Does anyone remember Lip Service? The BBC 3 drama based in Glasgow. I was hooked on that show and…read morefor some reason I always noticed the Trans-Europe Cafe featured in the background of lots of scenes and I made a vow that I had to give it a visit. By chance this past Sunday my boyfriend Mark was getting his camera cleaned a few doors down from the cafe so I gave him my best "I'm hungry eyes" and we decided to pop in for some lunch. The decor is beyond cool, the walls are a tilled map of the world and the the seating areas consist of old bus seats. The staff make you feel welcome straight away and just chat to you as if they are your best pal. I didn't even have my bum on the seat before I was asked did I know what part of Greece, Cyprus was in? Answers on a postcard because no one knew the answer! The table next to us were going in on their all day breakfast which I made a mental note to try at a later date but today I was in the mood for the classic soup and sandwich combo. All the sandwiches and salads are named after locations and the home made soups change daily. I had a toastie with peppers, balsamic vinegar, mozzarella, tomato and onion with lentil and chickpea soup. Mark had a chicken and pesto pannini with the pea and ham soup. The food was just brilliant. Fresh, tasty and filling. I really couldn't have asked for anything more. There was little to no talking as we ate and we both left very clean plates. The highlight for me had to be the soup, I've never had chickpeas in a soup before but it was pretty special. The prices were more than reasonable and I had a lovely earl grey tea with my food while mark enjoyed a beer. The Trans-Europe cafe is one of those special places in Glasgow that is kept alive by its great food, staff and returning customers and I've just put myself firmly in that last category.

My favourite place for brunch in Glasgow. It's a little hard to find at first but it's well worth…read moremaking the effort to eat here. The interior reminds me of being back in Berlin (my favourite place in the world) with it's quirky seating, the countless postcards on the wall and 80s music on in the background. I have eaten here at all times of the day and have never been disappointed. For breakfast the Eggs Benedict are amazing, there is a huge range of salads and sandwiches for lunch and on Friday and Saturday nights they now open for dinner. I tried the evening menu a few weeks ago and it was excellent. Beef with black pudding to start, perfectly cooked fish to follow and then really good coffee. At just over £40 for 2 starters, 2 mains, dessert and coffee it is amazing value. I cannot recommend this place enough. If you want a little bit of Europe in Glasgow this is the place to be.

Designed by Charles Rene Mackintosh, probably the most famous architect to come out of Glasgow. I…read morewould best describe him as a proto-modernist who was way ahead of his time and somehow achieved architecture, furniture, and design that could be both described as minimal and also Art Nouveau. Out of all the places you can visit in Glasgow I would recommend this one as closest to the original intent. Other places have had to unfortunately modernize with exit signs, lighting, etc... that were not part of the original vision. On site there is a gift shop, cafe with indoors and outdoor seating, upstairs private meeting room and wedding area, and of course rooms designed by Mackintosh. The only unfortunate name is "House For An Art Lover". It seems somehow not so serious and I think it should have just been called "Mackintosh House". This was designed in paper in 1908 but not completed until 1996, there is an alcove between the 1st and 2nd story that has a scale model and reproductions of the design drawings. The thing I LOVED is there were no barriers and you could touch and sit anywhere you want. There is a room with a fancy piano and I was surprised you could sit there and play on it, listened to our oldest play Minuet in G and felt like we were transported back in time. This is the room that shows up in a lot of photography and our favorite.

This resturant and lovely gardens, too walk. The food and staff here will blow you away. Amazing,…read morecheap and artistic., nice wee shop too. Not far to ibrox rangers, football club. Think some players eat here too. It's very posh.

Oh dear, went with someone who had been a couple of times before and they noticed a huge…read moredeterioration in food and service. Cramped, small tables. Slow, slow service with aperitifs arriving half way through meal and paired wine arriving as plates clearing. We continually had to flag staff for ordering drinks as never offered and then chase so they'd arrive. We weren't the only table in the same position. Staff seemed to be enjoying themselves with animated conversations and laughs among themselves while we waited for bill 10 mins after asking. Ended up having to walk out to the front and make it clear we were leaving. Large service fee automatically added. Food was very average with many listed ingredients and flavours missing in the final dish. Consequently bland or unbalanced. Small portions and despite ordering more plates than they recommended we left hungry. Expensive for what it is. Very very disappointing. Trading on a good old name.

