Author Archives: Briony

Foodie Penpals

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Last month I finally signed up to Foodie Penpals - a great parcel exchange idea organised by This is Rock Salt who I had the pleasure of meeting late last year.

How does it work? Each month you are assigned a penpal to send a gift of £10 value to, and in return a penpal sends you a gift. There is some email exchange beforehand so you can give your dietary requirements or requests if you want!

My two penpals were both UK based so I didn’t request anything special, and neither did my penpal. I stupidly forgot to take a photo of my parcel before I sent it off, and my penpal doesn’t blog – but here is what I sent: whiskey tablet from The Good Spirits Co, Glasgow. I had popped in there to pick up some Nucoco chocolate as I was going for a locally produced (in Glasgow) theme! I got a bag of the dark chocolate (70%) chocolate drops which you can use to make hot chocolate – but recommend eating them with yoghurt! Added to the parcel were some Scottish oatcakes, as well as two small taster bottles of Auchentoshan (single malt Scotch whisky made just outside of Glasgow). I hope my penpal liked everything she got!

Here is a picture of the parcel I received:

Foodie pen pal parcel

I could smell the popcorn from outside the box! It was pretty enticing, I’ve never received a popcorn-smelling-parcel before. My penpal obviously had a wee peek at the blog and saw that I like all things healthy and natural! In it there is Pearled Spelt, a couple of Munchy Seeds, Chorley Cakes and Eccles Cakes as well as the two bags of homemade popcorn. Because life has been chaotic I haven’t had a chance to try anything apart from the popcorn (YUM!) but I look forward to trying it all this week.

Thanks to This is Rock Salt for organising such a huge endeavour  and thanks to my penpal for my great parcel. Head over to her blog if you’re keen on taking part yourself.

What would you send if you were sending a foodie parcel to someone?

 

Some exciting news!

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Some of you who follow me on twitter (@glasgow_food) will have seen my post yesterday:

Image 5-8-13 at 12.34 PMYes, that’s me!

I thought I’d also put up a special post here to reassure my amazing food blog friends that I’m not leaving you!

So, I’m the new Community Manager of Yelp Glasgow. There is no way to put into words to express just how excited I am about this, so I thought I’d use a gif from my favourite TV show to sum it up:

Bernard Black: running down the street with excitement

So, what’s going to happen to The Glasgow Food Blog? Well, I’ve not been paying my lovely blog much attention recently, as Yelp has taken over my life! But I will! The blog will live on, and I will still be posting here – whether it’s restaurant reviews, recipes, cookbook reviews, etc.

I have had a blast these past few weeks in my new role, and am so happy to be able to have a job that is all the things I really love: Glasgow, finding new places, promoting great, independent places, and a really vibrant community spirit. If this sounds like something you’d be into, feel free to sign up to Yelp Glasgow to start reviewing, chatting and coming along to events!

You could even come along to my Aperol Aperitivo & Pizza Party at Firebird next week!

If I could, I’d give this blog a big smoochie kiss to say thanks for being a springboard to an exciting new direction for me, but instead, I’ll say thanks to all the people who’ve ever visited the blog, commented and said hello for being such a motivating and inspiring influence.

Take out the cigarette and add in some food, and that is me right now.

The Grill on the Corner, Glasgow City Centre

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Once again, life has gotten in the way of my well-organised blogging routine! Here is a much overdue post about the dinner we had at The Grill on the Corner back at the end of March (eeeep!). We were invited in for dinner and headed into town for a wander before going in to dinner. Every single time I go into Glasgow, I’m always captivated by something new and exciting, or discovering some place I’ve never been before. This time it was the bar opposite Stereo, The Old Hairdresser’s which obviously isn’t new but it was very exciting as it had just the right vibe for a pre-dinner drink.

We arrived a little early for our booking at The Grill on the Corner, but that wasn’t a problem for them. The restaurant always catches my eye from the outside with the glittering fairy lights in the window – they definitely know how to make you feel like you’re visiting somewhere really special. We were guided to our table and left to look over the menu.

Me being me, I’d already studied it in great detail. I went for the asparagus spears with a duck egg which also came with parma ham salt. This was a great start to the meal – the asparagus had a buttery taste that let the natural flavour of the asparagus shine though, and then egg was cooked perfectly for dipping. I think my favourite thing on the plate was the parma ham salt – as moreish as it sounds!

