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Glasgow’s vibrant restaurant culture is constantly renewing itself. Some of Britain’s best-known chefs have opened kitchens here, including Jamie Oliver and Yotam Ottolenghi. More recently, the city has responded enthusiastically to the small-plate and sharing-platter trends, but there are still plenty of fine-dining options on
Glasgow’s vibrant restaurant culture is constantly renewing itself. Some of Britain’s best-known chefs have opened kitchens here, including Jamie Oliver and Yotam Ottolenghi. More recently, the city has responded enthusiastically to the small-plate and sharing-platter t
Glasgow’s vibrant restaurant culture is constantly renewing itself. Some of Britain’s best-known chefs have opened kitch
Glasgow’s vibrant restaurant culture is constantly renewing itself. Some of Britain’s best-known chefs have opened kitchens here, including Jamie Oliver and Yotam Ottolenghi. More recently, the city has responded enthusiastically to the small-plate and sharing-platter trends, but there are still plenty of fine-dining options on the one hand, and steak houses and burger places on the other. The city continues to present the best that Scotland has to offer: grass-fed beef, free-range chicken, wild seafood, venison, duck, and goose, not to mention superb fruits and vegetables. The growing emphasis on organic food is reflected on menus that increasingly provide detailed information about the source of their ingredients. Around the city, an explosion of coffee shops offer artisanal macchiatos and mochas.
You can eat your way around the world in Glasgow. A new generation of Italian restaurants serves updated versions of classic Italian dishes. Chinese, Indian, and Pakistani foods, longtime favorites, are now more varied and sophisticated, and Thai and Japanese restaurants have become popular. Spanish-style tapas are now quite common, and the small-plate trend has extended to every kind of restaurant. Seafood restaurants have moved well beyond the fish-and-chips wrapped in newspaper that were always a Glasgow staple, as langoustines, scallops, and monkfish appear on menus with ever more unusual accompaniments. And Glasgow has an especially good reputation for its vegan and vegetarian restaurants.
Smoking isn't allowed in any enclosed space in Scotland, but more restaurants have placed tables outside under awnings during the warmer summer months, some of which permit smoking.
You can experience dining at its most sumptuous and elegant for a good price in the grand surroundings of what was the Glasgow Conservatoire, where today golden Buddhas sit comfortably beside busts of great composers. The delicate flavors of Thai cooking are at their finest here in the chef's wonderful signature Massaman lamb (and beef) curry, flavorsome Fisherman's Soup, and fusion dishes like scallops with black pudding. The ballroom, with its chandeliers and balconies, offers dining as theater; or you can book the tiny two-person table on a balcony looking down for an intimate experience.
Nelson Mandela Pl., Glasgow, Glasgow City, G1 2LL, Scotland
Miss Cranston's Willow Tea Rooms were the ultimate place to be seen in Glasgow in 1903, not only for the tasty tea but for the beautiful art nouveau decor and furniture designed by a young architect by the name of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. The original tearooms have now been fully restored here, and you can lunch on traditional Scottish cuisine or take an elegant high tea in the exquisite surroundings of the Salon de Luxe.
215–217 Sauchiehall St., Glasgow, Glasgow City, G2 3EX, Scotland
West-coast shellfish farmers own this sleek restaurant and feed their customers incredibly succulent oysters, scallops, and mussels. The pots of mussels, steamed to order and served with any of a number of sauces, are revelatory, and scallops, prawns, and oysters come together in a wonderful seafood pasta. The surroundings are simple but stylish, with white walls, cool ceramic tiles, wood floors, and wooden furniture. Another plus is the staff, who are helpful and unpretentious. This is where locals take their favorite out-of-towners, including for lunchtime specials and pretheater menus that are a very good value.
