column's sponsor being treated to most of a page in The Herald, in the course of a major feature in which Innis & Gunn main man Dougal Sharp - buoyed by astronomic sales success in key overseas markets - convincingly made the case that his products are leading the growth of what I'd call the deluxe premium beer market.
Thankfully normal service appears to have been restored at main local "off sales" outlet, Waitrose, following a festive buying spree that left the shelves temporarily Innis & Gunn-less at a critical juncture of the holiday period, but of course there are now a fair number of above-average bar-restaurant ventures where you can sit in to enjoy one - for example Oran Mor, Bobar, Booly Mardi's; and that's just the top of Byres Road.
It's no exaggeration to say the beer has surpassed all expectations in places like Canada where quality Scottish products can expect to do well.
One Canadian (Winnipeg Free Press) food and drink columnist gave this piece of advice to his readers on the run-up to Hogmanay:
"If wine just ain't your thing, there are a whole bunch of interesting options for popping at midnight (or earlier), especially in the beer world. There's the Innis & Gunn Triple Matured Oak Aged Beer.
"It's dark brown in the glass, with lovely vanilla and spice on the nose thanks to the complex ageing process. While fairly heavy and chewy, the nutty caramel and oaky flavours are delicious and surprisingly soft - although at 7.2 per cent alcohol, make sure you pace yourself. Limited quantities - get it now."
Sound advice, I think, at home or abroad.
Blythe Spirits
Talking of good publicity I see that the Blind Pig in Byres Road - recently treated to a fairly sniffy review in The Herald's Saturday magazine - is currently revelling in the glory of yet another but very different review which puts that earlier put-down somewhat in context.
The Pig, in short, has been awarded the Order of the Blythman, an accolade few actively seek but which is nonetheless all the more welcome when it happens.
I'm referring to the doyenne of the Scottish restaurant reviewing game, Joanna Blythman, who (to my mind) appears to take great relish - albeit probably not Yorkshire Relish - in demolishing an establishment brick by brick if it does not meet her particular ideas about inventive cuisine and high standards.
There it is in the window: a facsimile of her review of the place, in which she appears to be making it clear that she puts this ambitious bar-restaurant venture in the same sort of quality league as Tom Kitchin's wildly popular Kitchin venture in Edinburgh.
I suppose she is saying the food ethos of these two presumably very different venues is in the same ballpark, in some important way, and whether or not she is correct it's interesting to see what is still, after all, a high street pub, winning such plaudits. It seems hardly any time since this site, the former Whistler's Mother, was lying moribund and boarded up, and its elevation from disaster area to critically-lauded hotspot is very encouraging.
Other local restaurants which have successfully garnered an Order of the Blythman award include Pinxto, the Basque-leaning tapas bar honed to stunning success by veteran West End operator Allan Mawn - whose wholly different venture next door,
Velvet Elvis, also appears to be going from strength to strength.
Taste "The Flavour"
The lady behind new venture The Flavour Co on Great Western Road close to Bank Street at Kelvinbridge deserves a Blythman award herself - and she only opened last Wednesday.
I have to confess I know the background to this concept, and was sort of vaguely aware what its enterprising and enthusiastic owner had in mind.
But it was a delight last week to see the wee shop that once upon a time hosted long-gone Aziza, and then a clothes shop, bursting back into life as something genuinely "different".
There's a strong emphasis on "healthy" ingredients - whether you're buying wholesome soup or some of the shop's delightful little cakes - but prices are extremely shopper-friendly.
Nestled in between Strawberry Fields kids' clothing shop and the Achilles Heel Sports Injury Clinic, and just opposite The Coach House Trust, it's a small but very attractive take on the sit-in-cafe with takeaway deli concept - you could call it "a sandwich shop" but that doesn't do it justice.
The food is ace. I have tried soup, couscous, wrap, sandwiches and cakes - not all in one go - but the coffee may well be the star of the show.
Despite the small size of the venue, the coffee really is excellent and can be taken away in biodegradable Ripple Cups or sipped inside as you perch on a barstool at the window, watching the world go by. The owners strive to serve quality fresh food that will make you feel good without feeling bloated - freshly-made sandwiches, delicious hot soups, fresh fruit salads, fruit smoothies and freshly-bottled juices. And for a touch of indulgence there are the most delicious cakes, all made locally.