We had dinner at Eighty Eight last night and it was lovely. It's a small restaurant and very cosy…read more Their concept of small plates works really well, we shared four dishes and a dessert between the two of us and we were very happy. The menu changes regularly, but if you are interested in going any time soon (March 2022) I'd highly recommend the scallop ceviche (we ate it before I managed to take a picture) which was mind blowing and the wild mushroom and gnocchi dish. The prices are very reasonable and the staff were so nice. I'll definitely be back!!!!

Hitting it out of the park in week one with customers already queuing at the door, the newly…read moreopened Gnom Cafe in South side is my new favourite place. From a small but perfect formed menu we chose a Turkish pide pizza topped with an egg, pork belly breakfast bao buns, and the vegan mushroom bao buns. Perhaps the steamed bao buns served in bamboo steamers are a nod to their street food roots. I don't know what coffee beans they are grinding here but their coffee ranks among the best I have ever tasted. Hats off to the Barista. Open 9 til 4 Tuesday to Sunday I suggest beating as path to their door. The earlier in the day the better. Well done to the staff who were all lovely and kept their cool despite the overwhelming number of customers. Good luck in your new venture and thanks for being the highlight of my Saturday. Vegetarian and vegan friendly.

I had a flat white and the Pork Breakfast Bao which were both great. The breakfast Bao had pork, a…read moregorgeous runny egg and a really delicious gochujang ketchup which added a little spice to the dish. This was followed by an amazing orange tart with a black coffee. A very enjoyable morning all in.

Oh. My. Flock. Was this pop up one of the best I've ever tried? Yes, yes it was…read more Flock Pop Up by John Traynor (formerly of the Porter & Rye, Lebowski's Group) showcases Scottish food in relaxed settings. This one was hosted at Seb & Mili which is a fab cafe in the city centre and it made for a great dining spot in the evening - relaxing and comfortable. The 8 course menu was £35pp and actually, in the end, I think it was underpriced for all the delicious food we scoffed. Starting with warm bread and a piece of crispy chicken skin, I was immediately impressed. The chicken skin was crispy yet still a little chewy, and tasted all the better for being topped with liver pate. Moving onto the next course (which was fabulously introduced by the front of house staff) which was beetroot with crowdie cheese. There was a lovely granita through the dish which really elevated the dish from being just beetroot and cheese. Scallop ceviche was one of the stand-out dishes for me - I love scallop, and this was so soft and delicate and really did justice to it. It was a refreshing dish too, so even though we'd eaten a bit by this stage, it felt like a nice intermission before diving into the heavier dishes. I really liked the pumpkin seeds with it which were a bit unusual with a ceviche. The only dish that I didn't love as much as I hoped was the duck, and I think that's purely because it was served warm rather than hot. It was a large slice of breast with the skin still on, and absolutely delicious flavour combinations (gingerbread with duck?! Yes!). But for me, I would have liked it a little hotter. The final main was a 60 day aged rump steak by Rodgers Butchers. This was the best steak I've had in my life. And I've had a lot of amazing steak. It was just so soft and buttery, delicate and mouthwatering. I lingered over this dish because I just didn't want it to end. It was served with a stack of barley risotto and kale which I appreciated as something completely to what you normally get with steak while being very Scottish and modern. Onto dessert. If you've ever read a review of mine, you'll know I pretty much never have dessert. I just don't have a sweet tooth and have some issues with dairy so avoid it. The first dessert was a popcorn panna cotta which was very mild in taste and a nice fresh way of leading into the chocolate mousse. The granola crumb was excellent. Finally, chocolate mousse with peanut butter ice cream. I actually preferred the ice cream to the mousse, it was chunky PB with a massive amount of flavour. Just delicious. So what else can I say about Flock Pop Up? We had a fabulous night - it was relaxing, intimate and the food was well paced. We were actually in a hurry as we had a gig to go to, and so managed to scoff all that food in 75 minutes. Other tables were taking their time which is understandable! I loved the attention and respect that was paid to local Scottish produce and really felt like that was the champion of the night - everything was sourced locally, from the duck to truffles and beef, and it was really nice to see a chef do Scottish food in such a modern way.