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Graeme’s starter was the crispy calamari with lemon mayonnaise. Fresh, crispy, salty and with the perfectly tangy mayonnaise, this was a real treat. I liked the side of lime too for a bit of a contrast with the lemon.

 
Crispy calamari with lemon mayonnaise

 

For me, you can’t dine somewhere like the Grill on the Corner without going for a steak (unless you’re vegetarian, of course). I went for the 200g fillet with a side of chips, as well as a side of greens and peas. A really delicious, flavoursome steak that was cooked to perfection (medium rare for me). Addictive chips to top it all off.

 

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Graeme went for the burger, for something different. 100% Wagyu beef with cheese and smoked bacon as extra and served with chips and tomato relish. Presented on a soft bun which didn’t go mushy part way though. A lovely meaty burger made this a juicy treat which is of a high standard compared to other burgers in Glasgow. Again, those lovely skin-on chips – what other side goes better with a burger?

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I needed something light and refreshing to finish of my meal, so went for sorbet – standard lemon but hitting all the right flavours for a cleansing finish.

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Graeme went for his standard – chocolate – this time as a torte. Rich, smooth and indulgent, that’s his preferred way to finish a meal!

 

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The service at the Grill on the Corner was impecable – friendly, helpful without being pushy or overbearing. Everyone we came into contact with was lovely, and on a Friday night the restaurant had a buzzing, vibrant atmosphere with people raring up for a night out in town. Us – we were winding down for a relaxing night at home with a glass of wine.

Thanks to the Grill on the Corner for inviting us for dinner. While our meal was complimentary, we were not obliged to write a positive review. We look forward to returning in the near future.

After reading all about our delicious – tell me, what’s your favourite steak? Failing steak – vegetarian/vegan substitute?

The Lansdowne Bar & Kitchen, Glasgow West End

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We visited the Lansdowne on Wednesday to try out their wine dinner – 3 courses for £25 per person. We have posted about the Lansdowne previously (if you remember that far back!). This place is definitely one of my favourite pubs and restaurants in Glasgow for its consistently good food and awesomely relaxing atmosphere.

We sat in a booth (probably better for 4 people rather than 5) and were greeted with two glasses of wine to accompany the starter, a white and red. The wine aspect of the evening was a brief, non-intrusive chat from Chris from Bibendum Wines about the wines and how they matched the food. I thought he had the perfect balance of telling you enough interesting information without droning on and distracting from the food. After the meal he popped around to each table to see if anyone had questions which was a great idea.

Spinach and wild mushroom lasagne with toasted Italian olive loaf

For the starter, I had the spinach and wild mushroom lasagne with Italian olive loaf. I also got to eat the poached egg off Graeme’s dish (seared lambs’ liver with smoked bacon, poached egg and hollandaise) because he doesn’t like egg (still baffles me!). The poachy was perfect and I’d eaten it in two or three mouthfuls, I was that excited. My meal looked slightly soupy, which was worrying for a lasagne. But when I dived in, I was delighted by the super umami punch of the wild mushroom which made this a really exciting starter. My only criticism is that the portion size was a bit big – but that really isn’t much of a complaint!

Seared lambs’ liver with smoked bacon, poached egg and hollandaise sauce

For mains I went for the braised beef cheek, chorizo dauphinoise with white truffle and mushroom sauce. Again, another dish with a real wow-factor of flavour. The plating perhaps wasn’t the most beautiful I’ve seen, and it would have benefited from a side of green vegetables to cut through the richness. The dauphinoise was moreish and I continued eating until that exploding-full-breaking-point because I just didn’t want to stop.

Braised beef cheek, chorizo dauphinoise with a white truffle and mushroom sauce

Then we moved onto dessert – I had a few bites of the strawberry and mascarpone roulade and that was me finished for the night. It was really lovely but I had just eaten too much.

Strawberry and mascarpone roulade

The wine nights are on monthly and it was a really fun event to attend. For the amount of wine you got with your meal (5 small glasses) this was definitely amazing value. I also love sampling wines I wouldn’t normally buy or try. I’ve always enjoyed the food at the Lansdowne and it’s pleasing to see them keeping up the high standards! Keep your eyes peeled for their next wine dinner, probably at the beginning of May.

