With the Commonwealth Games, Edinburgh Festivals and the Ryder Cup taking place between July and September, it was a hectic period for Scotland’s restaurateurs.
Two restaurants in particular will always look back to this summer with fondness. The 2015 edition of the Michelin Guide came out in September and it was good news for Three Chimneys on Skye and the Isle of Eriska at Benderloch, Argyll, as both won their first Michelin star.
The Guide also announced a new tranche of restaurants to be awarded their Bib Gourmand status for offering good food at an affordable price. In Glasgow, The Gannet and Ox and Finch made the grade as did Passorn in Edinburgh.
Marco Pierre white opened one of his steakhouses in Glasgow’s Hotel Indigo. Speaking about the Marco Pierre White Steakhouse Bar & Grill, the chef said: ‘It’s been a long time in the planning, but I’m absolutely delighted to open my first city centre restaurant in Glasgow – a city that I love.
‘Glasgow has a vibrant dining scene and I look forward to offering Glaswegians a taste of something a little bit different; my recipe for “affordable glamour” which is all about serving quality food at affordable prices.’
Who has got your goat?
Less famous but still well-known on Glasgow’s restaurant scene are the Matteo family. They opened a new gastropub, The Grumpy Goat, on Old Dumbarton Road.
Their website is worth a browse. Not least for the mini-history covering The Grumpy Goat’s West End stomping ground.
Apparently, in the 17th and 18th century, the west end of Glasgow was predominately countryside with quiet meadows, small farms and, of course, farm animals. Which is where the Byres Road name comes in.
On the other side of town, on Pollokshaws Road, The McMillan Southside came to life. Open from breakfast through to midnight, the kitchen dishes up everything from wood-smoked kippers on toasted Italian bread to Tweed valley lamb chops, 30-day-aged Aberdeen Angus and grilled Atlantic lobsters.
These months also witnessed Glasgow’s Best Burger competition. This was the fourth time it has run and the 5pm Dining blog provided one of the judges who risked his cholesterol levels by tasting some nineteen different burgers.
Paul O’Rourke, aka Mr Meathammer, took down the trophy with his Love Bite burger. It featured a handmade Hawaiian bun, bacon peanut butter, chilli jam, char grilled pickled onion, candied Parma ham, buffalo hot sauce a patty made with chuck, short rib and bone marrow.
As you may have guessed from the above, Glasgow’s love affair with the burger didn’t wane in 2014. One of the latest to join the pack was BRGR on Great Western Road.
BRGR’s USP is the aptly named ‘hawder’, a device which ‘hawds’ your burger and ensures less mess, fewer spills and, apparently, an all-round better burger eating experience.
Pig in the pit
2014 was also the year in which we waved goodbye to the Little Urban Achievers Club on Great Western Road.
The Crafty Pig opened in its place. Billed as a ‘brewhouse and smoke pit’ our new porcine pal promised ‘fourteen draught craft beers on rotation, over 60 bottled craft beers, local cask ales and a huge range of tequilas and rums.
‘The menu is packed with slow-cooked smoked meats including sixteen-hour smoked pulled pork, handmade burgers (with beef exclusively sourced from the herd of a Lanarkshire farm), half-meter pizzas and a unique slow-cooked ribs menu.
The Crafty Pig will feature a games room screening all day live sports coverage, pool tables and beer pong.’
In the capital, Fish Eatery opened on Picardy Place. The new venture is headed up by chef Jason Wright who also runs the adjacent Steak restaurant. As the name suggests, Scottish seafood is at the heart of the menu.
The summer also saw Victor and Carina Contini launch Cannonball restaurant in Cannonball House on Castlehill. The menu has a distinct Scottish flavour, as well as the occasional Italian flourish. Think along the lines of char grilled venison with Scottish girolle mushrooms and black currants from the Contini’s kitchen garden.
Edinburgh has a while to go before it catches up with Glasgow in terms of new Mexican restaurants opening but it’s certainly trying. Cha Cha Laca started serving on Hanover Street followed by El Cartel Casera Mexicana on Thistle Street a couple of months later.
After long delays, we also saw Serrano Manchego open on Leith Walk. It set out its stall as an authentic Spanish tapas bar and, at least as far as this blogger is concerned, it’s the closest thing that we have seen in Scotland.
This is how the owners define the Serrano Manchego offer:
‘We’re a Spanish-style pincho bar serving bite-sized tapas to go with your coffee, wine, cerveza or other beverage of choice. Orders are paid for and served over the bar. A very casual affair with no table service or table reservation. Salud!’
Edinburgh never went quite as burger barmy as Glasgow has over the last couple of years but 2014 did see Burger Meats Bun open an Edinburgh branch on Forth Street. Coincidentally, they launched a year to the day after opening the original branch on West Regent Street in Glasgow.
The 5pm Dining blog knew that the team behind BMB had a fine dining pedigree but we hadn’t realised just how starry it was.
Ben Dantzic and James Forrest are the guys behind BMB and they met working at the Michelin-starred Peat Inn in Fife. Director and Manager Ben Dantzic was most recently the Manager at Restaurant Andrew Fairlie in Gleneagles Hotel before opening the first Burger Meats Bun in Glasgow in 2013.
New Dundee openings
Dundee saw a surge in new openings in 2014. Oshibori is a new ramen and sushi bar on the Nethergate while the True Pizza Co. started cooking on Whitehall Crescent.
New Dundonian bars included The Tinsmith on Old Hawkhill Road.
Aberdeen was also busy. Union Square saw the arrival of Thaikhun, an offshoot of the popular Chaophraya brand which already has branches in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The Boozy Cow also launched on Netherkirkgate. Beers, burgers, ice cream floats and graffiti-covered walls are the main selling points.
The Borders also hosted some new developments. At the start of the year, the blog talked about Gary Goldie and how the chef had just launched his own restaurant in Oban.
Born in the Borders
Just a few months later, he popped up in the kitchens at the new Born in the Borders Visitor Centre near Jedburgh.
The £500,000 centre is at Lanton Mill Farm and has been built by the Scottish Borders Brewery. Designed to be a showcase of Borders products, it features over 70 local suppliers.
The café is also focused on Borders produce, combined with ingredients foraged locally by Gary and his sous chef Paolo Balbinot.
Dishes on the menu at Born in the Borders included Jedburgh Aberdeen Angus braised in Scottish Borders Brewery Dark Horse ale with mash and nettles; Eyemouth crab with foraged salad, and Scottish strawberries and elderflower.
Sticking with the Borders, Ally McGrath took over the running of Laurel Bank, in Broughton, Biggar. The chef has also run Osso in Peebles since 2007.
The new venture is billed as being a bistro and bar. You can see the full menu on their website but we liked the sound of the confit chicken leg and choucroute followed by the dark chocolate mousse with boozy cherries and salted caramel on the evening menu.