Out of Africa
I haven't had a chance to sample the novel (to me) cuisine of The Queen of Sheba Abyssinian restaurant in Georges Road, just yet, but a glance at its menu the other day certainly captured my interest.
Without really knowing anything much about the venue, which is very new, I'm nevertheless impressed that the owners haven't felt tempted to regale diners with a huge and complicated menu. Instead there's a tight but probably well-chosen representative sample of all the main bases in the Ethiopian/Abyssinian culinary repertoire.
The first observation worth making is that if you like lamb, you're quids in. This is obviously the main meat dish of choice, with a dozen or so lamb-themed entrees; there's also Merek, a spicy lamb-based soup, which sounds interesting.
I suppose once upon a time "Chicken Bhoona" sounded exotic, whereas it's now on a par with mince and tatties as regards familiarity, but there's a journey of discovery waiting to be made at this place - Zilzil Tibs, for example, turns out to be strips of lamb in Awaze sauce.
What's Awaze sauce? I haven't a clue, except that it is predictably spicy and is made into a marinade with Ethiopian honey wine, or Tej, and cooked with garlic and onions.
I spent years guzzling all sorts of exotic beverages when I worked for the old Booze News, but Ethiopian honey wine sadly passed me by - I don't think you'd even find it in Waitrose.
I dare say this sort of marinade, and the fiery Berbere sauce, have been on the go for a thousand years, maybe longer, but haven't been on sale in a Glasgow restaurant until now.
Other entrees include beef dishes, hot chicken dish Dora Wot, a plenitude of vegetarian options, and - perhaps the best choice for newbies - Mahberawa. This is a mixed platter (price £15) which includes samples of most of the other dishes on the menu ... an Abyssinian Mezes, in fact.
More on this beguiling new arrival (which is decked out with African-style rattan furniture) in future issues.
Athena Reborn
Once there was the Athena Taverna in Pollokshaws Road, of blessed memory - curiously also one of only a very few outlets in the south side mentioned in the Good Beer Guide - but that characterful outpost of Hellenic culture vanished when the Cypriot owner retired; and in these parts the nearest exemplar of Greek cuisine resides in Langside (just off Battlefield Road), where you'll find the time-honoured and still hugely popular Greek Golden Kebab restaurant.
Meanwhile back in the West End, where (another Order of the Blythman award) Konaki Taverna has been waving the blue and white flag for Greece for maybe ten years now, it is arguably very encouraging to see the words "Athena Taverna" revived in a completely new venture just around the corner from Konaki.
It opened in December, and the limited feedback I have received has been very positive.
All the familiar classic taverna dishes are there, from souvlaki skewers to rich beef stew stefado, the time-honoured moussaka and the keftedes meatballs.
Besides the a la carte option there are some set menus - the lunch option is £7.50,
Monday to Saturday from noon to 2.30pm; pre-theatre (Monday to Friday) is from
5pm to 6.30pm, priced £9.95; and there's also an evening set menu, served Sunday to Thursday, from 6.30pm till late.
The wine list is fairly elaborate, spanning assorted New World and some classic old world options, besides some Greek choices - of which Othello is probably the best-known brand name (in fact the first time I saw this particular wine was in a Turkish restaurant). One of the others is from Santorini, the windmill-clad volcanic island off Crete.
Athena is at 1116 Argyle St, immediately next door to Crabshak, and marks the latest welcome dining arrival in this steadily-improving neck of the woods.
Korean Magic
A little farther along the same road (heading towards town), the restaurant formerly called Kokoryo has now mysteriously changed its name to Shilla, which turns out to be the name of one of three historic kingdoms of ancient Korea. I know this because a poster in the window informs us of Korean history and legend in some detail - including the story of a ruler reputedly born from a goose egg - although not why there's a new name for a restaurant which in every other particular appears to be doing the same job as before.
The only way to solve this mystery is clearly to pay an early visit.
Despite its strong Korean credentials, with a cuisine markedly different from Far East neighbours China and Japan, there's also a sizeable sushi offer here - including a Sushi "to go" deal.
