Food&Drink Recent Openings
The best of the new restaurant, café and bar openings in Glasgow and Edinburgh
Glasgow TASTE
For more food and drink visit list.co.uk/food-and-drink AMARONE
SANDWICH BAR 240 Sauchiehall Street, City Centre, 0141 332 0866, £5 (lunch) This independent sandwich bar on Sauchiehall Street’s pedestrianised stretch is attracting lunchtime queues to match nearby Greggs with city workers tempted by quality food at nice prices. Owner Nick MacIntyre was a sous chef at London’s Nobu and The Ivy so expect well-sourced ingredients and solid home-cooking, from the fresh soups, justifiably popular burrito and occasional pasta options to their own horseradish sauce for the best-selling hot ribeye of beef baguette. The mainly outside seating isn’t the best for Glasgow’s climate but this place is hard to beat for something to take back to the desk.
HORTON’S BAR & KITCHEN BARS & PUBS 92 West George Street, Glasgow, hortonsglasgow.co.uk, 0141 331 4111, £16 (lunch/dinner) The owners of monstrous theme bar Frankenstein’s have refurbed and rebranded this impressive building with a new venue aimed at drinkers old enough to be parents of the former punters. There’s lots of room over two floors full of contemporary stylings, with the three bars serving up fairly standard drinks with added interest from speciality Italian beers, a good wine list and an emphasis on martinis. Food is just above average in terms of price and quality, and features the usual mix of dishes including fish and chips, a good burger, generous sticky ribs and a variety of mussel pots.
STEWART’S VICTORIAN TEA ROOM CAFÉS 89 Glassford Street, Merchant City G1 1UH, stewartsvictoriantearooms.com, 0141 552 0646, £11 (lunch) All things tea are here. Speciality teas, high tea and afternoon tea dominate the menu but there is plenty for those seeking a quick lunch as well – baked potatoes, quiche or salad. The Stewart’s Afternoon Tea, with its selection of sandwiches and baking,
30 THE LIST 20 Oct–17 Nov 2011
Going back west A popular couple are back in the local restaurant trade as Broomhill’s finest dining spot reawakens once more. Andrea Pearson went along
J ust a couple of months after taking over the former An Lochan on Crow Road, husband and wife team Aisla and Rupert Staniforth are already filling the tables with enthusiastic diners. It’s hardly surprising: the couple know the business pretty well and ran the much-loved No 16 on Byres Road until a couple of years back. Front of house, Aisla chats cheerily to diners – families, birthday parties, friends and couples – praising their food selections or sharing behind-the-scenes tales. The relaxed informality out front is contrasted by things in the kitchen. There Rupert creates imaginative and beautifully presented Scottish dishes. Gone is the emphasis on fish – although there are several seafood choices plus a daily fish soup on offer. The menu now allows quality Scottish meat from the Aberfoyle Butcher to be showcased in roast barbary duck with sweet potato puree and ginger and lime sauce, a meltingly soft 24-hour roast shoulder of lamb with mash, and in traditional roasts served every Sunday. After such winning starters and mains the puddings are good but perhaps not quite on the same plate. An outstanding neighbourhood restaurant.
WEE LOCHAN
340 Crow Road, Broomhill, Glasgow G11 7HT 0141 338 6606, an-lochan.com
Ave. price two-course meal: £10.95 (set lunch) / £20 (lunch/dinner)
comes neatly piled on a decorative china cake stand to reassure the ‘ladies that tea’ that they have come to the right place. While the whole enterprise is very pleasant there’s little to rattle the crockery. Among the choice of cakes are safe bets such as Victoria sponge (naturally), coffee and walnut cake and chocolate fudge cake.
Edinburgh KAMPUNG ALI MALAYSIAN
697–101 Fountainbridge, West End, EH3 9QG, 0131 228 5069, bluerapathai.co.uk, £7.50 (set lunch) / £11 (dinner)
Kampung Ali’s new restaurant, its second in the city, replicates the successful formula of cheap, cheerful and under-decorated. A ‘top ten Malaysian menu’ takes the guesswork out of ordering and with roti and satay this good, there’s a lot to be said for sticking to the classics. Sambal beef is spicy and maybe a touch too salty; nasi lemak comes with a milder curry and lots of little picky bits. A short dessert list means delicious thin, sugared pancakes, with an oddly textured tapioca pudding drenched in a creamy, sweet, syrup. Fans will not be disappointed, even if newcomers may need a little persuasion to jump into the Kampung experience.
ITALIAN 13 St Andrew Square, New Town, EH2 2BH, 0131 523 1171, amaronerestaurant.co.uk, £13.95 (set lunch) / £19 (dinner) This prime and airy site looking onto St Andrew Square has been swept up into the Glasgow-based Di Maggio’s chain. The heavily modernised, marble-pillared Art Deco interior of this former bank makes features of large pink and black fabric chandeliers, and the extensive food menu (a separate vegan selection is available) makes a point of doing simple things well. A chargrilled veal cutlet is tender and pink, while slightly oily fritto misto (hunks of fish and shellfish fried in batter with chips) is served in a generously filling portion. The latter theme is continued into the puds, though a lame honey and ginger cheesecake is perhaps evidence of the potential pitfalls that lurk in large menus.
NAGOYA ORIGINAL SUSHI RESTAURANT JAPANESE 21 Dalziel Place, Meadowbank, EH7 5TP, 0131 661 3200, inagoya.co.uk, £7.70 (lunch) / £15 (dinner) Nagoya perhaps isn’t best placed to snare a brisk run in passing trade. In which case it’ll have to survive on word of mouth and the popularity of its takeaway and delivery service, and in these respects it’s well deserving of attention. Run by a husband and wife team, the main selling point is chef Xiao Yehua’s sushi, from simple but fresh nigiri, sashimi or maki to more elaborate dishes like spider roll, eight pieces of uramaki filled with fried soft shell crab and topped with crispy crab’s legs. Larger dishes include rich, sticky teriyaki dishes with fluffy boiled rice, udon soup or wok-fried noodles, with reasonably priced sushi sets available for single diners up to full families.
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.