Category Archives: Glasgow City Centre

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?

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!

Blythswood Bubbles, Glasgow City Centre

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We were invited along to afternoon tea at Blythswood Square for the launch of Blythswood Bubbles on Friday. Blythswood Bubbles is either a three-course lunch from the market menu, or afternoon tea with Moët & Chandon Champagne for the duration, for £50 per person.

We had the afternoon tea option, and had the pleasure of sampling the three versions: The Duchess of Bedford (a traditional afternoon tea with sandwiches and scones); Blasad Albannach (Tasty Scotland) – Scottish themed as well as Tea Tox – a healthy option with salad, crudities and dips and some sugar free dessert options.

The Duchess of Bedford: An assortment of freshly cut finger sandwiches. Served on white or wholemeal bread, selection of miniature homemade cakes, pastries and desserts. Freshly baked plain or apple and sultana scones. Served with preserves and Devonshire clotted cream

Blasad Albannach (Tasty Scotland): An assortment of open sandwiches with poached salmon, smoked venison and Angus beef. Raspberry cranachan with shortbread. Dundee and Madeira Cake. Selected Scottish fine cheeses with oatcakes, quince jelly and grapes

Tea Tox: Detox salad – broccoli, cauliflower, cous cous, golden raisins, sunflower seeds and lemon oil. Vegetable crudities with hummus and guacamole. Apple and cucumber jelly. Sugar-free carrot cake. Raspberry sorbet, fruit skewers and berries. Served with honey and yoghurt dips.

As you can see, the food looks beautiful – and tasted great too! I think there is definitely an option for everyone here whether you’re a meaty cheese lover (like me), a traditionalist, or a lover of green stuff (that’s me too!). I particularly loved the tea tox salad as it was nice and refreshing after a few cakes. The open sandwiches were a big hit (I could have devoured a few more of the salmon ones!) and the desserts on The Duchess of Bedford were unusual and good sized for sharing.

Berry mint fizz

While I was sipping Moët, Graeme was sorted out with a treat of his own – a sweet, refreshing mocktail for the designated driver. This drink was lovely and still felt like a nice treat.

Blythswood Bubbles would be a great afternoon treat – whether it be for a weekend stay over at the hotel, or a night out in town. If you were planning on having a drink with your afternoon tea, it makes sense to get the Bubbles option so you don’t have to worry about the price either! We’re planning on heading back to try the option with the market menu as the food at Blythswood is notoriously good!

Which of the three afternoon teas would you choose?

Zizzi Ristorante, Royal Exchange Square, Glasgow

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On Saturday night we were excited to attend the launch of Zizzi Ristorante in Royal Exchange Square. In the space that was previously occupied by Borders (facing GoMA), I was really interested to see what they’d done with the space. If you remember way back to nearly the start of this blog, we went to the launch of Zizzi in the west end and were delighted to be a part of the opening night.

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We were greeted by pipers, a glass of prosecco and a photographer, so we knew we were in for an eventful night! The space is really beautiful – my memories of what it was like as Borders have faded but they have made great use of the space by lots of interesting artwork (again, supplied by graduates of the Glasgow School of Art) and contrasting colours.

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The first part of the night we spent milling around, checking out the decor, menu and listening to some great music provided by The Jack Dames. We were then seated and treated to a three course meal sampling the new menu. The starter was a beautiful antipasti platter with calamari, arancini, garlic bread, tomato bread, olives and prosciutto. I love an antipasti platter and I particularly liked this one because it was really well balanced so there was perfect portions to split between two people (nothing worse than fighting over the last arancini!).

Antipasti platter

For mains we had the pollo proscuitto – chicken breast wrapped in prosciutto, and cassareccia pollo piccante. I really enjoyed my main (I had the chicken breast) – it came with a white wine sauce that went really well with the sides.

Pollo Prosciutto

I hadn’t tried cassareccia pasta before and really enjoyed it as it was a bit unusual - and we even got a bag to take home in our goody bag! The chilli on top meant you could control the level of spiciness to your taste buds - a great idea, and I though this looked great by adding a nice splash of colour to the plate. It was offset nicely with a creamy sauce.

Cassareccia Pollo Piccante

Then it was time for the trio of desserts:

Trio of desserts: torta cioccolata, torta limone and tiramisu

If I had to pick a favourite, I think I’d go for the tiramisu. I thought this was just perfect! The lemon tart had an awesome punch of lemon with the right amount of sweetness and the chocolate torte was rich and decadent. I think the trio is the perfect way to finish a meal and I wish that it was an option on the dessert menu! I would also love to try the sorbet next time we visit.