Service with a Smile
Nobody ever really recognises staff service properly - I mean when it's good - and that's perhaps particularly the case with pub staff.
So congratulations to everybody who works at any of three O'Neill's chain pubs in the city which I've visited; in Sauchiehall St, Queen St (almost on George Square) and Merchant Square.
Of course gourmet diners will cock a snook at the suggestion that you can have a good dining experience in a chain pub, but in fact everything about the offer in this unusually long-lasting themed tribute to the Emerald Isle works surprisingly well - hence, perhaps, the longevity.
I've visited all three within the last three or four months, the Queen St branch most recently, and the staff, from pretty wee lassies to big bears of men, are unfailingly helpful, friendly and efficient.
People who apologise for taking a few minutes to serve when they're clearly busy with two lots of previous customers, adding "I'll be with you very shortly" with a reassuring smile, deserve praise.
Now and then you still get the opposite kind of treatment in less well-managed ventures - grudging and unsmiling service from someone who'd rather be writing The Great Scottish Novel than serving you, the only customer.
Meanwhile the actual O'Neill's product is a generous high-quality pub grub offer which excels in managing the simplest things well - as in "classic burger".
Of course it's not "Stravaigin", but as a workaday fall in out of the rain sort of place it does its job with consistent flair and flourish.
The fish and chips I had in the Sauchiehall St outlet a while back was a memorable treat on a cold day. They kept me waiting about 15 minutes and apologised fulsomely - and they needn't have bothered because it had clearly been prepared to order.
Meanwhile in the West End at least there's Jinty's in Ashton Lane, the only pub I'm aware of which regales you with quotes from Oscar Wilde emblazoned in gold on its dark wood partitions.
It's arguably an Irish bar in the "true" sense, with a long pedigree of quality live folk music and a varied and interesting food offer too, as I recall.
Nick at the Hydro
Readers who couldn't get rid of all their spending money no matter how hard they tried over Christmas might do worse than take a wee trip up to Dunblane from around next month.
That's where one of the "biggest" names ever to grace the West End circuit has decided to pitch his culinary tent - in a venue synonymous with opulence and aspirational living.
Dunblane Hydro has been revamped and effectively relaunched, at a cost of zillions, and a core element of the relaunch centres, inevitably, on the food offer.
It's to be the responsibility of Nick Nairn's, who ran the eponymous restaurant near Charing Cross before sensationally packing it in to be able to spend more time with his young family.
The venue was taken over by an operator who had done very well in Giffnock, but it didn't have a chance to gather speed in the crowded West End, sadly.
Now Nick - who more recently has been regularly on the telly in a couple of the better celebrity cookery programmes - is Back, with a capital B.
He is to be the grand conductor of a Dunblane food offer which will revolve around his showpiece restaurant, Nick Nairn at the Kailyard, aiming to produce stunning dishes (including some of his own regular favourites) based on the best natural Scottish produce that he can find.
He will be cooking some of the time himself, in person - and these promise to be suitably theatrical and tasty occasions - but most of his work will be tied up in directing every aspect of the food and drink offer, aiming to ensure conference guests or hotel guests are never offered a merely average dining experience.
Very posh and ambitious ventures of this sort aren't really my main interest, which is more about finding the above-average within the apparently mainstream, but I like the idea of a man who made his name in the West End going on to still bigger things - it has the capacity to do for the reputation of cuisine in Scotland what Gordon Ramsay simply couldn't manage in the unfamiliar milieu of Glasgow.
Quite regardless of this column's some generic fascination with all things edible we'll have more reports of how Nick's grand venture is progressing in future months.
Fast Food Special
I'm glad nobody has asked me to provide a definitive study of West End fast food outlets and cafes within the last five years, because for a while they seemed to be changing hands every five minutes.
Again, for snook-cockers everywhere, I'm sorry that Louis' Bistro in Gibson Street didn't work, particularly as it certainly deserved to, but nevertheless pleased that after many months of hammering and sawing this site has re-emerged as .... Chicken Cottage.
This venture, as the name suggests, is all about chicken; burgers, wings, kebabs, wraps - or even a whole flame- grilled chicken.
