][1]Cookie restaurant and deli on Glasgow’s Nithsdale Road seems to be going great guns.
Actually, just calling it a restaurant and deli doesn’t do it justice. It’s also a bar, café and club, food sales and off-license as well as a gallery of art and product design.
One of their key aims has been to strengthen the links between the people who produce and prepare the food used in the restaurant and the community which Cookie serves. To this end, they have had teams of amateur chefs in to their kitchens preparing meals as part of their Cookie Cook Off competitions. There’s a fun blog about it here.
Unlike many restaurants, Sunday and Mondays are big days for Cookie. DJs, tapas and cocktails are the big draw on Sundays while themed film nights pack ’em in on Mondays. Jim Jarmusch is the featured director next Monday.
Perhaps the most innovative feature of Cookie is their recently launched Urban Gardener barter system. Essentially, Cookie wants local gardeners and allotment users to to grow produce for the business or share their excess production through a barter system.
Cookie co-owner, Domenico Del Priore, said, “The idea is that we will use your lovingly-grown produce in our restaurant. We also have a stand outside which we would like to fill with local produce to offer a truly alternative means of supply to our community. So if you are interested and would like to participate and help develop an exchange of local food production, we would love to hear from you.”