Hungry Travelers - Page 37 of 83 - Bringing the tastes of travel back home

Gourmet pioneer Cafe Gandolfi a Glasgow must

Posted on May 2, 2018April 30, 2018 by Pat and David

Every city's gastronomic revolution has its pioneers, and one of the most important in Glasgow is probably Cafe Gandolfi (64 Albion St., 0141-552-6813, cafegandolfi.com). When photographer Iain Mackenzie opened the restaurant in 1979 in the city's old cheese market offices, he was running against the tide. Adventurous foodies would take a taxi from Central Station, about a 10-minute walk, because the old Trongate neighborhood was so shady. Now Gandolfi is one of several good restaurants in “Merchant City,” the newish moniker for the redeveloped district. The current owner, Seumas MacInnes, came to work as a kitchen hand in 1983 and took over the reins from Mackenzie in 1995. By all accounts, it was a seamless passing of the baton between two Gaels whose families hail...Read More

Glasgow street fare: Morton’s Rolls and fried Mars Bars

Posted on April 28, 2018April 27, 2018 by Pat and David

Wherever we go, we try to stay open to serendipity. We like to think of our approach as open-minded, but it might be better described as open-mouthed. Our goal is to discover local foods, however humble. So when we spotted the Morton's stand in Glasgow, we knew we'd hit paydirt. As scripture reminds us, “man does not live by bread alone.” The folks of Morton's Rolls would agree. You really ought to split it, spread it, and put something between the halves. Founded in 1965, Morton's remains one of the two bakeries making the crispy edged, pillowy soft white bread rolls so beloved by Glasweigians (or “Weegies,” as they sometimes call themselves). Morton's even has a small fleet of self-contained stands that sell the rolls...Read More

Raise high the glass at The Pot Still in Glasgow

Posted on April 24, 2018April 18, 2018 by Pat and David

We weren't a bit surprised to see The Pot Still show up in a listicle of great whisky bars. (The Telegraph rated it #9 in its daring investigative report called “10 amazing whisky bars to drink in before you die.” How do we get a job like that? Oh, right, we already have it.) The exterior of The Pot Still (154 Hope St., Glasgow; 0141 333 0980; thepotstill.co.uk) has just the right plain-Jane face for a classic pub. Inside, whisky lovers mill around in a rather crowded entry level, while those of us with an eye for perspective climb the stairs to the little balcony in back with a clutch of low tables, stools, and banquettes. For some reason, the owners refer to this elevated...Read More

Cail Bruich sets the bar high for Scottish cuisine

Posted on April 20, 2018April 18, 2018 by David

“We serve wild game and it may contain shot,” cautions a note at the bottom of the tasting menu at Cail Bruich (725 Great Western Rd., Glasgow; 0141 334 6265; cailbruich.co.uk). For those who like their meat nice and brown, the menu further advises, “Some ingredients are cooked sous vide.” With warnings like that, who could resist? (Against my mother's admonitions, I was always the child with beans in his ears.) It's a bit of a schlep from Glasgow central city out to this bohemian stretch of West Glasgow near the Botanic Gardens, but it's worth the pilgrimage. Now in its 10th year of serving elevated Scottish cuisine made with classical technique in a semi-casual setting, Cail Bruich (Gaelic for “Eat Well”) continues to amaze....Read More

Alchemilla brings sunny, exotic touch to Finnieston

Posted on April 15, 2018 by Pat and David

Alchemilla encapsulates the emerging identity of Finnieston as the hip side of Glasgow. When the port was still bustling, lonely sailors used to head to the western neighborhood for professional company. But ever since Zaha Hadid's punk-glam Museum of Transport opened a few years ago—and now the Clydeside Distillery—Finnieston has emerged as Glasgow's answer to Brooklyn. It's where the cool kids hang. If they happen to be foodies, they probably eat lunch at Alchemilla (1126 Argyle St.; 0141 337 6060; thisisalchemilla.com). We did, and we were glad of it. The small restaurant is painted in the bright, glowing colors that those of us who live in wintry northern cities associate with the Mediterranean. The professed concept is “simple, fresh Mediterranean food for sharing, with sustainably...Read More

George Mewes makes us smile and say ‘cheese!’

