48 hours in Glasgow – Day 1

Day One

Continuing on our off-season themed travels, we headed over to Scotland in mid February. We arrived in Glasgow under the cover of night, having planned to stay a quick 48 hours before heading out on a road trip to the Isle of Skye. We had a carefully curated itinerary to get through after a great night’s sleep at the MalMaison Hotel. But we would soon find out two days is nowhere near enough time to tackle this amazing city full of surprises.

Kember & Jones

First thing in the morning we were off to explore Glasgow’s trendy West End. We had a great recommendation to stop in at Kember and Jones for a delicious coffee and creamy custard tart before continuing down Byres Road.

Hip and vibrant, the shop was buzzing with people getting their morning fix and the smell of fresh baked bread. A super nice and smiling young guy took our order and quickly ran through what was fresh and yummy.

Caffeinated and ready to roll I was in desperate need of a haircut after a long winter hidden away in Umbria. Our friendly server was more than happy to recommend a customer’s little shop down the street, so off we went.

Cleaned up and looking respectable we were now heading back up Byres Road to an amazing cheese shop named after its owner, George Mewes.

George Mewes Cheese 

We entered the shop to a hearty “good morning!” And the smiling face of George himself. “Try this!”, he said and immediately held out a piece of cheese for us to taste.

Standing behind a large table stacked with cheese from around the world he took us on a taste adventure, cutting and describing cheese as fast as we could eat it, funky goat cheese, mellow French tomes, and ripping blues.

There is also a fantastic selection of crackers, jams, jellies and a few charcuterie products to compliment the mountains of cheese possibilities. An amazingly friendly and passionate guy, it’s no wonder his little cheese shop has garnered world attention.

With a bag of three or four cheeses in hand, we were off again to meet up with Caroline, our host, for A Play, A Pie and A Pint.

Òran Mór

Across the street from the botanic gardens is Òran Mór, an arts and entertainment space. Their midday event is a super popular way to enjoy lunch while taking in a delightful play and a tasty pint. Your ticket gets you a Scotch pie or vegetarian option and a pint of beer or non alcoholic drink.

The play we saw, Netting, by Morna Young, is about three women who have lost their fishermen husbands to the sea. It was sombre and the accents were thick, but we enjoyed it thoroughly and left the theatre entertained and well fed to a sunny afternoon.

Ryan James – Two Fat Ladies at the Buttery

A few more blocks of walking and window shopping and then we jumped in a cab to meet up with Ryan James at his highly rated restaurant The Two Fat Ladies at the Buttery. It was a great opportunity to sit down over a cup of tea and discuss the food scene of this spirited city with one of its top restauranteurs.

Like many burgeoning cities, he explained, the food has moved along with it and Glasgow has many different dining experiences to entice its visitors. Similar to most culinary destinations today, Glasgow has embraced the local farm to table movement and new chefs are creating dazzling food steeped in Scottish style, but are not afraid to infuse the many cultural influences of more than a century of immigrant residents. It is no secret that Glasgow is the UK’s top spot to eat curry, a claim that we put to the test and can whole heartedly confirm. He compared the city’s present day culinary industry to the shipbuilding industry of the 1700 and 1800’s which employed a large number of Glaswegians.

Ryan then gave us a tour of the restaurant and kitchen, ending with him and Nat climbing the dangerously narrow and steep stairs to the roof to check out the beehives, yet another dimension of local and responsible food culture Ryan takes pride in.

Mister Singh’s India

Shaking hands with Ryan and thanking him for a wonderful conversation and cup of tea, we had no time to waste in making our way over to Mister Singh’s India where we would be enjoying a master class in the making of India’s famous pakoras.

Greeting us at the door with unbridled enthusiasm and smiles was Mark the great grandchild of the original Mr. Singh who came to Britain in the 50’s. A family business run by three generations, Mr Singh’s India is known for having some of the best Indian food available.

Even more intriguing is their unique take on Scottish-Indian fusion that we would experience. Mark showed us to a private room where we met up with Geoff from Wandertooth who would be filming the class for posterity.

Immediately we were offered drinks (beer) and were made to feel at home meeting Mark’s brothers, one donning a kilt and turban and all speaking with  fantastic Scottish-Indian accents.
The class (more of a demonstration actually) commenced with one of their friendly chefs bringing us through the steps of how to produce a perfect pakora.

For those of you who don’t know, a pakora is a bite sized fried dumpling made from chickpea flour, a number of spices and a filling of meat or vegetables. A thick batter is made and the fritters are slowly dropped in hot oil to produce a delicious golden bite. To make things even more unique, we would sample haggis pakora, a fantastic fusion with Scotland’s most famous dish.
Beer still flowing, our “master class” melded into a full on Indian feast with trays of tandoori, curried spinach and chickpeas, rice and a platter of different naan bread, one coconut, one garlic and one haggis, all absolutely delicious.

It was late at night when we finally poured out into the street, absolutely stuffed and exhausted from a long day. Day one in Glasgow had shown us that it indeed was one of the friendliest places we have ever visited and there was still so much more to discover.

Tune in next week for Day two, which will see us up early again to enjoy an art walk, eat, drink Gin, eat some more and attend the Glasgow Film Festival.

For further information on visiting Glasgow please visit www.peoplemakeglasgow.ca 

We were guests of Glasgow City Marketing, the opinions in this post are our own.