The only way is Essex!

Jamie’s Italian - 1 George Square, Glasgow

Ahh.... Glasgow in the spring!  Gale force winds, torrential downpours and the old glimmer of sunny warmth to show us what we are missing, it was this kind of day that I ended up in Jamie’s Italian.  Unless you have a party of eight or more you can’t pre book Jamie’s, so a visit there should be a leisurely affair as you will probably have to wait for your table.

After being given a pager from the hostess and informed it would be a mere thirty minutes for the table, the bar downstairs beckoned and a chilled glass of Prosecco was just what the doctor ordered.  Menu’s are provided in the bar area and what a menu it is, broken down into nibbles, antipasti, pasta and mains it is a food lover’s delight.   The vibe at Jamie’s is chilled and they encourage you to order as much or as little as you like, but the wait was spent debating how many dishes two people could reasonably order without embarrassment. 

Once shown to a slightly small table in the bustling upstairs the friendly waitress provided water and an offer of menu advice should it be needed, with drinks refreshed I set about ordering. 

To start I ordered dishes of marinated whitebait, Italian nachos, an antipasti plank for one and a selection of Italian breads to share.  The starters is where this restaurant really excels, the nachos are actually small cheese ravioli which are deep fried, topped with a sprinkle of parmesan and served with an arrabiata sauce and they are stunningly delicious.  A slightly insipid arrabiata wasn’t even enough to dull the pleasure of these little beauties and at £3.55 you’d be daft not to try them.  Whitebait are slightly pickled and served cold with a nice chilli spike and the antipasti plank is a thoughtful selection of meat, cheese and vegetables and well above average.  Even the selection of bread is impressive, soft focaccia,  grissini as well as a family favourite of carta da musica is served in a little pot with a side of grassy olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  The plates were wolfed down with wanton abandon and more than one tussle over the dwindling nachos.

Onto the main event, slightly anti-climatic after the starter I will admit but never the less a good offering.  A special of slow braised beef in a red wine sauce was only marginally let down by cold potatoes, however the meat was deliciously tender and melted in the mouth.  The other dish of grilled chicken was impressively moist in addition to having a fine charring on the outside which is difficult to achieve, the accompanying tomato, olive and caper sauce was tasty.  A side order of fried greens was a smidge heavy on the seasoning and a tiny bit burnt in places but even the best of us struggle not to burn our greens!

No room for dessert but the Prosecco and Pinot Grigio were a fine addition to a pretty great meal.  The small blips do nothing to dampen my enthusiasm for this establishment, the care and brains that have gone into what is basically a chain restaurant is remarkable.   From the light, airy premises, adorned with hanging hams and shelves of fresh bread to the funky bar offering cocktail specials, interesting wines and a selection of nibbles, it’s seriously clever.

Jamie’s Italian hits so many of the right notes in terms of service and fundamentally giving customer’s what they want, a vibrant, exciting meal without pretention or excessive expense.  Do yourself a favour, free up a couple of hours and indulge in a bit of Essex charm.

Hot Tattie

Tattie Macs, Otago Street, Glasgow

Catching up with an old friend was excuse enough this week for dinner out and my companion’s venue of choice was Tattie Macs in Otago Street.   A warm, friendly little bistro sandwiched between Gibson Street and Great Western Road it was welcome suggestion.  

The restaurant is small but perfectly formed, twinkling candles and chilled out music makes it the kind of place I love.  The waiting staff were excellent, very informative and not over imposing, they were kind enough to let us try some of the wine before committing to a full bottle. 

A real selling point of this restaurant is their Bistro menu, available Sunday to Friday until 10pm and Saturday until 6.30pm, which is a bargain at £11.95 for two courses.  I appreciate a restaurant in this climate making the effort to stay busy and with such a reasonable offer and minimum time restrictions it paid off so by 8pm the place was bustling.

The main menu was offered but there is a decent choice on the Bistro menu so we ordered from that.  Starters were a pickled herring and potato salad for both of us, which was delicious.  The herring were sharp and sweet which along with the creamy potato salad was a match made in heaven.  The absent taste of advertised horseradish was only a mild glitch in a fresh and vibrant first course.

For my main course I plumped for the venison casserole, a melt in the mouth, comforting stew that was served with well prepared, zingy red cabbage and green beans.   My friend’s choice of roast chicken, with honey, ginger and Cajun spice was a surprise winner.  It was beautifully cooked, moist and much more earthy and interesting than I would have gathered from the description, it is a dish I will be ordering on my next visit.

The wine list is great with a good few choices by the glass but more importantly the whole ambience of the place is spot on.   Good service, food and wine make up ninety percent of any meal but Tattie Macs has the extra je ne sais quoi that makes it shine out.