We had a really fun night on Saturday night. It was definitely a party, celebratory atmosphere and all the staff seemed excited to be there for the launch. I’m a big fan of Zizzi’s for its consistency and delicious food, and the meal didn’t disappoint. This restaurant seems like it might be marketing itself towards a more business clientèle - although time will tell how it goes. We’ll definitely be back after our trip to Australia!

The restaurant officially opens today, Monday 11 February 2013! Thanks to Zizzi for inviting us along.

Zizzi - Glasgow Royal Exchange on Urbanspoon

More photos:

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The artwork upstairs is a lovely tribute to the former Borders with book covers from Scottish authors – I really loved this (so excuse all the pictures!):

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The Living Room, Glasgow City Centre

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We were invited to “Dining in the Dark” – the Living Room Glasgow’s challenge for food bloggers to fight to the death, blindfolded, to win a coveted trophy for Dining in the Dark Champion 2012. Have I ever mentioned before how competitive I am? Well, let’s just say that I was determined to win, and get my paws on a trophy (and a bottle of wine too!).

We were treated to a bunch of canapés to try, while blindfolded, and given a test. What I assumed was going to be a total walk in the park was a lot tougher – some dishes were vegetarian and yet I am sure I tasted bacon. Damn you taste-buds.

We worked out way through the menu – trying out a whole range of items. Because we were blindfolded, the lovely Alfred offered to take photos while we ate our hearts out – thanks Alfred!

Here is what we ate:

 

Black forest smoked ham and fig; venison shepherds pie; pan fried sea bass; moroccan spiced lamb; glamoran sausages; duck breast with Szechuan pepper

Coconut and passion-fruit crème brulèe, basil grande eton mess, cheeses and some delicious cocktails

It was an amazing smorgasbord of delights which, after seeing Alfred’s pictures, I wish I had been able to see as it all looks so beautiful! It is surprising how much you rely on your eyesight when eating and I definitely appreciate it a lot more now. Thankfully the food was exceptionally delicious, and it was a real pleasure to eat with just your senses focusing on smell and taste.

So, you’re wondering how The Glasgow Food Blog went compared to the other bloggers? We wouldn’t let you down! We came equal first with Jen from Pie in Soup – who then won in a wine-off. Thankfully The Living Room took pity on me and gave me a trophy anyway. I went home very happy and content after a lovely meal with lovely people.

Thanks to the Living Room for inviting us along. I promise we’ll be back soon – no blindfolds this time! And thanks Alfred for sharing your great photos.

Chaophraya, Glasgow City Centre, Glasgow

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I heard about Chaophraya on twitter and was intrigued. I can’t remember eating at any Thai restaurants in Glasgow, so I was keen to give this a try. It only opened in July and the Glasgow branch (it is part of a family-run chain) is the largest Thai restaurant in Europe.

Entrance

Chaophraya is located just off Buchanan Street, in the Town House building. The building has been beautifully restored (it apparently used to be a furniture store but that is before my time living in Glasgow!) and it is really adds to the atmosphere of the place. We firstly went in and had a drink at the bar, as we were about half an hour early for our booking. The bar is called “Palm Sugar” and would be a great place to pop in for a drink and snack if you’re tired from shopping. I had a cocktail from the authentic Thai cocktails list – Yok Lor which is a combination of all my favourite things: berries, vodka, chambord and cranberry. It was absolutely delicious! Graeme tried a draught beer called Yom which was a light, refreshing and easy to drink beer. It was also great with some of the spicy dishes we were about to eat!

Waiting area

We then moved upstairs to the ballroom for our meal – sounds fancy! It is literally a beautiful, large ballroom which has been converted into a dining space. It wasn’t what it sounds like though – the large space is cleverly sectioned into different dining areas so it actually feels like an intimate space.

Stock photo provided by DADA

Looking over the ballroom

I had looked at the menu before we went, and to be honest, I was overwhelmed! The menu is long, and gives you a lot of options. As well as an a la carte menu, there are various banquets to choose from. There is also a special Scottish Fusion menu for the Glasgow restaurant which had heaps of interesting dishes on it. In the end, we went for the easy option – the Maenem Yom banquet, consisting of an appetising platter of 5 different dishes, and then 4 mains with a side of egg fried rice.

