FOOD & DRINK RECENT OPENINGS
SUPPORTED BY
VITAL ITAL
Caribbean food, long absent from Glasgow’s dining scene, is currently bringing West Indian vibes to town. Jay Thundercliffe checks out a mobile crew that have laid down some roots.
C resting the current Caribbean awakening is collective Fire in Babylon, who’ve been popping up at various street-style happenings in recent years. With a mission to bring people together through music, food and culture, this is their first bricks and mortar from which to dish out that West Indian ethos. Head FiBer Keith Gibbs brings his Trinidadian heritage and smiley demeanour to the Roots Kitchen, serving up Caribbean flavours to enjoy in the basic but warmly woody and orange-hued dining space or to take away from a dedicated area. Lightly battered sweet potato rounds are decent yet dwarfed by stupendous saltfish fritters – mighty messy morsels of soft, moreish seafood and spicy crisp coating, dunked in chilli or tamarind dips. Goat is a special rather than a fixture but consolation is had in jerk chicken, deeply marinated and served bone-in, or an enjoyable chicken curry, both with a pleasing rendition of rice’n’peas. Prices are good, everyone is smiling and things can be endearingly laid-back – patrons get up to stop the sticky CD, food can be delayed – but if you go to a roots kitchen in a hurry, you’ve only yourself to blame.
FIRE IN BABYLON
213 Hope Street, City Centre, Glasgow, G2 2UW
07981 753192, fireinbabylon.squarespace.com Average price two-course meal: £12 (lunch/dinner)
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 LA FAVORITA
PIZZA BAR & TAKEAWAY
23–25 Gibson Street, West End, 0141 212 6070, lafavoritadelivered.com, £12 (lunch/dinner) La Favorita have taken the trip along the M8 from their home in Edinburgh where they have been impressing pizza fans for nearly a decade. Recently their successful formula of authentic Italian ingredients, two-day-matured dough and a range of tempting toppings, fired up over wood in their Italian-built ovens has expanded, encompassing more branches in Edinburgh, a mobile set-up for street pizza and now their first Glasgow shop on Gibson Street. Special dieters are looked after too, with gluten-free and vegan versions available on top of the roughly 20 or so topping varieties.
GESSO TEA & COFFEE LOUNGE
20-22 St Georges Road, City Centre, 0141 258 3540, fb.com/gessolounge, £8 (lunch) Rubbing shoulders (or standing toe to toe) with global giant Starbucks, Gesso is housed in the A-listed mansions at Charing Cross. Stretching far back from the small frontage, it’s a large, attractive spot with arty touches (exhibitions may be on). There’s a good line in local deli supplies including bread from Kember & Jones or coffee from Dear Green. Food includes healthy brekkie options alongside standard bacon
and sausage rolls (on artisan bread), DIY boards with charcuterie or cheeses, Asian-influenced banh mi as well as the more standard soups, sandwiches and cakes. It’s an enticing, comprehensive and much- needed independent café-deli in this part of town.
RIVERHILL RESTAURANT & BAR
3 West Nile Street, City Centre, 0141 248 3495, riverhillcafe.com, £15 (lunch) / £25 (dinner) Lovers of Riverhill’s nearby Coffee Bar will not be surprised by the excellence of its sister restaurant, but there is more sophistication to proceedings at the new place. The menu is peppered with exciting, globally inspired choices – which occasionally need explanation. There are Mediterranean and Thai influences and a stunning starter of horse whelk fritters with cho cho (squash family, cucumbery in character) and scotch bonnet is apparently adapted from a Caribbean dish. The onglet steak with walnut pesto is another winner and good value at £15. The foot stays on the gas for puds too – dark chocolate sorbet . . . who would have even thought of that? Riverhill just keeps getting better.
Edinburgh LA PETITE MORT
BISTRO
32 Valleyfield Street, Tollcross, 0131 229 3693, lapetitemortedinburgh.co.uk, £19 (dinner) This cosy space in Tollcross has been spruced up to bring inventive bistro cooking to an area heaving with cafés and Asian restaurants. When opened in April, the risqué name (Google it if needs) lured in curious locals, yet they found nothing more salacious than a welcoming dining room. Service is enthusiastic, especially when it comes to championing the food: crisp black pudding and goat’s cheese bonbons, delicious smoked halloumi and scallops, a trio of pork. The star is sea bass, cooked perfectly, with
accompanying earthy and piquant celeriac and apple purée. A large drinks menu focuses on excellent and inventive cocktails – almost orgasmic, you might say.
PORTOBELLO PALM TREE CARIBBEAN BAR & GRILL
Portobello High Street, 0131 657 5669, fb.com/ portypalmtree, £9.50 (lunch/dinner) Even at its best, Portobello’s breezy beach doesn’t conjure up a tropical idyll. Yet this addition to the fast-developing bar and café scene can claim one of the city’s best beer gardens, with its decked area containing an inventive year-round food cabin run by the City of Avalon street food company. The Caribbean, Mediterranean and North African- influenced food isn’t extensive, but it’s well-designed, with mango and chilli-marinated pork, Jamaican jerk chicken and Mediterranean grilled veg served from the shack.
TWELVE TRIANGLES COFFEE, BREAD & CAKE SHOP
90 Brunswick Street, Leith, 0131 629 4664, twelvetriangles.co.uk, £5 (lunch) In many ways there isn’t much to Twelve Triangles or the wedge- shaped former antique shop it has taken over. A contemporary refit with a glossy finish, a few sit-in seats and a small selection of drinks and cakes is all they’ve got to work with, but from this they produce wonders – particularly a daily changing selection of doughnuts which is set to make them a destination visit. It’s little surprise these and breads, croissants and daily focaccia are so good, given this is the sister café to West Port’s highly regarded Lovecrumbs, but Twelve Triangles is set to forge its own reputation.
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 48 THE LIST 4 Jun–3 Sep 2015