It’s me again: after our days in Edinburgh, we headed to the Isle of Arran (will post about that separately), stopping in Glasgow on the way there, and also overnight after coming back, before heading on to the Mediterranean.
We stayed in the central part of Glasgow, very close to the big Buchanan Galleries mall. It was right during the filming of a Spider-Man movie, so lots of nearby streets were closed, and full of rubberneckers (ourselves included).
After a short train ride from Edinburgh, we headed to the Riverside Museum in the Partick area. We took the very cute circular subway to the other side of the river and wandered town for a bit, before getting a last minute slot for dinner at Bothy. This was a cute cottage-like restaurant tucked away in an alley. There was a wedding going on upstairs with raucous sing-alongs.
My wife ordered the cullen skink, the first time we tried it in Scotland. It was very delicious, smoky, creamy, and very well-balanced. I liked it very much!
My main was the seared seabass. The menu says it came with cauliflower, spring onions, new potato and mushroom consommé.
The fish had crispy skin, and was delicately cooked. The spring onions were a little too stringy, but I liked the other accompaniments.
My son had the sweet soy glazed pork fillet. It came with black pudding potato pavé, apple & hazelnut purée, heirloom carrot, and pear onion jus. He ate all of the meat, and we got to eat the other things on the plate. We loved the carrot, which our server said was braised in orange juice. That tiny green cherry-like thing, tasted like apple.
On the next day, we want to the Barras Market, a colourful flea market. Not a lot of good eating options there except for some small food stalls and home-baked goods. I had a nice tres leches that wasn’t too sweet. My wife was able to get an arepa there too.
We had a lunch reservation at The Last Bookstore. This is a literary themed bar and restaurant that opened a few years ago. It has a stunning main floor bar (where kids aren’t allowed), and an even more stunning library arch upstairs that leads you to the small dining area.
At 12:15, we were the first diners, and it was very quiet. The only sounds were the clanking of the dumbwaiter as it was loaded with our dishes. We didn’t order in a balanced way, ending up with too many fried potato dishes:
We tried:
- Truffle parmesan fries
- Beef birria croquette (with mozzarella and consommé)
- Crispy chicken thigh (with chorizo, white bean and tomato)
- Cod goujons (with pea purée and lemon aioli)
- Patatas bravas (with spiced tomato and aioli)
- Tortilla española
This was good snacking and drinking food, and wasn’t ideal for lunch. Our favourite was the tortilla, served room temperature, hard to go wrong with this classic potato and egg dish. The consomme accompanying the croquette was strong and spicy. I’d come here again, but would order cocktails and sample my way through more dishes.
On our last night in Glasgow, we tried to get into Ardnamurchan Scottish Restaurant & Bar as walk-ins at 19:30, but they were full until much later in the night. Their sister restaurant, Kelp had seating, but only outside. With the evening temperature around 19C, this started out pleasant but became a little too cold towards the end of the meal.
Soja bakery sourdough, seaweed butter. Disappointing, no tangy flavour in the bread, but good chewy crust though. If there was a briny flavour in the butter, it was too subtle for me to taste.
Chicken, charred corn, scottish chanterelles, madeira chicken butter sauce. We liked this one very much. The sauce was rich, flavourful, very chicken-y. The chicken was all thigh meat, interspersed with crackling chicken skin bits.
Basil potato churros, house made ricotta, heirloom tomato. This was a fun little snack, exactly how I imagined it would taste. The dip was very much like a homemade ketchup.
Hand dived Barra scallops, xo thermidor sauce, green onion, puffed wild rice. Mixed reviews from our table for this one. I loved the sauce and contrast from the toasted wild rice, but it wasn’t to my wife’s liking. Scallops were perfectly done.
Sea bream crudo, grilled peach, lime, ancho chilli, shallot. This was the first dish to arrive and was our favourite. We love ceviche and this one had the heat (jalapenos), textures (plum puree/emulsion, grilled stone fruit), and flavours that make a dish really sing.
Charred and compressed watermelon, whipped cashew cream, pickled rind, mint. A good idea in theory, but it just didn’t work for me. I wanted the watermelon to be ice cold, and for the pickled rind to really provide a contrast. The cashew cream was fun, and not tangy/salty like I expected.
Duck, Scottish honey, plum, lavender dukka. Again, another dish I thought could have been great, but fell short on execution. The duck was overcooked, and they only provided a butter knife, so it was hard to slice the two large pieces they plated. I wanted a few more slices of fruit to go with the bites of duck. And the dukka was very timid, mostly sesame.
Burnt Basque cheesecake, Earl Grey poached apricots, heather honey, lemon thyme. Of course, we always leave room for dessert. This was very well executed, with a nicely textured cheesecake that wasn’t fallen nor overbaked, and a delicious cooked apricot.
Overall, a good meal (we ate every last bite!), but if the flavours were bolder, and the contrasts stronger, it would have been excellent.