There are also some barbecue specials along the lines of bbq lamb ribs, a fish burger, a veggie wrap, and all manner of side orders such as apple pie, potato wedges ... the sort of stuff which seems a great idea if you're a student wending your way home from an evening of revelry very late at night (when you should have been studying).
In the interests of science I nipped in, freezing cold, on one of the days when there was about a foot of snow outside.
Obviously the place is very new, but I was immediately struck by how pristine and well-presented everything seemed, without the (to me) plastic toytown look of the big international fast food chains.
The staff, clearly in promotional mode, were treating customers like habitues at Rogano, and the presentation had a sort of Japanese bento-box feel to it: all signs of an outfit trying to do a very mainstream job to an above-average standard - which I rate higher than almost anything else.
The promotional literature for Chicken Cottage - a brand with a relative handful of outlets in the UK, but with restaurants in about eight other countries - suggests you should "taste the secret", and it's obviously not a secret known to that well-known colonel.
The coffee machine hadn't arrived when I called, so I made do with a rather nice cup of tea, but I'm assured it will be very much better than anything you'd expect in a fast food joint - conceivably a smart move, this - and will retail at around £1.30p a cup.
Chicken Cottage is a halal brand, too, meaning the mainly younger Muslims who like Western-style fast food culture can dine with confidence, and between the immediate local area and visiting students that's probably a lot of people.
I suppose I would rather have seen this site becoming Glasgow's first Guatemalan bistro - or maybe an Argentinian tango bar - but on balance I'm just glad somebody has found a promising use for a floundering restaurant location.
Meanwhile, and you read it here first, the Cypriot owner of the venture is meditating upon the launch of a Greek restaurant in the basement, which would combine two radically different ventures in one interesting slice of Gibson Street.
Chilli Grill
Back at Charing Cross, the big restaurant site right on the corner (next to Cafe Salma on one side, and The Black Sparrow on North Street), has finally found its latest operator - it has previously had incarnations ranging from Chinese to Spanish, and none have flourished.
This latest one may strike a chord with the younger crowd in the area, based on grills with umpteen different chilli sauce variants, and like Chicken Cottage is all-halal, and part of an expanding chain.
It's called Chilli Grill - "Halal Peri Peri Grill House" - and on further inspection turns out to be another interesting take on the fast food outlet: fresh not frozen chicken, options like buffalo steaks, the ever-popular beef burgers, pizzas, and some fairly interesting side-dish options (eg corn on the cob basted with peri peri paste): it seems a conscious attempt to pitch straight at the mass market by aiming a few feet above the mega-brands of the business.
Shape of things to come
So are we being over-run with fast food restaurants, and is West End dining plunging down the vertiginous slope to obloquy and despair?
I don't think so, but in these recessionary times there is clearly a grim battle for survival being waged - from the plush restaurant to the chip shop.
We've never had such variety, nor value, thanks to the desperate competition, nor have we ever seen such a heavy casualty rate among those who can't quite cut the mustard.
However at what I like to think of as being the "quality" end - the sort of place you go for your one special meal of the week, perhaps; or for an occasion - things are far from hopeless.
The people behind The Left Bank and Two Figs are about to launch a third venture in the Merchant City, where it's almost bound to do well; and the relaunched Number 16 appears to play to a full house every night.
There's Stravaigin and its somewhat different Ruthven Lane sister, Stravaigin 2; the Sisters, Fanny Trollope's, Mother India ... at a wild guess there are maybe 40 or more venues across all sectors which could be cheerfully recommended to your visiting cousins from Australia as great West End restaurants.
Much more on these in future weeks.
December, 2009
Yuletide Yuill
Greetings of the season to regular drinking and dining reader Gordon Yuill, an accomplished restaurant operator still probably best known as the one-time main man at iconic Glasgow venue Rogano ... who has also run what was a very successful West End venture (Gordon Yuill & Co).
He tells me he has just clocked up his first year of trading at south side venture the Merrylee Bar and Kitchen, which has earned some sparkling reviews - for example from Allan Brown in Sunday Times.
