FOOD & DRINK
NEWS & REVIEWS BIG LICKS
Glasgow’s affection for Italian ice-cream sees another venerable local churner opening up in the West End. Malcolm Jack checks out the latest sundae supplement
SIDE DISHES News to nibble on
Glasgow’s proliferation of pulled pork continues with Southside takeaway specialist Buddy’s BBQ (currently popping-up at Glad Café) opening a sit-in place near Queen’s Park, while Meat Bar on West Regent Street and the Squid & Whale at the old Bar Gambrino on Great Western Road are two new pork-pullers in town.
Blue Moon Café on Broughton/ Barony Street in Edinburgh has closed after 25 years as a landmark on the local LGBT – and food and drink – scene. Meanwhile, Maria Belyaeva’s quirky Russian Passion café just down the road at Canonmills has shut following a UK Border Agency restriction order: you can find out more on the issue on their Facebook page.
A s evidenced by the sight of people drifting up and down the Byres Road strip, slurping colourful cones whenever the sun makes a cameo, ice-cream wars have hit Glasgow’s West End. Largs institution Nardini’s opened a parlour on Byres Road last year, and more recently, just a few doors away, another Scots-Italian dynasty, Crolla’s, unveiled their second city gelateria (their first at Springfield Quay opened last November).
In taking over the premises of their former customer 3 Steps to Heaven, whose decision to sell- up coincided handily with this move, Crolla’s are re-energizing their 118-year-old brand by entering the retail market for the first time in generations. But banish thoughts of 1980s gangland feuds, because it’s a friendly rivalry that rages. ‘Competition is healthy,’ says director Peter Crolla, great-grandson of brand founder Serafino, suggesting that any skirmishing will be between exotic flavours and the extravagance of their stacked sundaes.
Comprising 12 scoops of your choosing (from blue bubblegum to banoffee swirl), not to mention assorted toppings, sprinkles and wafers, it’s hard to conceive of many ice-cream inventions more decadent than Crolla’s £12.95 Byres Road Bonanza (the picture in the menu doesn’t do this big mamma
CROLLA’S GELATERIA
justice: see instead the near football-sized bowls behind the counter). The sundaes are mostly of classic strawberry/banana/Knickerbocker glory variants, but bespoke cold-stone creations (ice-cream, fruit/sweets and sauce mixed on a marble slab, as with 3 Steps to Heaven’s old speciality) acknowledge more modern trends in ice-cream service. If Crolla’s has an edge on its rival, it might actually be their savouries. While largely limited to baguettes, paninis and toasties, they come well-stacked with imaginative filling combinations, from pulled pork with Swiss cheese and mustard, to Mediterranean veg or salami, all smartly served on wax paper-topped wooden boards accompanied by two small salads.
The décor is pleasingly big and bold, from an oversized-looking, lipstick-red, wrap-around counter – its colour matched by staff shirts and blouses – to bowler hats dangling from the ceiling as lampshades, a nice nod to the brand’s vintage. Whether or not the Glasgow weather shines this summer, the outlook in Crolla’s is defiantly upbeat.
+ Savouries are much more than an afterthought
- Room temperature almost as cold as the ice cream The Beer of the Fringe
221 Byres Road, West End, Glasgow, G12 8UD, 0141 341 0465 Food served: Mon–Thu 10am–10pm; Fri/Sat 10am–10.30pm; Sun 11am–10pm
38 THE LIST 13 Jun–11 Jul 2013
caledonianbeer.com