Glasgow is such a fun, vibrant city for a weekend break and with such a thriving food scene, you’re guaranteed to eat well. There are plenty of exciting spots in the city centre, but you don’t want to miss the West End for cute neighbourhood cafes and top restaurants around Finnieston, Hyndland and Byres Road near the University.
Here are some recent discoveries to add to your list…
Ox and Finch
Ox and Finch is one of Finnieston’s hottest restaurants, retaining a Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand for over ten years. Chef patron Jonathan MacDonald (previously head chef at Formula One) returned to his home city to open Ox and Finch in 2014 and has built on his success with popular Southeast Asian restaurant Ka Pao in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Just around the corner from Kelvingrove Park, this Sauchiehall Street bistro has a casual, urban-rustic feel with cosy leather booths and an open kitchen to watch the chefs at work. The menu is equally relaxed with well-priced, creative small plates designed for sharing. Seasonal Scottish ingredients are expertly enhanced by Mediterranean and Asian flavours.
I dined solo and enjoyed a few dishes for a light(ish) lunch. Confit duck salad, tahini dressing and pistachio dukkah was an aromatic twist on a bistro classic with tender morsels of meat, bitter leaves, fresh herbs and a crunchy pangrattato.
I also loved the rich, melt-in-the-mouth pan-fried pork belly with charred, wilted radicchio and sharp rhubarb. Somehow, I chose two dishes with bitter elements, but a rather majestic, chocolatey dessert proved to be balm for the tastebuds.
Bare Bones chocolate blancmange with malt cream and salted honeycomb was absolute bliss with contrasting gelatinous, airy and crunchy textures. It rounded off a joyful, interesting meal with friendly service – I’ll definitely be back for more!
SHUCKS
SHUCKS is a fabulous Scottish seafood bar and restaurant from the team behind Brett and Michelin-starred Cail Bruich. The two-floor eatery on leafy Hyndland Road feels glossy and new with a bold nautical palette of blue, mustard and burnt orange (reminding me of Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic). It’s unpretentious yet there’s an air of decadence with the promise of fresh lobster, oysters and Champagne from the trolley.
Head chef Shaun Haggarty’s menu showcases the finest produce from across Scotland (sourced from the Glasgow Fish Market) and flirts with Japanese, Indian and Mexican influences. I tried the lunch menu, which is excellent value with two courses for £25 or three courses for £30.
Shellfish chowder was rich and pungent and came with grilled bread and velvety brown crab butter for next level dipping. It’s rare to find a lobster roll on a set menu and this one was actually one of the best I’ve ever tasted (even if it technically included prawns). The generously-packed prawn and lobster roll was so luxurious and had a sweet, smoky flavour from the grilled corn and lango mayo. Crispy, golden tater tots finished it off perfectly!
I headed to Byres Road for dessert, but there’s a rather tempting giant pistachio profiterole, crème brûlée or affogato.
Chaakoo
Chaakoo first brought the ever popular Bombay cafe concept to central St Vincent Street in 2016 and it now has another restaurant in the West End and one in Edinburgh. It echoes the OG Dishoom in both menu and style (think sepia family portraits, smoked mirrors and cosy booths), however it’s significantly lighter on the wallet.
We managed to get a balcony table at the split-level city centre restaurant (it’s constantly busy, so booked ahead) and enjoyed an indulgent Indian feast. It’s all about family style sharing dishes with a tantalising offering of fried pakora and samosa, curries, biryani and Irani kebabs cooked in the open kitchen’s tandoor, robata and traditional khule grill.
Everything was high quality and generously-sized but the stand out dishes were the crispy fried vegetable pakora, velvety butter chicken with lots of tender, slow-cooked meat and the incredible chicken tikka smoked on whisky chips with a cooling homemade mint chutney.
Chaakoo also offers great value lunch deals with a choice of Thali trays or a grill and curry set meal – perfect for a quick bite.
Paesano Pizza
Great Italian food is easy to find in Glasgow, thanks to the enterprising spirit of the city’s large Italian community. Many arrived from mostly from Tuscany in the 1920s and set up successful businesses including ice cream parlours, cafes and pizza restaurants. The new Neapolitan pizza wave hit Glasgow, like most major cities, and is said to have been spearheaded by Paesano Pizza, whose first pizzeria opened in 2015 in Merchant City (there’s now another in the West End).
The Miller Street restaurant is big and boisterous with pizza pies flying out of the open kitchen at speed and Negronis knocked back with gusto. The pizza-making, however, is much more serious, as the all-Italian team of Pizzaioli follow the traditional Napoletana process and everything is sourced from Italy. The dough is proved for over 24 hours and heated at 500 degrees in the artisan wood-fire pizza oven built specially in Naples.
The pizza we tried was quite a beast with a huge amount of toppings, almost verging on too much. The dough was light and chewy with a nicely blistered crust and finished with plenty of juicy tomato sugo, creamy fior di latte and fresh basil. With excellent pizza starting at just £7.90 (the most expensive being under £13), it’s the perfect spot for a fun night out in Glasgow.
Kember and Jones
Kember and Jones is a popular neighbourhood cafe, deli and bakery on Byres Road in the West End. It’s known for its all-day brunch dishes, gourmet sourdough sandwiches and tempting home-made cakes. They also produce their own coffee beans and operate an off-site coffee roastery.
I stopped by for a warming hot chocolate made with dark chocolate flakes and a slice of the most decadent vanilla chai cake.
Tantrum Doughnuts
Stepping out of Glasgow Central Station, what could be a more welcome sight than an artisan doughnut and coffee shop? Tantrum Doughnuts is home to the city’s best hand-crafted doughnuts and it’s become a real local success story.
Owners Iain and Erika started their doughnut business at food markets and festivals, drawing on their pastry and hospitality industry skills. Their first shop opened in 2015 in the West End and there are now three locations across Glasgow.
What makes Tantrum stand out from the rest? They work with local producers to offer creative, seasonal doughnuts finished with home-made fruit jams, custards and toppings. The flavours are all tantalising and range from a simple birthday cake ‘old fashioned’ ring to the bestselling crème brûlée with Madagascan vanilla bean custard and a crunchy torched sugar top.
Having tried a few different flavours, my favourites were the glazed pistachio and hibiscus topped with candied nuts and milk and cookies dusted with chocolate crumble. It would be crazy not to grab a box to take home on the train.
Have you tried any of these Glasgow eateries? Where are your favourite places to eat out in Glasgow?
All photos by Chérie City
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