From time to time we do mention outlets outwith the West End (another south side outlet well worth visiting is the Clockwork Beer Company pub in Cathcart), and while there is literally no shortage of places to explore locally it can be refreshing to see some of the better options in other areas of the city, just for a change - and this one, judging from comments about its engaging and occasionally daring menu, appears well worth a visit.
Gunning for Success
Now is as good a time as any to say a few words about our sponsor, pukka beer firm Innis & Gunn, whose policy of stealthily building up sales on the back of a portfolio of top bars and restaurants has clearly paid off very handsomely.
In fact the Edinburgh-based independent beer company has sold no less than five million bottles in the past 12 months, an increase of 50 per cent over the same period last year, which in these recessionary times is nothing short of remarkable.
A substantial part of the success is through excellent sales in key overseas markets, for example Canada and Sweden; there's even a Canada-only variant.
However while the company strategy of developing volume through sales abroad has been highly successful, it's only in the last year the team have begun to careful seed their product into what are seen as the "right" Scottish bars and restaurants.
Stunning success has followed .It appears to bear out what owner Dougal Sharp has consistently argued - which is that while people are inevitably being more careful with their money they are tending to be more discriminating about what they buy when they do spend it.
Those who choose not to go out so often still have the option of a high quality drink at home, while in the West End there are now several upper end bars where you'll find Innis and Gunn as a regular fixture.
These include, for example, Uisge Beatha in Woodlands Rd, Oran Mor, Chinaski's, The Black Sparrow, Republic Bierhalle at Kelvinbridge and the Wee Pub at the Chip (for which latter venue, a miniature gem of a venue, it could almost have been created): and there are a couple of high profile new stockists too (see below)
.Yo ho ho
Innis & Gunn is usually associated with whisky casks, but you may be lucky to find one of its unique limited bottling variants - in which the beer has been finished in barrels which previously contained Navy rum. It is a winning combination, and while my personal favourite remains the "standard" Innis & Gunn, of which there is nothing ordinary at all, the rum variant offers a fascinating taste counterpoint many I&G fans will certainly enjoy. Incidentally if haven't already read our linked page about Innis & Gunn - which has some excellent serving-with-food suggestions and much other information, just click on the logo on this page and all will be revealed.
You'll find, for example, that new West End stockists of Innis & Gunn now include Bobar, the Michael Dunn-designed Hilton-related outlet at the top of Byres Road, whose manager Gordon has a thing about premium drinks; and it's also in Booly Mardy's in Vinicombe Street - both excellent examples of the kind of establishment where you expect to find quality products across all categories.
Meanwhile in another of Glasgow's "quality zones", the Merchant City - more specifically, Candleriggs, Innis & Gunn can now be enjoyed in Bar 91 and the Beer Cafe, which is owned by the Febors brothers - who once also ran The Mitre bar, of blessed memory, in Brunswick Lane. Sadly it fell victim to the subsidence affecting property there, and is now just a folk memory.
Anyway, the Beer Cafe has its own particular allure, occupying a spot which backs into Merchant Square and its miscellany of bars and restaurants, and is the sort of high profile spot where you want visitors to be able to find the best.
Added to all its existing Glasgow outlets - all carefully chosen - this means a complaint from a friend of mine that "trouble is you can never seem to find it" is no longer true: but at the same you will never come across it in just any old outlet: again, just click the link-logo above and you'll get an up-to-date list of where it is gracing bar counters at the moment.
Wonder of Waitrose?
All this talk of beer, arguably an unsurprising topic to hear about from a writer named Beers, in a column sponsored by a beer firm, brings me to the food retail sensation of the year - the much-trumpeted opening of Waitrose in the former Somerfield at the top of Byres Rd.
Its beer selection has a prominent facing for - yes, that's right - Innis & Gunn, as you'd expect from a store which makes a fuss about top quality products; and I know for a fact that it has been selling extremely well there. I also know somebody who nipped in and bought a job lot for Christmas while the store had its opening discount offer on; but even at full whack, and even in Waitrose, it remains an affordable treat which really comes into its own in winter, when strong and subtle brews enjoyed carefully and slowly are a splendid way of driving the chill from one's bones.
