Two words: Surprisingly delicious.
Want to dine in a secret garden? This restaurant is the place to be, whether you want fine dining downstairs or just a simple meal for a regular price upstairs in the Mezzanine level or Rooftop Terrace. You will feel like you are entering a sunny courtyard, no matter what the weather outside.
This restaurant was established in 1971 by Scottish owner, Ronnie Clydesdale. Clydesdale took an innovative step and created the first restaurant in Glasgow to offer Scottish meals, which at the time were limited to the home. Drawing his vision from recipes obtained from local grandmothers and Scottish folklore, Clydesdale took traditional, regional meals and put a modern twist to them. Now, with the cooking styles and techniques demonstrated by Chefs Andrew Moss and Jamie Smith, this restaurant is known as one of the best restaurants in Glasgow – and they definitely showed us why.
The main entrance of the restaurant is actually on this cute pedestrian walkway (above), but coming by taxi, you will be dropped off near an alley and the first sign you see for this restaurant is above a little place called The Wee Pub. Don’t be deceived, there is a doorway inside the tinee-tiny pub that leads into the restaurant. Plus, you can always have pre- or post-drinks here, if you would like.
The restaurant also has a bar within it, called the Corner Bar (sign inside to direct you, above), but since we did not enter through the main entrance, we did not see it until the very end.
This restaurant has an interesting and smart set-up, offering to different dining experiences desired. Walk in to the ground level to only fine dining (££-£££) – with tablecloths, mood lighting, large sky-light windows showing in the center above, and a waterfall nearby. The menu looked delicious as well. However, as we had just come from driving 5 hours from the North of Scotland, tired, and were not dressed for the formal dining area, we decided to go to the other section of the restaurant above for a more basic, but still delicious dining experience.
The Brasserie on the mezzanine level above looks over the fine dining area and still has a plethora of plants and beautiful, oceanic-themed artwork all around. The restaurant also offers its Brasserie menu on their Rooftop Terrace, but it was closed when we went, due to the season (March) and current, somewhat dismal and chilly weather conditions. This menu (£-££) was also nice, but we just had to get the drinks listing from the fine dining menu below, as once we passed and took a peak at the wine rack/menu (below) leading up to the Mezzanine level, we at least wanted the fine wine offered downstairs instead (the wines offered in the upstairs dining area may have been good as well, but there were some wines downstairs that were too hard not to pass up).
As for the food upstairs in the Brasserie, some items seen on the menu were to be expected for a Scottish restaurant, such as haggis and venison – while other dishes I have never seen on any menu before. One dish from their Specials menu that evening, which I think they should bring back and add to their menu, was the grilled Skate with artichokes and chips. I actually had to Google this, as the name sounded familiar and thought it was surely a fish, but wasn’t 100%. For those who don’t know, a Skate is a cartilaginous fish belonging to the family Rajidae in the superorder Batoidea of rays. I had never tried a ray wing before and was intrigued. Their wings are the meaty part, as you could probably assume, and was the part of this fish offered on this particular Specials menu (below). The Skate wing presented was mouth-watering, well cooked, and much meatier than I expected. Was also not expecting it to be quite so filling. I surely will eat a ray wing again, if I ever get the chance, hoping it will be cooked and served just as well as it was in this restaurant.
The other dish we tried was on the main menu, the roasted pork with sweet potato mash, greens, and baked brie slices (below). Unfortunately, this dish is no longer on the menu, but the presentation was simply delightful (the photo does not do it justice). The smell took me away and I didn’t leave one piece of food on the plate when finished. The meat was tender and my knife went through it with ease, pulling apart just the way pork should. The meal all together made me wonder about the other dishes offered on both the main and Brasserie menus, but unfortunately we only stayed in Glasgow for one night and were unable to return to try their lunch menu. For another Scotland trip!
A friend of mine from Glasgow highly recommended this restaurant and I am surely glad he did! A sure must if ever visiting this beautiful, Scottish city.
For more information or reservations, visit:
Ubiquitous Chip: About & Menus – http://www.ubiquitouschip.co.uk/eat.php
Reservations: Online or by Telephone – http://www.ubiquitouschip.co.uk/book.php
Photo credits: @eSrO_Foto
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