FOOD & DRINK RECENT OPENINGS
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 THE MALLARD
BARS & PUBS
333 Great Western Road, West End, 0141 339 4111, themallardbar.co.uk, £18 (lunch/dinner) The Mallard has all the hallmarks of a destination place, somewhere people will make a definite effort to drink and dine in. Where they’ve got things absolutely spot on is with the cocktail and wine selection. The Rhubarb and Grapefruit Old Fashioned is simply divine and the Botanical Gardens, with Grey Goose, elderflower liqueur and cucumber, will take you to some very special and memorable places. With standouts of braised beef and salmon, the menu appears all set to knock your socks off, yet side dishes require a bit of refinement. But with specials such as duck egg and black pudding coated in breadcrumbs with a peppercorn sauce on the side, let’s not lie to one another, you’re intrigued.
NON VIET VIETNAMESE
536–538 Sauchiehall Street, City Centre, 0141 332 2975, nonviet.co.uk, £10 (set lunch) / £17 (dinner) Non Viet is the latest addition to Glasgow’s limited selection of Vietnamese restaurants, doubling the options. For a Sauchiehall Street diner, it’s a surprisingly calm and refined place. Wood-panelled walls, low-hanging lights and suspended bicycles, give the restaurant a stamp of modernity verging on a chain- like aesthetic. The menu quickly establishes anything but, with plenty of unusual options, where slow-cooked caramelised dishes arrive bubbling away, as if served in a Vietnamese market. Flavour combinations are well- judged, evidenced in small details such as the sweet and sour salad dressing. For diners longing for the
CONTINI GEORGE STREET ITALIAN
103 George Street, New Town, 0131 225 1550, contini.com/contini-george-street, £16 (set lunch) / £23 (dinner) A spring makeover saw Carina and Victor Contini’s opulent all-day Italian – Centotre, until a year or so back – ramping up the fun and modernising the menu. A plush new bar area serves aperitivi and fresco- style renaissance figures adorn the walls – a touch of tongue-in-cheek Italian melodrama that softens the feel of this grand former banking hall. The revamped menu takes a progressive approach towards sharing plates and contemporary dishes, while the Continis’ signature
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 60 THE LIST 1 Apr–31 May 2017
STREET WISE Robbie Armstrong finds that a new branch for Indian street food specialists Tuk Tuk brings a casual, colourful dining venue to Glasgow’s nightlife epicentre
T he much-lauded Tuk Tuk’s new branch sits smack bang in the middle of Glasgow’s midnight mecca. In a smartly designed space that sprawls out over three levels, they serve up an exciting Indian culinary vibe alongside colourful murals, colonial-era TV sets and repurposed oil lamps.
The menu is broken down into roadside plates, street curries and a meat market offering, but the best advice is to kick it all off with a refreshing mint and lime cooler or mango lassi before the big flavours and small plates arrive in quick succession. Chapatis are to be broken by hand, while deliciously pink lamb chops are well-charred and to be chomped with fatty fingers. Ginger garlic chicken comes warm and inviting, while dhal makhani features black lentils and kidney beans served in the very richest of sauces. On-the-bone roadside chicken curry melts into bits in a curry leaf sauce, while an aubergine and potato number is soft and nicely spiced. If you have room, try the gulab jamun (Indian-style sugar dumplings) afterwards or opt for a mango kulfi pop instead.
TUK TUK 426 Sauchiehall Street, City Centre, Glasgow G2 3JD,
0141 332 2126, tuktukonline.com £12 (tiffin lunch) / £15 (dinner)
Vietnamese food they enjoyed on their travels, Non Viet won’t disappoint. commitment to sourcing the best ingredients from Scotland and Italy is still very much in evidence.
RAMEN DAYO JAPANESE
PIZZERIA 1926 ITALIAN
73 Queen Street, City Centre, 0141 328 3202, ramendayo.com, £12 (dinner) A restaurant specialising in ramen may not seem a candidate for culinary raptures, but the love and care invested in this iconic dish is evident in every mouthful. Bone broth has supposed health benefits, but it’s the taste that
matters, and this tastes sublime. It’s been coddled by chefs working round the clock, and its 24-hour cooking gives it complexity and depth. It’s topped with wood- dried mushrooms, spring onions, sliced pork and shards of nori seaweed, while variants on the theme include black miso and sesame-based vegetarian versions. Exemplary gyoza accompany while homemade ginger beer or sake are wise drinks options. Edinburgh
85 Dalry Road, West End, 0131 337 5757, £13 (lunch) / £13 (dinner) When street food is taken off the streets, something is often lost in translation. But here, the heart and soul seems to have been transported direct from the bustle and noise of a Naples piazza. Cuoppo (Neapolitan- style fritto misto) come in a brown paper cone; rustling deep-fried morsels of courgette flowers, stuffed olives, mozzarella, whitebait and more. Pizza, naturally, is Neapolitan style with a touch of yielding softness to the base, and a list of around 10 pizzas ranges from the daringly simple to the thoughtfully adventurous: chopped octopus, tomatoes and oregano packs a gutsy punch of flavour and texture.
ALPLINGS CAFES
16 Henderson Street, Leith, 07527 634 964, alplings.co.uk, £9 (lunch)
The food of the mountains is now available at sea level, just off The Shore in Leith. After popping up in festivals and markets, South Tyrolean owner Martin Auer has established a permanent home: a small, bright mountain hut of a restaurant with pine furniture, decked out in a wholesome shade of pale green. Alongside the signature vegetarian alplings which come in delicious beetroot, cheese or spinach varieties, there’s spätzle (Austrian egg noodle) dishes with carbonara and four cheese sauces; sweet vanilla pancakes; and soft pretzel rolls. Flavours are rich, portions satisfying and the atmosphere relaxed.