But what about the other beer? I'm not hugely impressed, even if they have managed to get some things right. There's a large selection of Young Folks' Foreign Picnic Lager - I won't name the brand names, in case their owners cut up rough, but you know the sort of thing I mean. Standard brands in their own country, they are retailed as exotic products from Abroad, and `though perfectly ordinary - and often produced in gigantic factories to satisfy huge regional mass markets - consumers here are given the idea that they are incredibly special. It would be a bit like finding Tunnock's Tea Cakes sold abroad with the same sort of mystique attached to them as wild truffles.
However that's not really a gripe. Since Vicky Wine turned up its toes, along with Thresher's, the number of places where you can actually buy non-standard beers is now surprisingly low in the West End: Oddbins and The Cave come to mind (The Cave is easily the best in the area), but after that you're struggling - so Waitrose does have the opportunity to plug an obvious gap in the market.
Sad, then, that despite Innis & Gunn rightly being given prime space so few other Scottish quality beers in any sector are available. Last time I looked there were a couple of choices from Inveralmond of Perth; Latitude from what's now Sinclair Breweries in Kinlochleven (and Orkney), and Schiehallion from Harviestoun - but no Bitter and Twisted from the same brewer, even although at 3.8% abv it is much more sessionable than Schiehallion and an obvious counterpoint to Deuchars, which does the same sort of 3.8% job in its particular way. I would hate to think B&T is missing simply because the (ubiquitous) Deuchars is on sale. Or maybe there's a rotating programme and B&T will pop up soon enough.
There are one or two others, but for some reason most of the Scottish beer space is given over to Belhaven standard products, and also beers like Greene King IPA from Belhaven's English owner - a 3.8% beer which doesn't belong in the same shop as a decent session ale like B&T; it isn't dreadful, it just isn't remarkable in any way at all.
English beers are very well represented (obviously because of UK-wide distribution deals) and it's nice to see previously hard-to-find stalwarts like Fuller's on offer. But again the choice strays into somewhat standard territory, most obviously with Shepherd Neame's Spitfire; and Hobgoblin. The unloved and dull Old Speckled Hen is there too.
And as somebody who is happy to go shopping for food and drink in all sorts of places, large and small, I couldn't help noticing that both Spitfire and Hobgoblin are currently on special offer at Lidl - a store which occupies the exact opposite position on the prices spectrum from Waitrose - at #1 per bottle. I can't remember the Waitrose price for exactly the same product, but I guarantee it was rather different.
Still, it's early days, and trial and error will probably soon disclose which products actually sell to discerning beer drinkers (and we have to assume Waitrose attracts discerning drinkers) - but at the moment it's "5 out of 10; must try harder".
Meanwhile no sooner had I finished an earlier piece saying the people of Eastwood had tried and failed to get their own Waitrose than the firm announced it was set to open its largest branch in Scotland in Eastwood - just to spite me, of course - which will be in the new Greenlaw Village scheme in Newton Mearns, and twice the size of the Byres Rd venture. Since Eastwood house prices (particularly in Mearns) are officially now higher than Edinburgh's, this seems only fair. Affluence has its own reward.
Shopping at Waitrose
The most obvious thing about the place is the prices, which are on a scale of "fairly dear" to "extortionate" - and most of us will have to ask ourselves searching questions such as whether we really need that tin of Breton sardines at #2.59 - or the tin of chocolate sardines at #5.99 (don't buy them - they're rotten grilled on toast).
Not every line is unique to Waitrose by any means; for example there's a range of tapas snacks which I've also seen in Morrisons and elsewhere, but, yes, there's sufficient novelty to merit a leisurely exploration of the options.
From my couple of frugal, low-spending trips there it seems microwave meals, readymade salads and other convenience foods seem particularly popular - perhaps to the chagrin of Marks and Spencer's Simply Food, which contrary to popular mythology has nevertheless not been abandoned by all its usual customers.
Plus points include a source of good meat, in an area which no longer has a butcher's shop, or even a mainstream supermarket; and a second source of fresh fish, to add to Beveridge's fish shop near the subway on Byres Rd. Over the next months we'll keep an eye on the stock, and how it changes to accommodate local buying patterns, and point out any interesting new lines which seem worth talking up.