Malmaison, Glasgow City Centre

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We hadn’t visited Malmaison in ages and were thankful to be invited along to try their new Sunday lunch menu, the Mal on Sunday. I’ll forgive their play on the newspaper with a similar name but of dubious quality. Lunch at Malmaison was simply all class, no trash.

Chef’s Table at Malmaison

For £19.95 per person you get a three course meal in the Brasserie. Malmaison have gone for something a little different though, which makes this feel decidedly more decadent and special than a usual three course set menu. The starter course is served at the Chef’s Table – “a selection of hors d’oeuvres and chef’s cook station featuring eggs, omelettes, waffles and pancakes prepared just for you.” We arrived at around midday on Easter Sunday to find the Chef’s Table to ourselves – you can imagine my delight! I was also ravenous from playing roller derby the day before, so it was great to be able to head up and help ourselves without having to wait for our orders to come out.

Chef’s Table: pancake/omelette station

The Chef’s Table was incredibly well stocked, and would cater for all tastes – salmon, cold meats, salads, pancakes, fruits as well as the option to have an omelette made fresh with whatever filling you wanted. The chef at the table on Sunday was incredibly chatty and friendly, and was super helpful with any questions you had about what certain dishes were. My only comment would be that they could improve the lighting in this areas as it is pretty dark and could be difficult to see!

My first trip to the Chef’s Table

I can’t fault anything I ate at the Chef’s Table, it was all fresh, tasty and in good portion sizes. I was wary of eating too much and not being able to eat my main though.

For mains, I went for the steak: Mal steak frites (200gm). Graeme had the burger (180gm) with bacon, Gruyère and fries. Our mains arrived a good amount of time after we had finished eating from the Chef’s Table, meaning we felt relaxed and had some digestion time. The steak was massive and I found it a challenge to finish it all. It was cooked beautifully and had a nice charred grill flavour on the outside while being perfectly cooked (medium rare) on the inside.

Mal steak frites

Graeme’s burger made me drool with envy. I really struggle to find a burger that I like in Glasgow – I am really not a fan of a tower burger that is impossible to eat. While this burger was big, it tasted heavenly. I put it down to the relish on the burger which had a nice pickle flavour through it. The bun was also really soft and easy to bite into.

Mal lunch burger with bacon, Gruyère and fries

Finally we moved onto dessert. With 7 options it was a little difficult to narrow it down but I ended up going for the crème brûlée and Graeme ordered the sorbet.

Crème brûlée

Apart from the fact that this dessert was delicious, it was also served in a wide and shallow bowl – meaning more of the crunchy topping! Perfect! I did struggle to finish this though, just because it was rich and I was incredibly full by this stage.

Sorbet

Sorbet is such a great way to finish a heavy meal as it refreshes and cleanses, and is easy to eat as it’s so light. This sorbet was lovely and each flavour packed a real punch.

We had a wonderful lunch at Malmaison. It was quiet while we were there, but it was the first day of British Summer Time so people may have been still sleeping in! The staff was friendly and helpful – again, a shout-out to the chef on the Chef’s Table as well as the lovely hostess.

Thanks to Purple PR for inviting us along to sample the new lunch menu. It was a really lovely Easter treat!

Chicken and feta sausage rolls

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This recipe is my go-to saviour for when I need to make something to take a dish along to a party or gather. I am not a baker in the traditional sense (I could happily live a cake-free existence if required) so I always like to take something savoury. I also have a load of friends who are way better at making cakes than I’ll ever be!

A friend of mine suggested it to me, and after making it once I was hooked. These will convert people who will proclaim “but I don’t like sausage rolls!”. Well, if they like chicken, they will love these. I did start wondering whether a “sausage roll” is still a sausage roll if it’s made from chicken. Hmm, tough philosophical question … I’ll come back to that another day (or you can comment below and let me know what you think!)

Top view of the sausage rolls

500g minced chicken meat
1 small eshallot, finely chopped
grated zest ½ lemon
4 tablespoons chopped rocket
4 tablespoons fresh breadcrumbs
½ teaspoon chilli flakes
100g feta cheese crumbled
2 sheets ready rolled puff pastry
1 egg, beaten

Combine all ingredients except pastry and egg and mix well with your hands. Season well with salt and pepper. Halve each sheet of pastry. Divide meat into 4 sausages the length of the pastry, and place one slightly off-centre on each strip. Brush one edge of pastry strip with beaten egg and then fold over the other to enclose sausage meat. Press down to seal with the back of a fork. Brush with beaten egg. Cut each roll into 2 or 3 smaller sausage rolls, and prick each with a fork. Repeat with the rest of the pastry and meat. Chill for at least 30 minutes. Bake in preheated 220°C oven for 25 minutes, or until golden. Serve warm. Makes 8-12.

