][1]Glasgow loves its football teams, fashion and music but the 5pm blog has a sneaking suspicion that, if asked to choose the best invention ever, then the city would opt for Italian restaurants.
Indian restaurants would be a very close second but I think that pasta and pizza might just shave it over pakoras and pilau rice.
Italian tapas
The latest to join the throng is Assaggini. Part of the rapidly expanding Tony Macaroni empire, Assaggini is a restaurant and Prosecco bar which has opened at the foot of Byres Road.
Assaggini translates as a selection of first courses or an Italian take on tapas.
Byres Road Italian
The new venture has set up in a site which has seen several restaurants come and go in the last few years. There was a Pakistani restaurant; a gin joint and, if memory serves, a pan-Asian place.
Assaggini is but a stone’s throw from the Byres Road Tony Macaroni and if anyone has devised a successful formula, it’s the team behind the Macaroni brand.
Of course, they are up against stiff competition.
5pm offers
5pm Restaurants lists over 60 Italian restaurants in Glasgow and these range from newcomers like Una Storia (formerly Mimmo’s) on Ashton Lane to the well established might of the Di Maggio’s group which has popular restaurants in several locations in and around Glasgow.