F.
The taste of fresh Air
Organic food ditches the wellies and pulls on the Nikes as it gets a stylish makeover at Glasgow's AIR ORGANIC. Words' Rory Weller
Prttures Alaisdair Smith
It seems lrke a completely rnsane thrng to do. Colrn tvlacDougall bought Bar Mrro an the west end of Glasgow two years ago, burlt rt up from a reasonably successful bar/restaurant to one that was rammed every nrght and then closed rt down You Irked Bar Mrro, you toid us so rn your Lrst food and drrnk guestronnarres: rt was cheap & cosy, handy for the park, and rt was a great place to meet before headrng rnto town Now though there's MacDougall’s Arr Organrc whrch rs about as far away as you could get from the rocrgh-arouno-the-edges Mrro and strll be rn the same place.
Thrnk organrc and the mrnci starts to wander rnto Good Life terrrtory, charmrng and good natured, but Just that fa.ntest brt loopy. Arr Organrc rs anythrng but. Desrgn-wrse rt looks ama/rng, styled rn retro-modern chrc
fashron, It rs the very antrtheSrs of what you would expect of a place that extols
the vrrtues of organrc food and drrnk. 'It's the most modern lookrng restaurant rn Glasgow by a mrle,’ says tvlacDOLrgall, ’but then rt's the most old fashroned too. The chefs come rn at 8am to get the frres gorng and make the stocks, and we have to have a huge space to chrll the food because y0u can’t get organrc
'Stupid, simple things like butter produce delrvered every
are just amazing. If I gave you a
day, To get It towards berng organrc you have
glass of milk it would freak you to re-wrrte the rule out, you can almost taste the book-
UdderS.'Colin MacDougall
by frrst-tnre rnterror desrgner Dene Happeli: 2007 meets James Bond rn a lv'rram. departure :ounge The ground fioor :s now brrghter Wrth two new unnoows and extends round rnto an old store room makrng rt a lot brgger What useo to be a bar/restaurant upstarrs rs now just a bar and rs krtted out .n the same, stark rnrnrmalrst
\ rant
Le Sept
7 Old Fishmarket Close Edinburgh
Lunch and Dinner Monday to Thursday. Friday. Saturday and Sunday open all day
telephone 0131 225 5428
94 THELIST "i 2418-9? 7998
Not everythrng rs organrc however, but they try and do as much
as they can. The menus upstarrs have a star system showrng how organrc each drsh rs. Some get the full ratrng lrke the peanut frred West Coast cod wrth lettuce and lrme mayo or the ground pepper blue frn tuna salad wrth herb and shallot dressrng. Organrc food for MacDOtrgall rsn't a faddy, grmmrcky ploy, he reckons rt jUSl tastes better 'Stuprd, srrnple thrngs lrke butter are Just ama/rng If I gave you a glass of rnrlk rt would freak you out, you can almost taste the udders.’
The marn drshes are about twrce the pr'rce they were rn Mrro, but MacDougaII rs hoprng that people er| come rnto the restaurant and order a few smaller thrngs from the menu and experrment wrth the taste sensatrons. In the bar downstarrs a selectron of sushr, bento boxes, 100% organrc pr/xas and salads are served noon 9pm every day wrth most drshes costrng around a frver,
Are you gorng to lrke Arr Organrc as much as you drd lvlrro’s? We'll have to wart for thrs year's guestronnarres to frnd out, but we thrnk you erll,
Arr Organrc: bar and restaurant, 36 Ke/vrngrove Street, Glasgow, 564 5207.
Air Organic:
naturally modern