Yo Sushi! – YoYo

Yo Sushi – House of Fraser, Buchanan Street

A recent venture to Yo Sushi in the ground floor of the House of Fraser was a pleasant one if not entirely consistent.   As with most Yo Sushi restaurants they have done a fine job of kitting the space out with a good number of booths and a funky conveyor belt arrangement.  I still find it a little strange that you can see into the store but finally the overwhelming scent of the perfume department has given way to a more food based aroma.

We were greeted by a friendly face and given one of the roomy booths which still have the conveyor belt ambling past which is fun.   With wine ordered and glasses filled from the table top taps we perused the extensive menu with gusto.  As I have mentioned before I am a menu enthusiast and Yo Sushi has a wide and varied selection of both hot and cold dishes.  Anyone scared of sushi should try this kind of establishment as the amount of raw fish on the menu is actually quite minimal, even a lot of the sushi dishes are made with cooked ingredients making them a safe choice for first timers or the squeamish.

Yo Sushi encourages you to order a few dishes at a time whilst helping yourself to anything that catches your eye from the conveyor belt, and at the end of the meal they count the different coloured plates to calculate the bill.  Be warned, don’t take anyone with a large appetite...  The bill can fairly mount up if you’re not careful!

As it was a relatively quiet Tuesday night the conveyor belt wasn’t packed with dishes, so we kicked off by ordering a few cold dishes from the waitress.  An adequate California roll was first to be devoured, followed by an interesting and flavoursome duck futomaki,  think duck and pancakes but in sushi form.   A masago gunkan got the thumbs up from my husband who is partial to the tiny flying fish roe.

Onto a few hot dishes, a chicken katsu which was fine, possibly a bit over fried and a vegetable tempura  that fared a little better.  Although the tempura batter wouldn’t have won any prizes the selection of vegetables was good, tenderstem broccoli, lotus root and aubergine along with the obligatory onion and carrot. Chicken gyoza were tasty but not as nice as I’ve had elsewhere however a beautiful seaweed salad snatched from the conveyor belt was a real favourite, a crunchy blend of seaweed, carrots and edamame in a punchy soy dressing that cuts across any of the fried dishes – a real palate cleanser.

Palate cleansed we were off ordering again, this time from the seasonal Kill Chill menu which has been designed for winter and only has hot dishes on it.  These were the two outstanding dishes of the meal, gyudon beef bowl was delicious and moreish we probably could have ordered another two of them.  It was like a beef stir fry on sticky rice but with a complex and rich flavour although sadly with none of the advertised pickles garnishing.  Next up the chicken wings which were hot , savoury and totally addictive, hard fried and finished with a slick of chilli sauce and spring onions they were my idea of heaven.   I would love these to become a permanent fixture on the menu as they were worth the visit alone.

A cute selection of desserts such as Japanese pancakes were on offer, but we were finally full. 

The kicker with most of my meals at Yo Sushi is usually the price, as a greedy Glasgow glutton it is hard to show restraint and with plates priced between £1.70 and £5.00 it can soon mount up.  The more civilized of you out there could probably keep it reasonable, I cannot!

All in all a good meal a few misses but mostly hits, the staff are very friendly and the vibe was nice although subdued on such a quiet night.  This restaurant is obviously geared to the Saturday shoppers and town workers but if you find yourself down that end of town in the evening give it a try.

To Zizzi or not to Zizzi?

Zizzi – Cresswell Lane, Byres Road, Glasgow

My latest lunch venture was to Zizzi’s Italian just behind Byres Road, now call me weird but Italian food is never a first choice for me.  I think that a lot of Italian restaurants in Glasgow lack imagination (with a notable exception of Jamie’s Italian) and a good plate of pasta is something you can often make at home.  However many of my friends do enjoy a cheeky Italiano so Zizzi’s it was.

The restaurant is in the old site of Bar Buddha and credit due on the transformation stakes, it is unrecognisable.  Light and airy but maybe lacking soul, it’s spacious with an open plan kitchen complete with massive pizza oven and perfect for watching the chefs at work.  The good feeling did not last....

Zizzi have the strangest menu, at first glance it looks like your standard pizza and pasta fare but on closer inspection it toboggans downhill into an unappetizing and bizarre arrangement of dishes.    I can pour over most menus for hours, looking at all the seductive descriptions and agonizing over my choice but this menu for me was a struggle.    

The range of starters is quite small and none of them particularly jumped out at me so in the end I settled on an antipasti board.  Now I do mean settled, because of all the food to be recreated at home a meat antipasti has to be one of the easiest, it’s delicious but requires almost no skill.  Zizzi’s antipasti was tasty but had no flair, the meats were good but the only thing on the attractive wooden board that had required the slightest bit of culinary attention was some home made breadsticks.  The dish positively wallowed in mediocrity and coupled with a stingy portion was pretty darn expensive at £10.45 for two.