Side view of the sausage rolls

The recipe is originally from The Australian.

In the UK it can be hard to find chicken breast minced, so I just buy breasts and put them in the magic bullet to mince them up. Works perfectly! I then do the same with the rocket and crumble the feta by hand. If you make these, be sure to comment and let me know if you loved them. These always go down a treat at a party!

Cookie, Glasgow Southside

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We finally managed to visit Cookie after many failed attempts (on our behalf!). We were able to get a seat without any problem on a Saturday around 1pm but it got a lot busier over the next two hours, so if you’re thinking of going for a special occasion I’d recommend booking in advance.

We were a bit confused by the menu, and I’ve read other people say this online. I put this down to the fact that their menu changes daily, and it’d be a bit of a waste to be printing out a new menu every day. Although, they could use the blackboards for this. Anyway, the point is that your waiter will tell you the specials of the day (two courses for £11.50) so make sure you pay attention!

There was a little more confusion as to whether we could order from the meals on the blackboard (we couldn’t) so we went for the lunch deal. We share the antipasti platter to start:

Antipasti platter to share

This had a generous amount of meats and cheese, as well as grilled vegetables underneath the rocket. We really enjoyed this and it was really nice and relaxing just grazing (I do tend to get a bit competitive when sharing food, thankfully Graeme has gotten used to this!).

Chicken with spinach bean stew/casserole

For main, we had the chicken and bean casserole. This was a large portion so I struggled to finish it after the antipasti. I am not the biggest bean lover but this dish was really nice and had a good balance of chicken to beans as well a refreshing spinach and some spring onion.

All their breads are baked in store daily, as well as the cakes. From the dining area you can see into the kitchen and have a spy on the calm, organised and tidy goings on. I was very impressed!

The waiter we had on the day was a little eccentric (“kooky” even, *boomtish*). He seemed a bit overwhelmed at times as he was taking care of all the tables in the restaurant with just a meal-runner to help him. The gentleman on the table next to us even commented on the service to us – but you know what, I like someone who is a little off-beat and not super slick. I think it can make the experience of dining out more fun and interesting.

One final word of praise – their cordials are served in a tea pot with a jug of water, so you can make it up to your own preference. Perfect for weirdos like me who like really weak cordial!

I can’t wait to go back to Cookie to try their dinner specials – they had a pea, wild garlic and blue cheese risotto which I am dying to try. It’s on the menu for a while longer (so they tell me via twitter) so I’ll have to go back soon!

Cookie on Urbanspoon

Tomato and butter pasta sauce

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I read about this recipe while we were in Australia, I can’t remember where from now but there are lots of recipes floating around. It is impressively simple, and yet packs a huge flavour punch. Give it a try one night when you need a comfort meal like a hug, and can’t really be bothered cooking anything more complicated.

Tomato and butter pasta

Tomato and butter pasta

Ingredients:

2 x 400 gram tins of tomatoes (preferably whole tomatoes, and a fancy brand if you feel like lashing out)
4 tbs of butter
Pasta – any kind works well. I used a packet of casareccia pasta which I got at the Zizzi launch – they use it in a pasta dish with chicken, tomato and spinach. It is a really lovely pasta that is soft and delicate, and holds the sauce really well.

  1. Simply melt the butter in a saucepan, and add the tomatoes. Bash them a little bit so they break up. Leave the sauce to simmer for about 45 minutes.
  2. Serve over your (cooked) pasta. Don’t overload the pasta with sauce – you want a nice coating but not drowning in sauce.

You might be reading this and thinking “but that’s it?!” … yes, that’s it. The butter and tomato taste amazing together, and sometimes it’s the simple recipes that really rock your world. I dare you to try it and tell me what you think of it.

Munro’s, Glasgow West End

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We were invited the try Munro’s on Great Western Road recently. If you know the area, you’ll know the infamous Captain’s Rest closed down last year. After a huge refurbishment, it reopened as Munro’s, marketed as a craft beer bar – the current beer trend going around Glasgow (and the rest of the world!). They have a rotating beer list which means there is always something different to try.