Appetiser platter – Maenum Yom Menu:
PORK SPARE RIBS
Grilled pork spare ribs marinated with fresh Thai herbs and homemade barbecue sauce, served with grilled pineapple and pink peppercorns.
CHICKEN SATAY
Our classic dish of chicken bamboo skewers, carefully grilled over charcoal, served with
homemade peanut sauce.
STEAMED DUMPLINGS
Prawn, crab meat and chicken mixed with water chestnuts, spring onion and coriander root, steamed in a wonton wrapper and topped with fried garlic and a sweet soy sauce.
PRAWN & CHICKEN TOAST
Finely diced prawn and chicken blended with Thai herbs served on fried bread.
DEEP FRIED MARINATED PORK
Pork marinated with honey and Thai herbs, deep fried and garnished with sesame seeds.

When ordering, our waitress had asked whether we wanted our spicy dishes toned down, or if we were happy to go with the usual level of spiciness. I liked this consideration as some of the dishes we ate would definitely be too spicy for some people! I like a challenge however so we ordered the dishes as they would usually be prepared.

This appetiser platter was a good, well portioned size for two people. I liked that there was just two servings of everything – any more and we wouldn’t have been able to eat our mains! Each item was explained by the waiter (in case you forget what was on the platter) as well as telling us which sauces went with which item. Everything on this platter was really tasty and I really liked the mix of different flavours and spice levels.

With a little bit of a rest, it was time to move onto our mains.

FOUR SEASONS DUCK CURRY
Four-seasonal fruits of grape, pineapple, strawberry and tomato cooked in a flavourful curry sauce with roasted duck and sweet basil.

I love duck, and I love curry, but I wouldn’t have ordered this from reading the description on the a la carte menu. I cannot handle the idea of fruit in a savoury main dish! This curry however, changed my mind, and I happily scoffed up all the pieces of fruit. It just worked so well, the sauce was creamy and had a nice spice without being hot, and the fruit and duck worked really well together.

CRISPY PORK BELLY WITH THAI BASIL
Street-style pan fried crispy pork belly tossed with fresh
chillies, garlic, green beans and hot basil leaves.

I tried some of this but ended up leaving it to Graeme – there was nothing wrong with the dish, I just really cannot stomach pork belly! Graeme loved it though, and it was definitely one of the dishes cooked to a Thai level of heat.  The chilli didn’t overpower the rest of the flavours though, and the belly was of a good quality.

BEEF IN BLACK PEPPER SAUCE
Sliced beef stir fried with onions, peppers, spring onions and black pepper sauce served on a sizzling plate.

This beef was tender and flavoursome, and anything served on a sizzling plate always seems that little bit more exciting!

KING PRAWNS WITH GINGER
King prawns sautéed with straw mushrooms, fresh ginger, peppers, onions, spring onions, chilli and soya beans

Any loyal readers will know my fixation (obsession?) for prawns – and proper sized ones! These were actual king prawns! I was delighted. It meant I actually had 3 mouthfuls of prawn for each one! I really liked this dish to finish off with as it was light and refreshing, and I was pretty overwhelmed by all the food we’d eaten so far. All the mains were served to the table at the same time, with the egg fried rice, so you could relax and eat at your own pace.

FRESH FRUIT FONDUE

This was a great finisher – the chocolate was rich without being too rich or too sweet. Graeme would have happily eaten the chocolate straight out of the fondue pot if he’d had a spoon, I’m sure!

Whisky bar

We were then treated to a tour to see the rest of the space. Floors 1 & 2 are the bar and restaurant areas, while the top two floors are the private dining areas. Two of the rooms were in use so I didn’t take photos in there, but there are 4 large dining areas that you can hire for any kind of function, as well as the balcony overlooking the ballroom for a private dinner for two and a whisky bar.

Private dining

They will also be offering cooking lessons in one of the private dining areas – £60.00 for 3 hours and (of course) you get to eat the food afterwards!

I had a great time visiting Chaophraya. It isn’t the same as going to a restaurant, it’s a bit more of an experience and something completely different to anywhere I’ve been in Glasgow before.  While it could have felt similar to other restaurants and bars in Glasgow listed buildings (I’m thinking the Blysthwood or The Corinthian), the layout and the decor gives the place it’s own identity.   A special mention has to go to the staff, who were all extremely welcoming and friendly.   Have you been, and if so, what dishes would you recommend for our return visit?

The Glasgow Food Blog dined as guests of DADA Events Ltd.

Banana Leaf, Glasgow City Centre, Glasgow

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We recently went to dinner at Banana Leaf on the basis of Michelle at ananyah.com’s post - there’s nothing I love more than reading an exciting review for a restaurant that makes you go there the very next day (literally!).

