][1]Like any trade, the restaurant business loves a bit of gossip: who is opening, who is closing and which chef is redefining the meaning of ‘a good service’ when it comes to their dealings with the waiting staff. As always with gossip, it’s best if it is heard third or fourth hand by which time it has usually mutated into something much more interesting than the actual truth.
Anyway, a restaurateur recently told me that her wine merchant had been told that a dozen restaurants were scheduled to open in and around the Merchant City in the next few months. A dozen sounds like a suspiciously round number that might have been inflated for gossip value. However, we do know of one which has recently opened its doors although calling it a Merchant City restaurant is really stretching things.
Brasserie Gerard opened on Glasgow’s Royal Exchange Square last week. It’s part of the Paramount Restaurant group which also owns, among others, the Livebait and Caffe Uno outlets. The Brasserie is a more informal offshoot of the company’s Chez Gerard brand. There are dozens of both in London and the south east of England but the Royal Exchange Square Brasserie is the first in Scotland.
An all day French brasserie that serves breakfast until noon, their a la carte menu is full of classic dishes such as coq au vin, Nicoise salads, croque monsieurs and, of course, steak frites.