Grand cafe and saloon, 568 Dumbarton Road, Partick

The Criterion cafe, a much-loved Glasgow institution, returns to Dumbarton Road, where Allan Mawn introduced Retro styling, a contemporary menu and a fully-stocked bar

Criterion opens

Monthly Listings at Criterion

Criterion Cafe - Best Soup in Scotland

Opened October 2010

The gentrification of Partick continues with the imminent opening of Criterion, an all-day cafe-bar-restaurant sandwiched between the Glasgow Harbour development and the buzz of Byres Road. With a quirky, lovingly-sourced art deco interior and fresh, contemporary Mediterranean food, Criterion will give the west end the eclectic, easy going venue it has been waiting for.

"I wanted to create a venue that had the look of a classic Italian cafe but that offered more than frothy coffee and poky hats. So Criterion will have a gelateria and fantastic espresso but it will also have a modern menu of pizza and pasta and, of course, a licence.

"I want it to be the kind of place people can pop in for a bacon roll in the morning, a bite to eat at lunchtime, a glass of wine anytime. And we have kept the price points sensible, with most starters under £4, several pizzas and pastas under £8 and a glass of fizz for less than £4."
Allan Mawn

The original Criterion, further east along Dumbarton Road, was a classic Italian cafe, famous for its ice-cream. Mawn is taking this as his starting point and adding on freshly-baked pizzas, interesting pastas, salads and a well-chosen wine list, as well as a full bar.

He has scoured the charity shops, antique dealers and auctions of the west of Scotland to source the interior fittings that make Criterion one of the most interesting eateries in the city. The wood panelling for the walls is from the harbour master?s office in Ayr while the booths and marble soda fountain were saved from a skip outside the Moscardini Brothers? cafe in Falkirk. A restoration plasterer has been hard at work on the ornate cornice work and the exterior is clad in a modern material that that?s the nearest thing Mawn can find to the traditional Vitrolite.

Front of house man is vintage Vespa-rider Barry Oates, with a west end pedigree that includes Booly Mardy and Vodka Wodka. Between them the chefs have a track record that includes a stint Rome and kitchen time with Marco Pierre White and Gordon Ramsay.

Says Mawn,

"Criterion will have the fin de siecle glamour of the great Mitteleuropean cafes, but with the best of 21st century food and drink. We want to bring back the traditions of the salon, a meeting place for eating, drinking, gossiping, meeting old friends and making new ones. I am sure that the new Criterion will become as much of a legend as the old one."

Not least of all, Roy Beers has been fulsome in his praise of Allan Mawn and his restaurants:
Sketches of Spain 2007, Roy Beers
Admirable Criterion - Roy Beers, Summer 2010
The More the Mawn - Roy Beers, Autumn 2010

Joanna Blythman - The Herald

Grand cafe and saloon, 568 Dumbarton Road, Partick
0141 334 1964
email
www.criterioncafe.com

[ RSS .91 RSS 2 ]