Again the choice of main courses was average, the dishes are either totally plain or an eclectic mix of everything but the kitchen sink.   Now again I opted for safety, how could you possibly go wrong with a Margarita pizza?  Here’s how, you don’t season it!  There was no seasoning in the dough or the tomato base, the mozzarella was fine but it’s not exactly known for its lip smacking flavour.   Positives were a light and crispy base that was well cooked and a very perky basil leave.

My companion’s pizza funghi  was marginally better helped along by the porcini oil which delivered a tame slap as opposed to the expected punch from the pungent fellow but still left me feeling cheated on flavour.

Service was slow and laboured, although polite and friendly.  The wine selection is very good, modestly priced with a highly recommendable pink fizz which aided me through the otherwise bland experience.

 Will I go back to Zizzi’s?  Not in a hurry, it lacked the people pleasing menu and skill of your average Glasgow ristorante which will take me a long time to forgive.  My advice, go to Jamie’s Italian, an exciting experience, divine menu and food with a bit more pizzazz!!

Crab-tastic!

Crabshakk, Argyle Street

This week brought me to Crabshakk in Argyle Street, an area which is really up and coming for restaurants.  Now much has been said about Crabshakk’s decision not to put up proper signage for their restaurant, some think it pretentious, some think it trendy – I honestly don’t really bother as long as it keeps offering up delicious food.

It can be tough to get a table at Crabshakk , it’s quite a small restaurant and very popular, however there is a bar area which is first come first served and proved our only option on Saturday as they were fully booked.

Crabshakk has a great wine list, not cheap but carefully chosen, I’m a fan of the Trebbiano so a bottle was swiftly ordered.  The menu is not surprisingly almost all seafood based with an emphasis on shellfish, I wouldn’t recommend taking anybody not keen on fish as there is only one meat option and one vegetarian option but I suppose the clue is in the name.

If you are however partial to crustaceans, molluscs and the like then you’ll struggle to keep your ordering  in check, helpfully Crabshakk offers a lot of its popular dishes in small and large sizes.

It is my preference to forgo the traditional starter and main format, instead opting for three plates to share.  Crab cakes were a triumph, almost entirely made up of white crab meat spiked with a little chilli they were incredibly delicious, so much so that I’ll forgive the odd bit of shell. 

Next up was a special of home cured gravadlax served with pickled cucumber which was elegantly done.  I think it takes real skill to sympathetically cure and pickle without going over the top and ruining the raw ingredients, something that the chefs in Crabshakk have obviously mastered.

Finally scallops, big, fat and with their coral intact they were done in an anchovy butter which is optional  but highly recommended.  Now I know a lot of people don’t like anchovies but these were melted into a salty, citrusy sauce which complemented the sweet scallops perfectly.  A portion of fries completed the meal which in summary was exceptional.

Not the cheapest eat on the block our modest lunch set us back over £50 including wine but we left feeling spoilt and indulged.

The only doubt with Crabshakk may be that a lot of the dishes can be replicated at home providing your have access to an excellent fishmonger, but unless your seafood cooking is tip top then I would advise visiting this restaurant and revelling in obvious talent of its chefs.

Jumping Japanese

Nanakusa, Sauchiehall Street


This week brought me to Nanakusa, the popular Japanese restaurant in Sauchiehall Street.  Everytime I pass this place it is pretty busy, always a good sign in my book so Sunday night was no exception.

The menu is big, supplemented with pictures for ease of ordering and varied.  In Nanakusa you don’t have to conform to the traditional starter, main course format but you can mix up the smaller dishes, sushi, bento boxes and main dishes any way you like.  I loathe the term tapas other than in its Spanish context but you can apply the same logic to the smaller dishes , sushi and side orders.

My husband and I decided on a selection of small plates all served at the same time, it is a great way to introduce yourself to the delights of Japanese cuisine without stretching the wallet and the waistline.  Chicken gyoza were small and perfectly formed, the fried variety but light and tasty with a sensational piquant dipping sauce.  Next up, Karaage chicken which is seasoned chicken pieces fried lightly and again served with dipping sauce.  Now I will admit that I am partial to the Karaage in Wagamama which is made with juicy thigh meat but the Nanakusa one made with chicken breast is equally as good and  a hit with all.  Edamame and pak choi were a great accompaniment decently prepared.

Sushi next, Tobiko nigiri, which was beautifully presented flying fish roe on rice surrounded by nori seaweed.   I couldn’t resist a Temaki cone which comes in a cute little stand that looks so enticing as it leaves the open plan kitchen.  I opted for the soft shell crab variety, Kanikar, which arrives with a few little crab legs diving out the top as if the poor beast is making a run for it.