There was some confusion in our twitter banter – there is more than one restaurant in Glasgow called Banana Leaf. This is the Cambridge Street one which is Chinese/Malaysian.

I was pretty excited to see what it was like as it seems to be gaining cult status similar to Asia Style. The restaurant itself is very casual so don’t go expecting fine dining. The menu is absolutely huge, and I was glad I did some reading of other reviews (such as Alfred’s from alfredfoodography) so I had narrowed down my options before I got there.

Beef satay skewers with satay sauce £4.90, and roti canai served with curry sauce £2.70

We spent a fair while looking at the menu and deliberating just how much food to order. I was keen to order everything – hence our dilemma. Finally we settled on the above two as starters and they were both finger-licking delicious.

Stir fried kai lan vegetable with slices beef £8.00, stir fried king prawn with ginger juice and Chinese cooking wine £11.90, coconut rice £2.00

We decided to get 2.5 mains (to share the kai lan with beef) – just the right amount of food for us two (we are big eaters after all!). I loved the prawns as they were large and juicy. The flavour of the ginger and cooking wine was just right. The coconut rice seemed really indulgent and rich – but in a good way. I’m guessing it’s made with coconut milk or cream which set my spidey senses off (can they go off in a good way?). I really loved the kai lan vegetable – I would have been happy to have this without beef actually as I like the veg just on its own.  Graeme’s pork was delicious – that really sweet flavouring you get from honey glazed barbeque which is way too sweet for me to eat a whole dish, but nice for sample.  The accompanying noodles were great as well, not stuck together like you get with some takeaway noodles, and tasty without overpowering the rest of the meal.

Dinner at Banana Leaf was quick, efficient, friendly and delicious. I would definitely pop back for a casual dinner before going to a gig (we were off to see Bloc Party at the Garage – their first gig in 4 years – so all up an amazing night!).

Have you been to Banana Leaf, and if so, what other dishes would you recommend?

Banana Leaf on Urbanspoon

Total Food Geeks Glasgow Bloggers Event at The Arches, Glasgow

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Scottish smoked halibut with Scottish asparagus, caper pop corn and smoked oil emulsion

Rabbit and ham hough Battenberg with sage crisps and a cider and honey jelly

A while back, Graeme from A Scots Larder suggested the Glasgow food bloggers meet up for a drink to see about starting up a Total Food Geeks over in Glasgow. There is a well established Edinburgh group so we set about arranging a meet up by twitter. Eventually we decided that it wasn’t right to have a foodies get together without food, and we settled on The Arches for its very reasonable set menu (3 course for £10!) and casual vibe.

Pan seared mackerel fillet with glazed beetroots, cauliflower & horseradish mousse, seaweed, spring onion & rapeseed dressing

Cairnhill farm roasted chump of lamb served with pistachio dauphinoise, confit shallots, baby turnips with a Bitter + Twister ale jus

We’ve written about The Arches before, so I won’t go into a detailed review but to say the food cooked for us at our first Total Food Geeks Glasgow event was, without understating anything, drop-dead amazing. I’d like to extend a huge thanks to The Arches and to chef Robbie McGuinness who not only made us an amazing meal, but came out of the kitchen to chat with us afterwards. Sorry for the interrogation Robbie but we all had loads of questions!

Chocolate Nemesis with salted caramel mousse and a bee pollen chocolate shard

We decided to meet every 6 weeks for a TFG Glasgow meet up – so if you’re interested in blogging, food, Glasgow, or coming along, let me or Graeme from A Scots Larder know (a tweet to @glasgow_food or @scotslarder will get you sorted, or comment on our blogs). We even have a hashtag where you can follow the adventures - #totalfoodgeeksglasgow.

Opium, Glasgow City Centre

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We decided to visit Opium in Glasgow the other week to have a quick dinner before we visited the List‘s launch party for the 2012/13 Eating and Drinking Guide.  It had been on our “to visit” list for sometime, and it was a tweet from a visiting Edinburgh personal trainer (@tracygriffen) who described it as delicious and fresh that really got me moving to finally visit!

We were welcomed and seated at a great table right at the window. I’d already decided to go for dim sum (or yum cha as it’s called in Australia, I’m not sure why) because eating lots of plates of small things is my preferred way to eat! Most other tables in the restaurant seemed to be going for the pre-theatre menu – 2 courses for £14.80.

Prawn crackers with sweet chilli sauce

 While we were deciding we nibbled on some prawn crackers. With help from the waiter, we decided to go for 5 dishes – he was honest and said that 6 dishes between 2 people might be too much. I think that’s the first time any one has told me to order less rather than more! His honesty was greatly appreciated.

