FOOD & DRINK RECENT OPENINGS
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HOME COMFORTS One of the original stalwarts of Glasgow’s street food scene, Julie Lin Macleod has a permanent Southside home for her brand of Malaysian comfort food, as Ruth Marsh discovers
H awker stall staples dominate the concise menu at Julie’s Kopitiam – nasi goreng topped with Chinese sausage and smoky char kuay teow flat noodles scattered with salty nuggets of belachan (dried shrimp). Irresistible small plates, from pleasingly slippery pork and chive dumplings swimming in sweet black vinegar to bite-sized sweetcorn fritters to be dunked into jammy tamarind sauce, mean your table will soon be heaving under the weight of impulse orders. Dishes arrive with admirable swiftness from the compact open kitchen and, even if you fear you’ve over-ordered, you’ll somehow still find room for warm, slightly savoury coconut rice pudding with a moat of ginger and mango syrup. As per a traditional neighbourhood kopitiam, Julie’s is booze-free but the steaming teapots of lemongrass and ginger plus slushy machines ready to churn out lapsang souchong-laced ices in the warmer months, make this no hardship. With just 20 covers and a dedicated city-wide following, scoring a table at Julie’s already takes patience, but you’ll reap the rewards.
JULIE’S KOPITIAM
1109 Pollokshaws Road, Southside, Glasgow, G41 3YG
07835 108102, fb.com/julieskopitiam £13 (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.
with brittle batter. You won’t linger long here, but for wallet-friendly refuelling, it’s hard to beat.
SMASHBURGER BURGER CHAIN
Glasgow
BEAUMARTIN – THE COTTAGE SCOTTISH-FRENCH
156 Milngavie Road, Bearsden, 0141 258 1881, beaumartinthecottage.co.uk, £17 (set lunch/pre- theatre) / £30 (dinner) French restaurateur Richard Dupupet and Scottish head chef Andrew Stott have brought their hearty Scottish-Gallic cuisine to The Cottage – literally a little old white cottage. A gas fire crackles in the corner, while tables for just 32 are packed in tight. Stott’s traditionally minded, lovingly and unhurriedly crafted dishes are made from thoughtfully selected seasonal ingredients, and are rich in texture and flavour. Leek and goat’s cheese tartelette is an auspicious start to their lean seasonal menu. Confit duck leg meat slips satisfyingly off the bone, complemented by white bean ragoût and celeriac mash, while chocolate fondant is a simple dessert flawlessly done.
OKOME JAPANESE
161 Byres Road, West End, 0141 334 1818, fb.com/OkomeByresRoad, £10 (lunch/dinner) With bright Okome-branded packaging and its ‘healthy delicious’ slogan, this slick Japanese canteen feels like a prototype high street chain. Generous ready-made sushi platters are great value – although being served fridge-cold can dull the flavours. Hot dishes fare better, including large rice bowls topped with perennial favourite chicken katsu curry or the more adventurous grilled eel, and a classic pork broth tonkotsu ramen. Sides are worth investing a few extra quid in, particularly the expertly fried chicken,
165 Sauchiehall Street, City Centre, 0141 332 4554, smashburger. co.uk, £15 (lunch/dinner) Industrial-chic features meet McDonald’s-style components at this chain, whose USP is ‘smashing’ – basically
squishing a meatball between a mechanical clamshell grill, cooking the burger in just 70 seconds. The thin, well-cooked patties work best with simple toppings. A pimped-up option – such as the Local Smash with rich stilton offset by tangy chutney and crisp bacon – may warrant an extra pattie to stop the beef taste going astray. Sweet potato ‘smashfries’ in olive oil, rosemary and garlic are great, too.
Edinburgh
AURORA CAFES
187 Great Junction Street, Leith, 0131 554 5537, auroraedinburgh. co.uk, £12 (lunch) / £18 (dinner) A nicely informal neighbourhood bistro, Aurora is away from the main drag but there’s little doubt word of mouth will get around fast. Owner Kamil Witek – formerly of Salt Café – focuses on seasonal, local ingredients to create surprising flavour combinations. The menu changes every couple of
weeks, but lunch selections like pork cheek and barley ravioli bathed in a chicken consommé, or peppercorn crusted tuna with avocado nori show his ambition. Eggs feature heavily at breakfast, including shakshuka and eggs benny, while all the pastries and bread are made on the premises. WHITE HORSE OYSTER & SEAFOOD BAR
FISH
266 Canongate, 0131 629 5300, whitehorseoysterbar.co.uk, £17 (lunch) / £27 (dinner) Oysters are at the heart of the White Horse – and slurping a few down while sipping a glass of bubbles at the elegant bar is an appealing post-work wind- down, particularly if you can make it in for their ‘buck a shuck’ happy hour (Mon–Thu 4–6pm). Share a generous platter or a few small plates to sample the carefully sourced seafood, all from British waters. There are plump monkfish skewers with satay sauce; chargrilled octopus with ponzu; enormous crisp prawn tempura with wasabi mayonnaise; scotch- bonnet cured salmon, and sesame tuna, plus a handful of main dishes and interesting cocktails too. DIABLO LOCO
BARS & PUBS 74–78 South Clerk Street, 0131 667 2701, diabloloco.co.uk, £13 (lunch) / £18 (dinner) Tequila and mezcal are the joint heads of Diablo Loco’s debauched family, creating six different margaritas plus cocktails. For the fainter-hearted there are Mexican and British beers, with Estrella on tap. Food is fiery and copious, with smaller plates like pork belly croquettes, a range of tacos and six mains including baked chicken enchilada and swordfish steak. With details like pineapple and lime, ewe’s cheese and pomegranate, the food is a clear cut above the average UK Mexican. Leave room for churros and dulce de leche for afters though.
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 44 THE LIST 1 Feb–31 Mar 2018