Mediterraneo Magic
Now, finally, for some news about restaurants and cafes. Public relations success of the year award undoubtedly goes to Burak Soyuzinmez, owner of Alla Turca restaurant in Pitt Street, who has launched Mediterraneo on the site of what had been Cinnamon (and several other cafe incarnations before that).
It's effectively a cafe version of Alla Turca, but with a hefty dash of continental culinary options too, and offers Turkish treats such as full Turkish Mezes breakfast for just #5.95 - which I have tried and which I can heartily recommend, but with the warning that the food, beautifully presented, is a lot more filling than it looks. Besides the Mediterranean food options there are deluxe versions of classic snacks on offer, a full Greek breakfast (next on my to-try list), a wide range of tapas-style mezes and far too much else to list here in detail ... all served by amiable manager Ali in bright, cheerful, contemporary surroundings - that beaded curtain on the outside window adds a nice Turkish touch.
Anyway, Burak's PR success was in gaining pretty much the whole of page three one day in The Herald, in which there was also a huge picture of a lady enjoying that selfsame Full Turkish Breakfast option - which I recognised from the one I'd been served. He was quoted in great length on the development of the cafe scene, and had some very interesting opinions to pass on too.
It was a great advert for his new cafe when you consider the large number of Herald readers in the West End, and no doubt the usual broadsheet and magazine reviews will follow - it's the sort of cafe which merits a review.
The bewildering array of choices at Mediterraneo includes not only the Middle Eastern food but also coffee-and-cake options, home made soup, deluxe ciabatta and focaccio, one of the area's most wicked and varied dessert menus, and much more besides: you can check out the numerous meal deals on the website http://www.cafewestend.co.uk/ or, a lot more fun, just nip down to Byres Rd and try it for yourself; organic and fresh Scottish produce are a speciality, and all in all what we have here is one very, very different cafe in an area which can otherwise tend to be a bit "samey".
Incidentally, if you're having a sneaky-Pete look at Burak's website while at work in some grim Permanent Place of Employment be sure to turn the sound down ... unless you want to regale the whole office with jolly Mediterranean music; if you're at home, flip the volume up to "high" and enjoy it.
Del Ziri Delight
The Delight is mine, because although Pat Byrne was sort of aware of this place (and its owner, Joseph, is aware of Pat's site), I've stolen a march on her. She hasn't been in - incredible, perhaps, but true: it sometimes happens. Usually it's the other way around and she has not only tried a place but also learned the owner's entire life story before I've had a chance to get near it.
But this time the pleasure is mine, and I wish I had discovered the place earlier. Joseph, married to a Scottish lady, is from the South of France - the lucky man - and his cafe-cum-deli and also takeaway is a tribute to everything that is glorious about continental bistro culture.
I enjoyed a plate of Penne Alla Arabiatta there about a week ago, with some excellent coffee, and was about two bites into what is really a very standard Italian classic before I realised I had been served "cuisine" - the real deal.
A small but eye-catching venue in Park Road it's immediately next door to what had been Aziza and is on the site of a former antique shop - just a few doors up from another purveyor of quality food, Sonny and Vito's.
There isn't a vast amount of space inside, but it has been used very tastefully and imaginatively to create an intimate little temple of gastronomy and bonhomie that deserves serious attention, although don't all go along at once.
Inevitably French people staying in Glasgow have adopted it as a regular haunt, and Joseph tells me it can be a fun place to brush up on your conversational Francais of an evening.
There isn't a full drinks licence, because the absurd bureaucracy of the new Licensing Act (and the ridiculous expense) means that for venues like Del Ziri it simply isn't worth the hassle applying for one. And in any case it doesn't need such a thing, as you can bring your own bottle (and buy it from an excellent selection at The Cave, around the corner on Great Western Road).
More on this and other cafes in the now-booming bistroland of Kelvinbridge, where venues including Cherubini, Bay Tree and Enjoy are all pitching well above the average in their own particular ways.