Crispy Duck Roll: aromatic duck, celery, carrot, chilli & hoi sin sauce £5.60

Hopefully this pictures give you an idea of the food – it’s SO fresh and colourful and I was really impressed by the presentation. Mostly though, I was impressed by the taste. Everything we ate was really lovely and there was nothing I wouldn’t order again.

Chilli Salt & Pepper Squid: seasoned squid in a crispy coating of sichuan salt, chilli, shallot & pepper £5.85

This dish was so spicy, but really light and fresh at the same time. A perfect amount of squid to share between two people.

Crab Meat & Chive Dumplings: crab meat, king prawns & chinese chives £4.50

I cannot resist a dumpling – another one of my all time favourite foods. These dumplings are a world apart from the ones we make at home (something to aspire to!) and were steamed to perfection.

Sticky Rice with Chicken in Lotus Leaf: sticky rice parcel with chicken, pork, mixed mushrooms & bamboo shoots steamed in a fragrant lotus leaf £4.25

I ordered this thinking it would be like San Choy Bow (from Googling, it seems that San Choy Bow is the Australianised version of a Chinese dish) but it wasn’t. I really enjoyed this though – the filling was underneath the sticky rice and was really delicious.

Shanghai Siew Lung Bun: mini pork bun with garlic & red vinegar dipping sauce £4.25

These were the highlight. I’ve never had a better pork bun in my life! I’ve never actually even really liked pork buns, I’ve always found them too sweet. The filling in these, combined with the sweet bun and vinegar was all perfectly balanced. I would happily return to Opium just to eat pork buns.

When it came time to leave, the waiter came over to check we’d eaten enough and whether we though 5 dim sum were a good amount. Our bill ended up being around £30 for the 5 plates, plus a couple of drinks each which I thought was reasonable. They have the loveliest staff here, I was really delighted to meet such welcoming and warm people.

I love that feeling of leaving a restaurant and thinking about the meal for days afterwards – that’s how you know you’ve found a winner. I’m still thinking about the pork buns.

Opium on Urbanspoon

La Tasca, Glasgow City Centre, Glasgow

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We were invited with a bunch of other Scottish food bloggers to an event at La Tasca in Glasgow City Centre. At first I was hesitant to go – my first (and only) experience of La Tasca was over 2 years ago, and I’ve never wanted to go back. I’m always happy to give something a second chance though, so we went along.

There were a few other bloggers there too and we had a great night getting to know each other, learning how to carve ham (Jamon Iberico to be prescise) as well as learn how to make Sangria. Unfortunately I got a bit carried away with the Sangria making and was adding more alcohol than was strictly allowed – that may also go some way to explaining why the photography on this post isn’t the best!

We were then treated to La Tasca’s new menu. This is what I was really interested in – as we’d just been to Spain, I wanted to see what “UK” Spanish food was like compared to the real thing.

These were some of my favourite dishes:

A festival of mushrooms (Rioja) Chestnut, button and porcini mushrooms, sautéed in garlic butter and white wine.

While I’m not qualified to comment on whether this is an authentic dish, it certainly was amazing! I think it was Janice from Farmers Girl Kitchen who was nudging me to try this – and wow, was I glad I did. It was a really intensely flavoured, rich dish and I could have gladly eaten the whole thing alone.

Croquetas De Manchego – Hand-crumbed with three-month-aged-Manchego cheese and fresh spinach, served with roasted garlic mayonnaise.

I am obsessed with croquettes and these were delicious – again, another dish I would have been glad to eat the whole serve of. Crisp and crunch with a delicious filling, this truly reminded me of the croquettes we ate in Madrid.

Vegetable gratin (picos de Europa) – A creamy potato gratin, with baby spinach and blue Valdeón cheese.

Spinach, blue cheese AND potato – it’s a dish made in heaven. I really enjoyed this one.

Spanish Style Lemon Chicken

Another flavour-packed dish – the smokey peppers and the chicken went perfectly together.

We had a brilliant time visiting La Tasca – and of course the lovely company helped! I’ll be perfectly honest – before this visit, La Tasca wasn’t high on my places to visit  but I have now completely changed my mind. Part of the reason for this (apart from the delicious food) was the sheer enthusiasm of the staff (particularly the manager Suzanne) – it really gave the restaurant a vibrant feel and made the whole experience really fun and exciting.

The Glasgow Food Blog dined as guests of Manifest Communications Ltd.
La Tasca on Urbanspoon