GetStuffed FoodDrinkRestaurants
Taking root A common sighting at local festivals and farmers’ markets, a young chocolate making company from East Lothian now has more permanent premises in town. John Cooke visited
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Glasgow
THE PARTNERS ITALIAN BISTRO 1051 Great Western Road, West End, 0141 339 5575, www.theitalianbistro.co.uk, £6.50 (lunch) / £17 (dinner) A replacement for Lux and Statione in the former Kelvinside railway station by Gartnavel Hospital, and run by the team behind Tattie Macs off Gibson Street and The Partners Bistro in Bearsden, this tastefully decorated restaurant’s appealing menu reflects a fusion of ristorante and bistro styles. A wide choice of pizza and pasta dishes are available as you’d expect, but you might also encounter Oban scallops served with sweet potato, choriz, and apple sauce, or meltingly good roasted pork belly. Coffee and pastries are served through the day, the bar has 30 wines by the glass and there’s live jazz at weekends.
INGRAM WYND 56 Ingram Street, Merchant City, 0141 553 2470, £10.95 (set lunch) / £18 (dinner) Despite our interest in local food, we tend to be sceptical of Scottish-themed restaurants. Rightly so, as few manage to serve anything more enlightened than dull clichés and whisky flavoured everything. Ingram Wynd, from the team behind Chisholm Street Italian Esca, is undoubtedly bolder than most, mixing Scottishness with Victoriana in a two-storey restaurant which merges smart gentleman’s club with Highland hunting lodge. The menu keep its options open with fish and chips, grilled steaks and variations on haggis, but there are hints of greater things with well-flavoured lamb stovies, or pork and black pudding with gingerbread toast and pineapple.
L overs of real, hand-made chocolate will delight at the arrival of another chocolaterie in Bruntsfield. Alastair Gower and Friederike Matthis’ Chocolate Tree started out in East Lothian, where they perfected an organic chocolate recipe that mixed food ethics with arresting flavours. Expanding on their online operation, and the stalls and tents they run at local fairs and farmers’ markets, they are now serving their creations from this cosy little café. All the raw chocolate they use comes from Belgium and is certified organic. There is hot chocolate, naturally, and it’s excellent – not too sweet, and with the optional twist of spicy chilli, cinnamon, ginger or cardamom.
The Spanish-style hot choc is much thicker, requiring the accompanying wafer to scoop from cup to lip. Not quite Barcelona-style (a
10 THE LIST 18 Feb–4 Mar 2010
real churros would bridge that gap) but still deeply satisfying. Chocolate cakes are baked on the premises and vary from a cheesecake to a pistachio-encrusted labour of love that seems a shame to slice. Despite the obvious care and attention in a delicate rose and champagne truffle, for example, prices are very reasonable. You can even take away a pair of chocolate high heels for just over a tenner. + Haute couture choc at off-the-peg prices - Lukewarm cappuccino
THE CHOCOLATE TREE
123 Bruntsfield Place, Southside, Edinburgh
www.the-chocolate-tree.co.uk, Mon–Sat 8am–7pm; Sun 10am–6pm.
BAR GAMBRINO 372–374 Great Western Road, West End, 0141 357 3071 Picking up from where the popular Republic Bier Halle left off, the sleek and relaxed Bar Gambrino – an offshoot from nearby Gambrino’s Ristorante – has left plenty unchanged but tweaked just enough to keep it exciting. The 2 for 1 pizza deal that was its predecessor’s main draw is still in full effect: the pizzas