Now for the highlights, another soft shell crab dish, Kani Karaage, which is deep fried until delicious and crisp, tasted excellent although if there are crab fans in the party you may want to order more than one.   A surprising highlight was also a nonchalant side order of pickles, which arrived in a perky jenga style all stacked high on a plate, now although it was only made up of cucumber, carrot and daikon it was so beautifully pickled and moreish that I would insist you order it, especially given the tiny price of 75p.

 The service was speedy, friendly and efficient, the bill for the two of us with a glass of wine each was a reasonable £40.  The real lure of this restaurant is its consistency and obvious popularity, I’ve never had a bad meal here and for the money I think it’s a real winner.

Arigato! 

Time for Tiffin

Balbir’s Tiffin Rooms, Sauchiehall Street

We recently paid a visit to the popular Balbir’s Tiffin Rooms with visitors from Melbourne and we’re glad we did!  The food was excellent, the service attentive and we all thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. 

In between Christmas and New Year can be an odd time for restaurants but there was a pleasant buzz at Balbir’s.  Inevitably, when ordering our drinks, the blokes wanted Indian beer however the knowledgeable barman informed them of an American beer, Blue Moon, which is slightly flavoured with orange and apparently well matched with curries.  When met with dubious looks he produced two samples for trial, one met with gusto – the other not so much but never the less off to a great start!

When  perusing the menu the friendly waiter offered plenty of suggestions and took time explaining many of the dishes.  As we were dining with a vegetarian he also informed us that any type of curry on the menu could be done as a vegetarian option which was appreciated.

Starters for four were a chicken pakora, vegetable pakora and a stunning dish – Bhel & Papar.  The pakora, as any Glaswegian would know, is self explanatory although better than average with a nice zingy pink sauce.  The Bhel & Papar is a different beast, made with the gram flour straws commonly found in Bombay Mix, it is also contains onions, coriander, nuts and fruit and is served with poppadoms, it truly is exceptional.

For mains we opted for one meat Thali and one vegetarian Thali, both of which were above expectation.  A Thali at Balbir’s is a selection of three curries, served with rice and chapati all on one platter and designed to be shared.  Our vegetarian had already been given free reign over the menu but the choice of Thali curries is still wide.   From the simple korma to the deep and tasty saag all were beautifully executed and for us, an ideal size.   I don’t doubt that many seasoned curry goers would find the portions on the small side but having had starters we were all perfectly satisfied.

The bill was reasonable for the standard of food and there were also a nice variety of specials on the board for the adventurous. 

For me the big advantage to the Tiffin Rooms is the combination of traditional Glasgow curry staples flecked with some more interesting newcomers and, if ordering the Thali with three choices, it leaves room for some experimentation.

All about the crab

I've been known to be crabby on the odd occasion, but mood swings aside one of my all time favourite things to eat is crab.  Definitely pros and cons to the hard shelled wee beast but I'm of the opinion that the meat is so delicious and sweet that by nature it has to be a pain in the a** to eat!  Such is life.


Salt and Chilli Crab – Loon Fung, Sauchiehall Street


The ultimate feast, it comes portioned up in neat little sections ready to be picked, prodded and polished off!  The crab is fried with garlic, chilli, spring onions and you guessed it.... salt.  The contrast between the sweet, fine meat and the robust hit of chilli and salt is seriously finger licking good.  Be prepared to give it some time and love and you will be rewarded.


Crab Cakes – Crabshakk, Argyle Street


This is crab for the lazy amongst us, these sweet, tasty little morsels come in a large or small portion.  I suggest the large unless you dine alone because inevitably your companions will steal a few when you’re not looking!  Made up of almost all white crab meat with a hint of chilli, seasoning and little else they really are fabulous.


Fresh whole crabs to buy – MacCallums of Troon, Houldsworth Street


In my opinion the best place in Glasgow to source any and all seafood is MacCallums.  The range is massive and quality outstanding.  Many a time have I been in MacCallums and have seen a live crab launching itself out of a container and making a break for it across the floor.


Prepared crab meat to buy – Waitrose, Byres Road


Waitrose have a lovely selection of ready to eat crab, from dressed crabs to a tasty crab terrine this would be my choice for any picnic or decadent treat.


 Good crabbing peeps


Gigi

Welcome to Glasgow Glutton

Hi, welcome to Glasgow Glutton!  Thank you for checking out my blog.

The purpose of this is to share all things foodie that I love in Glasgow, from restaurants to shops and any hints or recipies I can share on the way. 

I'm all about the food, hence the glutton! 

Gigi