Glory of Greece
Meanwhile in another continually evolving bar and bistro hot spot, west end Argyle Street, what had been Andre's Bistrot beside Crabshak - which sadly didn't last too long - should around now have become the Athena, a family-style Greek restaurant which (last time I passed) appeared to be offering a convivial family-style taverna sort of proposition. Being a fully paid up Philhellene ("I dream'd that Greece might yet be free": Byron) I aim to check this new arrival out as soon as possible, because Glasgow needs more Greek venues. Apart from Konaki, not far from this venue, Glasgow only has The Greek Golden Kebab in Battlefield, Zorba opposite the Tron steeple; and Aris in Giffnock (which isn't technically in Glasgow but close enough).
It once had the much-missed Athena Taverna on Pollokshaws Rd, but sadly the owner retired and wasn't replaced - and, wonderfully, there used to be an Alexander the Great Greek Restaurant in Stirling (also not technically Glasgow but only half an hour away in the train): but it too has gone.
So this new venture will also add a dash of Aegean culture to a road where there's no end of quality outlets (eg Kokuryo, Fanny Trollope's) but until now nothing to represent the culture of houmous and dolmades, keftedes and souvlaki. Very close by, of course, Konaki is doing a job which probably cannot be improved upon, but Argyle Street is now a discrete enough "circuit" to merit at least one Mediterranean restaurant of its own.
The African Queen
The most intriguing newbie on the scene this month has to be the about-to-open Queen of Sheba, on St George's Rd about five minutes' walk from Charing Cross at Woodlands Rd - which advises us that it is to be an Abyssinian restaurant. As far as I know there is no other restaurant in Glasgow doing African cuisine, at the moment, as in African cuisine outwith the Mahghreb: we've some excellent exponents of North African food, but nothing from the very different culinary traditions of East Africa.
Matted screens and other interior decor effects were in the process of being fitted when last I passed by, and it may even be open now; it will be fascinating to discover what sort of food is to be on offer.
It could be a serious favourite with veggies, as vegetarian dishes play a major role in Ethiopian (ie Abyssinian) cookery, according to what little I know of it from a restaurant in Amsterdam, as do rich and spicy stews. Also there's a sort of cross-over element with North African cuisine, as a spicy sauce mix called Berbere (obviously from "Berber") appears to be a equivalent to the fiery North African harissa sauce ...
but apart from that the food is a soon-to-be-solved culinary mystery to me.
Bukhara
This large Indian restaurant within the relaunched Kelvin Park Lorne Hotel has won at least one cheery review since it opened, and for sheer looks it takes some beating - no expense appears to have been spared in its rather imposing contemporary design refit - but on the strength of admittedly just one lunch (with Pat Byrne) I wouldn't be rushing back to become a regular customer.
This isn't because there's anything really wrong with it, but just because the cuisine (in my case a classic Biryani dish) doesn't have any noticeable wow factor. Pat Byrne was pleased that they were able to produce a Peshawari nan in short order and in apparently fine condition, but to me the offer appeared little different from the sort of standard Indian restaurant fare you expected to see a decade ago.
Admittedly this was a lunch deal, but these days the quality of lunches (a vital component of most restaurant's trading day) are typically on a par with the a la carte choices, representing just a slimmed-down selection of these; and if that's the case here then there's nothing much to write home about.
However the location, at a spot popular with tourists staying a few nights in Glasgow, means it could do well from guests, and perhaps particularly from the conference market - block bookings are certainly never going to be a problem.
Meanwhile, however, another Indian dining proposition has opened about five minutes' walk away opposite Kelvingrove, and it really does have something special to offer - of which more next time.
Slow Pig?
Broadsheet magazine reviews usually have something to commend them, even if you later find from your own experience that you don't wholly agree with them, but one recent write-up about the Blind Pig in Byres Road must have raised eyebrows among some operators. Most of it appeared to be a lengthy whine about the delay apparently experienced waiting for service. We were given the impression that staff couldn't be bothered, and that diners appeared to be fretting at the length of time they were having to wait for service. But there's no mention of whether the writer asked any member of staff if there was a problem, and no real idea of how long the delay really was.
Assuming it was all exactly as described, it could simply be that some sort of kitchen problem was being dealt with, and that normal service would be soon restored - we've no way of knowing. Equally we don't know whether waiting a long time happen
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