157 Hope St., Glasgow, Glasgow City, G2 2UQ, Scotland
This eatery has completely rethought Asian cuisine, taking Chinese, Malaysian, and Thai cooking in new directions and using sauces that are fragrant and spicy but never overpowering. Subdued lighting, neutral tones, and dark wood create a calm setting for specialties including superb dim sum and crisp wontons filled with delicious combinations of crab, shrimp, and chicken. Leave room for the main dishes, especially the tiger prawns and scallops in a sauce made from dried shrimp and fish. Familiar dishes like beef in black bean sauce are astonishingly delicate and aromatic. The vegetarian menu is adventurous, too, and the cocktails are captivating.
191 Hope St., Glasgow, Glasgow City, G2 2UL, Scotland
Occupying the former headquarters of the Anchor Line, whose ships sailed from Scotland to America, this bar and restaurant near George Square has been impressively refurbished to create the sense of fine dining aboard a luxury ocean liner. The menu reflects the voyage, too, including Scottish seafood and lamb, and a full range of steaks and their sauces to represent America. Wine and drinks follow the same transatlantic theme. Dine in the bar for more casual fare, such as salads and steak sandwiches. The slightly less expensive but equally elegant basement restaurant, the Atlantic, is French-themed. If you are visiting during the holiday season, the Christmas decorations here are a thing of beauty: the building's pillared facade is wrapped in lights, bows, and greenery, wtih the theme continuing into the luxurious interior.
12 St. Vincent Pl., Glasgow, Glasgow City, G1 2DH, Scotland
Greek cuisine was not well represented in Glasgow until Halloumi arrived to fill the gap. Its large windows onto the street invite you in to a simply decorated interior with white walls and wooden tables, where you will find a reassuringly familiar menu of small plates, or meze. Beautifully cooked moussaka and souvlaki make their appearance along with slightly more expensive swordfish and octopus dishes. Like many other restaurants in the city, it has embraced the small plate/sharing menu in the Greek meze tradition.
161 Hope St., Glasgow, Glasgow City, G2 2UQ, Scotland
The friendly staff at this huge, popular Cantonese eatery guide you through the dishes here, including barbecued duck, deep-fried wontons with prawns, and more challenging dishes like pork with jellyfish or king prawn with salted egg. On most days you will see local Chinese families seated at the huge round tables enjoying the dim sum for which the restaurant is rightly famous. This isn't the place to come for quiet intimacy, but it's good food in a lively atmosphere.
417–419 Sauchiehall St., Glasgow, Glasgow City, G2 3LG, Scotland
This casual and unassuming pizza place holds a special place in the hearts of Glaswegians and visitors alike. Serving up Naples-style pizzas with large bubbly crusts, the short but confident menu (you choose from a rotating selection of 8 pizzas) is extremely affordable, with prices beginning at just £7. No reservations are allowed, which often leads to long lines on weekend nights. The kitchen works quickly, however, and the wait is never too long.
94 Miller St., Glasgow, Glasgow City, G1 1DT, Scotland
Down a quiet lane near Glasgow Central station, this ultracool eatery dishes up a fantastic range of vegan food, from paella and gnocchi to a colorful platter with hummus, red-pepper pâté, and home-baked flatbread. The decor is homey and relaxed, and someone always seems to be nearby reading or writing. Paintings, posters, and announcements of upcoming concerts in the space downstairs line the walls. The music is excellent, but never so loud as to disturb the serious business of eating. The kitchen closes at 9.
20–28 Renfield La., Glasgow, Glasgow City, G2 6PH, Scotland
Down an innocuous-looking flight of stairs, this intimate restaurant is the type of place young locals love: flickering candles, mix-and-match crockery, and inventive, inexpensive food that offers new twists on the familiar. The menu reads like a comedic narrative, with descriptions like "traditional fish-and-chips, battered to death" or "Supreme Commander chicken." Vegetarians are not as well catered to, but they can at least can try the popular portobello-mushroom burgers with extra-thick potato chips. The chef uses only local ingredients, so the menu changes daily. A tea shop upstairs serves wonderful cakes and old-fashioned high tea.
153 Bath St., Glasgow, Glasgow City, G2 4SQ, Scotland
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