MEDITERRANEAN CUISINE ALAYA
192 Pitt Street. Glasgow. 0141 332 5300
‘This is really lovely,’ coos a diner over her midday meal at Alaya, the new Mediterranean-influenced restaurant in Glasgow’s city centre. ‘Really lovely,’ she repeats. Satisfying food is one thing, but the attentions of a manager working hard to keep the customers pleased are perhaps what is most impressive during this particular lunchtime.
Up the central staircase from the kitchen below he vaults, dishes in hand. Everybody is checked to confirm everything is OK. And judging from the responses, everything is.
The space at Alaya is modern in a rather retro fashion: exposed stone but star-burst sconce lighting, bare floors, creme banquettes and clear glass tables and V-shaped pedestals.
The food shows southern European, Middle Eastern and North African influences. The ‘oriental chicken‘ is a barbecued kebab of breast meat served off the skewer with a tomato-based sauce, yoghurt and choice of saffron rice or couscous. Linguini with gambas offers plump shrimp surrounding a pile of pasta. Onion and goat’s cheese tart is misleadingly titled if still perfectly edible: a slice of bread is topped with softened red onions and a warmed round of goat’s cheese. Lamb kofta with oriental rice has two oblong balls of minced meat nicely charred while still moist and pink on the inside.
Whatever the cuisine lacks in ‘wow’ factor, it compensates for with reasonable prices (two course lunch for £5.95) and honesty in preparation. The humus on the meze starter does not necessarily scream out ‘home-made’ but a Greek salad with feta cheese is refreshing and the kofta dish has a balance of sour, sweet and savoury, between the mint yoghurt sauce, sprinkling of sultanas and lamb. (Barry Shelby)
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1 16 THE LIST 9 23 Jun 2005
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Rock music and food have often had an unhealthy relationship. It doesn’t have to be this way, finds James Smart.
n the inlay to new album Mon/rev Business. hip hop group the Black liyed Peas reveal their average rider. The list of demands. to
be fulfilled by venues where the quartet perfomt. includes a box of
Lucky Charms. fried chicken. fresh fruit and ‘a box of any healthy cereal'. plus hot dinners for the band and their crew. Actually. the grub on offer is surprisingly balanced fora pop group.
By way of comparison. you might want to check out the Smoking Gun website. where secretly posted riders reveal a litany of greed. Jennifer Lopez. on the set of a charity shoot. requested all white fumishings and a spread including mango. pineapple. canteloupe. papaya. honey dew melon. watermelon. chocolate chip cookies. apple pic ‘(51 la mode)‘. and vanilla ice cream. She was only on set for 90 minutes. leaving the food untouched.
Jen is far from exceptional. The list for Christina Aguilera‘s 2000 world tour illustrates a touching belief that one can attain a balanced diet through mainlining health food supplements (echinacea. Flinstones‘ vitamins) while chewing on chicken sarnies and ‘an assortment of Power bars‘ washed down with gallons of water (‘not Evian?) The boys are no better: Busta Rhymes wows the ladies with a KFC bucket. Halls cough drops. six bottles of Moet and a box of ‘l.ifestyles or Rough Rider‘ condoms.
No wonder tour chefs often feel surplus to requirements. Chef John Quigley. now cooking for mortals at Red Onion. has previously catered for Bryan Adams (easy). Morrissey (difficult) and Guns N‘ Roses (pointless). ‘They ate nothing.‘ he explains. ‘Once we were in Sweden and Slash said. “Right. let‘s have reindeer." I got hold of one and cooked it and they did their usual thing of waking up. getting drunk. doing the show. falling asleep and then waking tip at 3am fora party. We ate the reindeer ourselves.‘
If gig-givers are about as gourmet as a polythene cup. Glasgow gig-goers have a better deal. King Tut‘s has introduced a new pre-gig menu. featuring the likes of nan pizzas and vegetable tempura and Greek and Spanish serving platters. At T in the Park. the Manic Street Preachers dedicated a song to ‘the only venue to give us hot food on tour‘. Oran Mor offers fine Scottish dishing in its Brasserie and more relaxed fare in its Conservatory. while sister venues Mono and Stereo serve well- .. priced vegan meals. Salads and hearty mains _. . are available at the folk-fuelled Tchai ()vna. alongside water pipes for the more adventurous. Jen and Christina should take note.
Tchai Ovna, Glasgow, 357 4524; King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, 221 5279; Mono, Glasgow, 553 2400; Red Onion, Glasgow, 221 6000; Stereo, Glasgow, 576 5018. www.thesmokinggun.com
; Side Dishes
News to nibble on. . .
I In Milngavie, the transformation of Gingerhill restaurant into the Mld Bergamot is complete. The new name is just the final stage of the transformation that chef/owner Alan Burns has wrought since taking over the venture five years ago. For bookings call 0141 956 6515.
I Bluu has been launched in Glasgow. Sister operation to the already opened Fat Cat Cafe/Bar. this outlet is a bit more sleek and upmarket. In addition to the late- licence style bar and basement lounge (pictured). the two-floor 4000 square foot venue has a 70-seat restaurant. Dishes include roast rump of Shetland Lamb. stovies and minted spinach ($315.50); Highland beef (aged 21 days). fat chips. chilli butter and organic watercress (5215.50); and honey glazed confit of duck leg. rissole potatoes. haricot beans. tomato and coriander dressing ($31 1). Bluu, 62 Trongate. Merchant City. Glasgow.
0141 5481350.
I A recently launched on-line restaurant booking service - www.123dine.co.uk — offers an additional feel-good factor by ensuring that £1 goes to charity with each reservation. Designed expressly to aid the Children’s Hospice Association of Scotland, 123dine.co.uk has some 3000 restaurants on board, including 52 in Aberdeen and 29 in Falkirk, for example. The site doesn’t currently include information about restaurants in England, however.
I The first Wetherspoon mega- pub in Scotland. the 5000 square foot Counting House in Glasgow. which opened in 1996. has become a completely non- smoking saloon. The new policy follows a recent refurbishment of the premises at the corner of Queen Street and St Vincent Place across from George Square. ‘I believe that people in the city will welcome this move.‘ says manager Stuart Coxshall. ‘More and more peOple prefer to drink and eat in a smoke-free environment.‘ Wetherspoon's
plan is for all of its Scotland-based pubs to be totally smoke free by April 2006.