While the 5pm Food blog has been busy promoting our Christmas Gifts over the last couple of months, Glasgow's industrious restaurateurs have been opening hip and happening new places.

Here is the lowdown on a handful of them with more to follow next week.

We'll start with news of August House which has opened on the former Abandon Ship site on Mitchell Street.

Bookable via 5pm, August House offers small plates of Asian and Italian food during the day and chilled cocktails plus banging DJs seven nights a week until 1am.

Typical dishes might include the burrata cheese with pistachio pesto, toasted pine nuts and butterfly sorrel or the Thai fish and prawn cake with som tam salad.

Apparently, plans are afoot to roll out the August House concept in London, New York and Dubai. But remember, you saw it first in Glasgow.

A toast to Daddy Marmalades

Sticking with the city centre, Daddy Marmalades is a new bar on Parnie Street by the Tron Theatre. It is from the team who previously ran Gulp in Shawlands and their wide range of wines, beers and cocktails should help keep the winter at bay.

In January, on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, all of their cocktails are £5.95 - a promo that almost made us crack a smile on this wintry Monday morning. The main pic is from their Facebook.

Cia Malo

Not a million miles away - on Bothwell Street, to be exact - Malo is a new 120 cover, basement bar specialising in Negronis. It is run by the same people that look after Ollie's, Vroni's and Ralph and Finn's. 

You can ask the staff to mix nine different variations on the classic Negroni cocktail including a smoky variety made with mezcal and a peaty version made with Ardbeg.

Featuring Art Deco surrounds, Malo will also happily dish up over a hundred wines, spritzes, assorted spirits, other cocktails plus draught and bottled beers.

Should customers get the Negroni munchies then cheese and charcuterie boards are available alongside little snackettes of olives, jalapeno pretzels and rather more-ish smoked almonds.