For more food and drink visit list.co.uk/food-and-drink Food&Drink Recent Openings
The best of the new restaurant, café and bar openings in Glasgow and Edinburgh Glasgow
STATESIDE BAR AND KITCHEN 1 Merchant Square, Merchant City, 0141 553 0139, statesideglasgow.com £13 (lunch/dinner) This American-style diner is well situated in Merchant Square, which offers a fun backdrop to a meal, with the diner’s beach-house style giving it an open informality, extending out into the square with decking, wooden tables and a separate bar. Starters such as smoked chicken tostada make a pleasant opener, while mains feature pasta, pizza, fish and a grill selection including baby back ribs – good and meaty but light on BBQ sauce. Desserts are better thanks to a creamy New York-style cheesecake, and the interesting American microbrewery beers on offer help to wash it all down. LAURIE’S 127 Hope Street, City Centre, 0141 222 2076, £6.50 (lunch)
Since opening in late-February, this new café from Chris Wiltcher (formerly pastry chef at the Buttery) has enjoyed a brisk trade in teas, coffees and pastries. Housed in an elegant space near Central Station, the interior is decked out in muted browns and beiges. First-rate teas and coffees are supplied by Suki Tea and Artisan Roast, while the pastries, confidently displayed in the window, include home-baked croissants, muffins and an array of sweet tarts. Local office workers benefit from the £4.75 lunch deal featuring a panino, Kettle crisps and a drink – giving Laurie’s an immediate popularity that belies the fact it is still in the early settling-down phase. O SOLE MIO 34–36 Bath Street, City Centre, 0141 331 1397, £8.95 (set lunch) / £20 (dinner) Having changed hands recently, this venerable Italian is already proving hard to beat thanks to some excellent food and charming service. The modern dining area gleams with sparkling glass, shiny wooden floors and dark brown furniture, while a handful of booths offer intimacy. The small menu contains some classics – a starter of spaghetti Bolognese tastes authentic with quality pork and beef in a rich sauce. Follow with an impressive pan-fried Parma ham- wrapped monkfish served with creamy saffron risotto. The partially open kitchen gives the pizza chef centre stage as he prepares and cooks the excellent pizza – lifted well above the ordinary thanks to the wood-fired oven.
Edinburgh EL QUIJOTE 13a Brougham Street, Tollcross, 0131 478 2856, quijotetapasbar.co.uk, £13 (lunch/dinner) The most recent opening on Edinburgh’s Spanish dining scene is also a strong contender for being the best. Although the boxy storefront premises aren’t the most versatile, it has a homely café feel and the food is lovingly prepared. As well as a full tapas menu, daily blackboard specials and selected desserts sit alongside signature plates such as a rich and meaty caldereta de venado (venison stew) served with thin- sliced fried potatoes and the house’s own unhealthy but hard to resist El Quijote, a large pan of fried onion, peppers and garlic, garnished with Serrano ham and three grilled eggs cooked into the dish. RYAN’S BAR 2–4 Hope Street, West End, 0131 226 6669, £12 (lunch/dinner) Straddling a corner a few metres from Princes Street’s western end, long- established Ryan’s Bar has recently received a dose of TLC from owners Caledonian Heritable. In addition to an impressive range of light bites, sandwiches and burgers, diners can enjoy a full three courses and for lunchers there’s a deal that the bill is halved if the meal takes more than 15 minutes to arrive. Mains feature many bar staples, with the menu bolstered by fillet steaks, though it’s worth considering the healthy options, which include delicate salmon, monkfish and tuna kebabs served with wild rice
BREAD STREET BRASSERIE Point Hotel, 34–36 Bread Street, West End, 0131 221 5558, pointhoteledinburgh.co.uk, £9.95 (set lunch) / £18 (dinner) The Bread Street Brasserie, attached to the Point Hotel, is a typically dark and sleek hotel restaurant, populated on a weeknight by just a few diners and one or two brusque waitresses. It does manage to create a suitably upmarket atmosphere, with a nifty £9.95 pre- theatre menu to recommend it (available Mon-Sun, 5pm–7pm). You get what you pay for on your plate: a tasty confit Barbary duck leg with pistachio terrine to start, for example, or a high quality 8oz fillet steak for main (only slightly overdone).
Independent write-ups on all the restaurants worth knowing about in Glasgow and Edinburgh are available on our online Eating & Drinking Guide at list.co.uk/food-and-drink Prices shown are for an average two-course meal for one.
EVENTS
GLASGOW ■ Queen's Park Farmers' Market FREE Sat 2 & 16 Apr, 10am–2pm. Queen's Park, 520 Langside Road.
■ Heart and Soul Gastronomy Heart Buchanan, 380 Byres Road, 334 7626. Classes this month on bread (Mon 4 Apr); seafood (Tue 12 Apr); nose to tail (Mon 18 Apr); pastry (Tue 26 Apr). All 7pm–9pm. £45. ■ Mansfield Park Farmers' Market FREE Sat 9 & 23 Apr, 10am–2pm. Mansfield Park, 5 Hyndland Street.
■ A Decade of Heart Buchanan FREE Sat 16 Apr, 9.30am–9.30pm. Sun 17
Apr, noon–7pm. Heart Buchanan, 380 Byres Road, 334 7626. Birthday celebrations with goodie bags, giveaways and discounts.
■ Silverburn Farmers', Speciality Food & Craft Market FREE Sun 24 Apr, 10am–4pm. Silverburn, Barrhead Road.
EDINBURGH ■ Coal Action Scotland: Organic Vegan Banquet Fri 1 Apr, 7.30pm. £6–£10. Old St Paul's Hall, 63 Jeffrey Street, banquet@ coalactionscotland.org.uk.
■ Edinburgh Farmers' Market FREE Saturdays, 9am–2pm. Castle Terrace. ■ Feast: A Celebration of
24th Paisley Beer Festival
Regional Scottish Food Sat 2 Apr, 10am–4pm. £12 (£5, under-5s free). Jewel & Esk, Edinburgh Campus 24 Milton Road East, www.qmu.ac.uk/feast Student-run food festival. ■ Portobello Organic Market FREE Sat 2 Apr, 10am–2pm. High Street, Portobello.
■ Fawlty Towers: The Dinner Show Wed 6 Apr, 7pm. £45. Valvona & Crolla Vincaffè, 11 Multrees Walk, 557 0088. Three-course menu served in spectacularly terrible style. ■ Juniper Green Farmers' Market FREE Sat 23 Apr, 9am–1pm.
Kinleith Arms Car Park, 604 Lanark Road.
OUTSIDE THE CITIES ■ Wines of France Thu 14 Apr, 7.30pm. £10 for the tasting; £27.50 with three-course meal. Waterside Bistro, 1–5 Waterside, Haddington, 01620 825674. Wine tasting.
■ Paisley Beer Festival Wed 27 Apr, 5pm–11pm; Thu 28 Apr, noon–11pm. £5 (£3). Paisley Town Hall, Abbey Close, Paisley, 0141 887 1010 ■ Kingdom of Fife Real Ale, Cider and Perry Festival Thu 28 Apr, 4pm–11pm. £5 (members £4). Rothes Halls, Kingdom Centre, Glenrothes, 01592 611101.
31 Mar–28 Apr 2011 THE LIST 29