Posted on March 31, 2018 by Pat and David

Few things make us smile as readily as a taste of great cheese. The best local cheeses represent the apotheosis of milk. A top cheesemaker can take milk from a ewe, goat, or cow and bring out both the characteristics of the breed and the flavors of the place where it grazed. To say that Scotland makes world-class cheese is an understatement. The browse may be scrubby, but the cheeses are rich and layered with subtle flavors. George Mewes Cheese (106 Byres Road, Glasgow, 0141 334 5900, georgemewescheese.co.uk) launched nearly eight years ago in a modest, temperature-controlled shop in Glasgow's West End. We stumbled on the shop almost by accident while exploring the neighborhood. We literally smelled the aged cheese aromas wafting out the door...Read More

Clydeside shows Glasgow history through whisky glass

Posted on March 27, 2018March 25, 2018 by David

Glasgow's Clydeside Distillery began operation late last fall and opened to tours just after Christmas. The attraction was so new when I visited in late January that my taxi driver didn't know how to find it. But once I finally arrived, it turned out to be worth the effort. Nearly a century after Glasgow's last old-time whisky maker closed, the Clydeside is the second new whisky distillery to open in the last year. It sits at the site of the Old Pump House at Queen's Dock (100 Stobcross Road, Glasgow, 0 141-212-1401, theclydeside.com, tours £15). The River Clyde provides the best protected deepwater ocean port in the west of Scotland. The world's goods flowed into the United Kingdom here—and fine Scotch whisky flowed out around...Read More

Willow Tea Rooms perpetuate a grand tradition

Posted on March 24, 2018March 20, 2018 by Pat and David

We look forward to the ritual of afternoon tea wherever we land in the British Isles. Stopping in a homey tea room for an afternoon “cuppa” is such a genteel tradition that it's hard to imagine that it was once at the forefront of a social revolution. But in the mid-nineteenth century, tea rooms were one of the few places where women could gather and socialize. Miss Kate Cranston was one of the pioneers of the movement when she opened her first tea room in Glasgow in 1878. She went on to operate four tea rooms in the city before she retired in 1928. Miss Cranston proved to be a visionary as well as a shrewd businesswoman. To provide her patrons with an uplifting experience,...Read More

So … what’s the big deal about haggis?

Posted on March 21, 2018March 19, 2018 by Pat and David

Canadian comedian Mike Myers once observed that Scottish cuisine is basically based on a dare. He was likely referring to Scotland's national dish, haggis. We have to admit that we didn't know what to expect of this traditional delicacy that Robert Burns hailed as the “great chieftain o' the puddin'-race.” After all, it consists of minced sheep's heart, liver, and lungs combined with onion, oats, and suet—all cooked up in a sheep's stomach. That makes it the most extreme of savory puddings to have survived into the modern era. Yorkshire pudding is little more than pancake batter that soaks up the juices of a roast. Black pudding is a type of blood sausage with a lot of oatmeal in it that is usually served at...Read More

Tastes of Scotland light up a winter visit

Posted on March 19, 2018March 17, 2018 by Pat and David

We wonder if the Scottish diet was invented sometime at the end of the last Ice Age. On our recent late-winter visit to Glasgow and Edinburgh, we found that such Scottish specialties as cullen skink, neeps and tatties, Arbroath smokies, Scotch pie, and even the ubiquitous haggis have a special appeal when the temperature hovers around the freezing point and the weatherman won't commit to whether it will rain or snow. Nordic cuisine continues to have a moment on the international gourmet scene. We found that eating in Scotland was an excellent way to get in touch with the roots of high-latitude foodstuffs before the trendy restaurants of Copenhagen and Bergen started tinkering with them. There's a pure honesty to a cuisine based on short-season...Read More