FOOD & DRINK RECENT OPENINGS
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RIVERHILL’S CITY Quality lunchtime takeaway food can be hard to find in Glasgow’s city centre but, as Jane Allan reports, the arrival of Riverhill may well change that
T his coffee bar, deli and takeaway stimulates sight, taste and desire so much it may well be as addictive as its Crack Cookies jokingly propose. With a successful café and deli out west in Helensburgh, Riverhill’s inventive cooking and baking have quickly become a lunchtime magnet in central Glasgow. There is a serious commitment to high-quality, on-trend ingredients and local sourcing – the single-origin Brazilian coffee is from the city’s Dear Green roastery, pork and bacon is the Fife Puddledub brand and bread is from Dennistoun’s Tapa. Daily soups are interestingly varied and skilfully blended, with flavours discernible without any element dominating, as with leek, celeriac, potato and chickpea. Breakfast rolls are large, crunchy and delicious, with a black pudding core wrapped in good minced pork. Other imaginative offerings include a chicken shwarma wrap with chicken breast and sumac-infused onions, while a typically inventive salad features chickpeas, wild rice, carrot and rocket dressed with molasses and orange blossom water. Raspberry chocolate brownies, orange meringue tarts and victoria biscuits reconstruct the classics with creative flair. Primarily a takeaway, it is just possible to eat in on one of the nine bar stools but things can get crowded at lunchtime as grateful shoppers and workers descend.
RIVERHILL COFFEE BAR
24 Gordon Street, City Centre G1 3PU 0141 204 4762 Ave. price two-course meal: £7 (lunch)
The best of the new restaurant, café and bar openings in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Prices shown are for an average two-course meal for one.
Glasgow MUNRO’S BARS & PUBS 85 Great Western Road, West End, G4 9EB, munrosglasgow.co.uk, £6 (set lunch) / £12 (dinner)
Brightly lit with a stylish chrome bar and tile backdrop, Munro’s couldn’t be more different from predecessor the Captains Rest. Large windows create a feeling of openness and space while a recess is a playful mini lounge area with stove, armchairs and retro lighting. The focus at the bar is on craft beers, which change regularly so it’s likely to become a haunt for lovers of real ales and cask beers. If you feel any trepidation, staff happily provide samples to enlighten; with tastes from crispy citrus to warm hops they are a refreshing break from the usual. Food offerings include decent and i lling burgers, pizzas and platters.
This American-themed venue has a combined focus on soul food, music and cocktails. Divided bar/lounge style, with one area focused on food, the other on drinks, the décor may feel somewhat inauthentic but the food most certainly does not. With no menus, customers scan the carefully positioned blackboards to view what’s on offer: gumbo – densely packed and delicately spiced – burgers, packed po-boys, ribs and wings, and captivating sides including deep-fried cornbread hush puppies, plus over 20 hot sauces. An array of American beers, a good cocktail menu and live entertainment makes Gumbo an enticing new destination.
LOON FUNG CHINESE 17–419 Sauchiehall Street, City Centre, G2 3LG, 0141 332 1240, loonfungglasgow.co.uk, £8.50 (set lunch) / £19 (dinner) Glasgow’s oldest Cantonese restaurant reopened in January and has held i rm on its reputation, especially for seafood and dim sum, despite a two-year closure following a i re above. Popular with the Chinese community and regularly busy, the restaurant is opulently Eastern yet informal, offering an extensive dim sum menu through the day with set offers for weekday lunch plus an à la carte menu featuring rustic speciality dishes. Few restaurants can combine delectable cooking and surroundings with a 4am licence and karaoke bar, but Loon Fung has a relaxed coni dence that allows it to be most things to most people.
Edinburgh BLUE BEAR CAFÉ CAFÉS
BAR GUMBO NORTH AMERICAN 1–77 Byres Road, West End, G11 5NH, 0141 334 7132, £11.50 (lunch /dinner)
Brandon Terrace, Canonmills, EH3 5EA, 0131 629 0229, cafebluebear.co.uk, £9 (lunch) / £10 (dinner) The kind of place to eat breakfast or brunch any time of the day, Blue Bear has a homemade pastry
selection to catch the eye as you walk in the door. The shortbreads, garish cupcakes and lemon and poppy seed brownies are all worth a look, but the highlight of the menu is the section dedicated to eggs. There are eggs Benedict, eggs Florentine, scrambled eggs, omelettes, full breakfasts and more. The king of foods is put to purpose in a room decorated in a romantic industrial style by owners looking to innovate in bringing breakfast and brunch served their way to the local community.
STAC POLLY BRASSERIE, GIN AND WINE BAR BAR-BRASSERIE 9–33 Dublin Street, New Town, EH3 6NL, 0131 556 2231, stacpolly.com, Prices TBC
The very nature of the original Stac Polly basement restaurant is as a subterranean New Town secret. Now its much more visible street level rooms have been developed as a smart if still secluded bar serving classy drinks, snacks, platters and lunches along the lines of aubergine tarte tatin or a bowl of poached mussels. Whitewashed stone walls are offset by oak l ooring, tweed shades and contemporary furnishings across two intimate but stylish spaces, a huge photograph of the Wester Ross mountain from which the restaurant takes its name i lling one wall. Various botanical British gins are served with mixers or in cocktails, along with bottled beers and wines by the glass.
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 36 THE LIST 21 Mar–18 Apr 2013