When we walked in, I couldn’t believe we were in the same building as the Captain’s Rest. I’d visited the former site frequently – I loved their pizza deal, and they had some good gigs in the basement area below (this space is now the toilets). Munro’s is completely different – the layout and design have all been seriously updated, as well as some huge windows installed so the place is now bright and airy. There are heaps of different dining spaces for a bite to eat, as well as standing barrels for downing pints.

We started off with a couple of drinks – I had a glass of pinot grigio (£5.60 for a large glass) and Graeme had a pint of Pacer Pale Ale while we looked over the menu. I’d describe the menu as beer food – foods that are good to accompany a pint (or a few!). It is also pretty cheap! It ranges from beer bite buckets (all under £4.50), sharing boards (under £12) to pizzas (up to £9) and then hotdogs, burgers, fish n chips and chilli.

We decided on a few starters to share:

Whitebait with lime and tartare sauce £4

Mushroom Rarebit on toasted farmhouse bread £4

Firecracker chicken wings £4.50

We decided on the above for our starters. The whitebait was super hot and crispy, just the way whitebait should be served. I also really loved the rarebit – a good balance of cheese and mushrooms. I wasn’t a fan of the chicken wings because of the sauce – I really don’t like anything that is barbecue flavoured. I hadn’t realised from reading the menu that it was a BBQ sauce with the name firecracker but I know for next time! Graeme did really like these though so it’s just down to personal preference.

Meat feast pizza

Chilli Dog £7.50

Jalapeño poppers

Selection of sauces

Graeme went for pizza for his main, whereas I thought I’d try something different and have a hot dog. The jalapeño poppers were good although a touch on the too-hot side for me – they were also filled with cheese which was a nice touch.  The hot dog was good – a standard hot dog in a soft bun with fried onions. The fries had a nice crunch to them without being oily and were really fresh. Next time I wouldn’t get the chilli with the hot dog – again, down to personal preference. Graeme’s meat feast was incredibly meaty – just check out the photo! The crust was super thin (just the way I like it) and loaded with topping – as well as being generously sized.

This is a really nice, welcoming, warm bar. If you’re a beer lover, you should add it to your must visit places in Glasgow. I would definitely go back to enjoy a pint, and it’s nice to know a beer bar serves good, cheap food in case you need something to nibble on. The service was super friendly without being imposing, and it was pretty busy on a Wednesday night – nice to see the locals checking out the refurbishment!

Munros on Urbanspoon

We dined at Munro’s as guests of DADA PR and were not obliged to write a positive review.

Eating the Cupboards

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I think I invented this, or at least gave something that already exists a new name. Before we left for Melbourne, we were furiously penny pinching and had heaps of food in the cupboards. So about two weeks before we left, we stopped buying food in an effort to run down our supplies, as well as save money.

To do this needed a little bit of planning.

1. I wrote a list of everything we had in the cupboard (pantry), fridge and freezer. 

What's in the cupboard?

What’s in the cupboard?

2. I started thinking about what would go together. If you think about food as proteins and carbs, this makes it a bit easier to work out a meal. With the help of google, I would put a couple of ingredients in and see what it came up with. As you can see at the bottom of the list, I did need to buy a few things – tomatoes, ricotta and potatoes. But overall, I used what we had.

Recipes for the week

Recipes for the week

3. I then wrote down all the days of the week I had to cook for, and started slotting meals in. If you are cooking for two people, but the meal serves 4, make sure to put down the leftovers for your lunch the next day.

This was incredibly successful! It is best if you have an idea of how much of an ingredient you will use (for example, a 400g bag of spinach will probably be enough for a dinner sized meal for four).

Some of the meals we made were hideously awful, I’ll be honest. Mushroom and cabbage lasagne was probably the worst thing I’ve ever made. It doesn’t even sound nice! Others were a big hit – lobster risotto was surprisingly luxurious for a risotto made from soup and tinned lobster.

Overall though, it was a great experience and made me bit more inventive. I can be a bit lazy and resort to going to the shops, when I could think of something delicious for dinner from what we have. I had friends over a couple of days before we left, and they were impressed with the dips I served up from what we had in the cupboard, as well as home made breads.