World Travel Guide

City Guide  - Glasgow  - Food and Drink
Food and Drink

Glasgow boasts a good range of restaurants offering everything from hearty, traditional pub fare to high-class gourmet restaurants. The best areas are the Merchant City, Southside and the city centre. Ashton Lane, in the West End, also has a cluster of bars and eating spots. Some restaurants are closed on Sunday or Monday.

Contrary to popular belief, not everyone in Scotland eats haggis regularly. This Scottish delicacy is made from the stomach bag of a sheep, the pluck (which includes sheep's liver and heart), beef suet, oatmeal and onions, and is usually reserved for special occasions. The mineral water accompanying a meal is likely to have come from a clear spring in the Highlands, of the same high quality as that which is used to produce Scotland's most famous beverage - whisky.

Restaurants

One Devonshire Gardens
(tel: (0141) 339 2001) is Glasgow's only restaurant to have been awarded a Michelin star. Set in a Victorian terraced house in the city's West End, the restaurant offers a menu of seafood and Scottish cuisine with classical French influences. The set lunch menu is £27 for three courses. Dinner à la carte costs £35-40. More gourmet Scottish cuisine, cooked by some of Scotland's best chefs, is on offer at Nairns, 13 Woodside Crescent (tel: (0141) 353 0707). The fixed-price menu offers some vegetarian dishes, in addition to poultry, meat and fish. Reservations are essential. Three courses cost £17 for lunch or £25 for dinner.

Located at 11 Exchange Place, one of Glasgow's oldest surviving restaurants, Rogano (tel: (0141) 248 4055), has been serving traditional fish and seafood in its Art Deco interior since 1935. The set three-course lunch menu is £16.50, à la carte will cost £25-30. Downstairs, Café Rogano is a cheaper brasserie-style restaurant. Three courses cost around £15.

For the romantically inclined, the City Merchant Restaurant, 97-99 Candleriggs (tel: (0141) 553 1577), is a good option, with quiet, candlelit tables and hardwood floors. It offers the largest variety of seafood in Glasgow, and also features game, steak and poultry with an international twist. The three-course table d'hote (until 1830) costs £12.75; an à la carte meal about £15-25, not including drinks. Slightly more pricey is The Puppet Theatre, 11 Ruthven Lane (tel: (0141) 339 8444), which offers award-winning Scottish/European cuisine. The four dining areas include a leafy conservatory and a quiet candlelit booth. The restaurant is closed during the day on Monday and Saturday. Lunch and dinner cost £14.50 and £27.95 respectively (for three courses).

Di Maggio's Pizzeria
, 21 Royal Exchange Square (tel: (0141) 248 2111), has an Art Deco interior and a lively, informal atmosphere. Di Maggio's is popular with everyone from businesspeople to students and also caters for families and large parties. The food is good value; a three-course meal pizza or pasta as the main dish costs £11-13. Another fun venue is Stravaigin, 28 Gibson Street (tel: (0141) 334 2665), where the brightly coloured interior is matched by a varied Scottish menu infused with global flavours. The set menu is £23.95 for three courses; a more informal à la carte selection is available at lunchtime for £8-10.

In the centre of Glasgow on 111 West Regent Street, Restaurant Bouzy Rouge (tel: (0141) 221 8804) has a funky and colourful interior and is popular with businesspeople at lunchtime. Dishes range from pasta to ostrich and Scottish rack of lamb. A business lunch is £9.95 for three courses. À la carte meals work out at £15-20. The best deal is the three-course menu for £7.95, available until 1830.

78 St Vincent
(tel: (0141) 248 7878) is both the name and the location of this French-style brasserie, which is another popular spot for a business lunch meeting or an informal dinner. The imaginative menu utilises fresh, local ingredients in French and traditional Scottish dishes. A three-course lunch costs £13.95, while dinner costs £22.50.

Cafés

Glasgow has more of a café culture than many other British cities. The most stylish cafés are in the Merchant City, but there are some good spots in the city centre and West End as well. A must for any lover of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Art Nouveau designs is the Willow Tea Rooms at 217 Sauchiehall Street, designed by Mackintosh in 1903. Many of Glasgow's museums also have good cafés. Other popular hangouts are the University Café at 87 Byres Road, with cool 1950s decor and even cooler ice cream; and the Grosvenor Café which is nearby at 31-33 Ashton Lane. Café Gandolfi, set in an old market building at 64 Albion Street, was one of the first cafés in the Merchant City and is something of an institution, with furniture by designer Tim Stead.



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