Gosh, I really want to give this pop up more than three stars as I'm well and truly appreciative of…read morethe fact that I won a dinner for two, but my experience here was just a-ok. Set in Seb and Mili's, Flock Pop Up set up shop to give diners a casual yet sophisticated dining experience showcasing Scotlands local fare at an affordable price. Even though it was casual, Sophie K and I decided we were going to dress a step above casual and we felt as though we fit right in with the rest of the crowd there. Our reservations some how got mixed up but they were able to accommodate us which was great! We were sat as soon as we got there an were brought the menu which laid out what was on for the evening. We knew it was BYOB as Sophie K noticed it on Twitter, otherwise, we wouldn't have known to bring anything to drink. No worries. First out were warmed rolls and smoked butter. I am a huge fan of anything and everything smoked, however, this butter left me wanting more smoked flavour. If anything, it was more of a knob of butter with a bit of smoked salt sprinkled on top. I couldn't really taste the smoked salt once I spread it on the bread. None the less, who doesn't like a warm bit of bread? Next up was the crispy chicken skin with liver pate. Normally, I would pick the skin off any meat that I eat, but I figured I would give this a go. The taste of the chicken skin brought back memories of my tubbier childhood days where I would eat the skin off of chicken and quite enjoy it. The liver pate, although not a favourite of mine, was almost unnoticeable given the chicken skin was so flavourful. Not a negative, but a positive as I don't normally eat liver pate either. (I'm such a bore). The next course was the beetroot with crowdie cheese. This course was made by the cheese as beetroot on it's own is pretty flavourless. I ate this plate in a hurry as it was pretty tasty. The next course was the scallop ceviche. I'm not exactly sure where to begin with this one. Of all the dishes, this one was probably my least favourite. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love scallops, but I've discovered, unfortunately through eating this dish, that I'm not a fan of raw scallops. Besides the fact that there was a huge amount of scallops on the dish, the frozen apple confused me and brought nothing to the dish. The duck was probably my favourite dish of the night. The only thing I will mention about all the dishes, especially the meat dishes, is that they were barely luke warm which was a little off putting. The duck was perfectly cooked, but lacked temperature, so it was a little strange eating it. Everything about this dish was perfect, including the blackberries and the gingerbread puree. I would eat this dish over and over again. The steak was indeed another tasty dish, but again, it was a little too cool for my liking. Instead of it feeling like a sophisticated dish, I felt like it was needing a roll and ju to turn it in to a steak sandwich. I wasn't a fan of the pearl barley risotto, it tasted too much like a scotch broth, without the broth and the steak could have used a bit more ju. Along with the duck, the desserts made me happy. While I've never had a pana cotta, this one had the texture of a hard boiled egg white, which was a bit odd to me. It did, however taste like popcorn which was amazing. The lemon curd stole the show and I would have gladly eaten my body weight in it if given the chance. I also absolutely loved the chocolate mousse and the peanut butter ice cream. By far my favourite of the two. The wee touch of banana also made the dish interesting. Over all, the meal was good, but there were just a few things that made this a three star versus a four star experience for me. The food came out rather quickly which was nice, but all of the food was either cold (meant to be) or just barely warm when it should have or could have potentially been piping hot. The wait staff and the chef were all very lovely and accommodating, which is always great and the location of the pop us was cozy.

Celebrating Hogmanay in Scotland and wanted to do something fun, a friend suggested to go check out…read morea James Bond Themed burlesque show at Wild Cabaret, didn't know what I was getting into, but was excited to go! Our reservations were for 8:30pm, because it was for dinner and a show, for that night we had a 5 course meal, it was canapés with Champagne, French onion soup with gruyere crouton, salmon tartar, roast fillet of Aberdeen Angus Beef with slow roasted tomatoes, Portobello mushroom, onion ring stack, red wine sauce & béarnaise, Baked Alaska, and ended with a cheese board. The meal was delish, and really for being 5 courses, the severing sizes of everything was more than I expected, I had a nice size of the Aberdeen Beef, maybe almost a solid 8 ounces. Everything was prepared perfectly and had great flavor, this was an excellent 5 course meal! The show, oh my gosh, let's just say I LOVED IT!!! it started around 9ish, and went all the way to Midnight, there was acrobats, sword swallowing, fire eating, can caning fun to be had! And that's just bits of the show, it was live singing too, every performer is talented in their skill! I really couldn't think of any other way of ending 2015 and bringing in 2016, this was such a treat! So if you are looking for a fun night, stop by Wild Cabaret and give it a go!

I've always wanted to try Wild Cabaret as I'd heard good things. I like a different night out and…read morethis sounded like fun. I was lucky enough to be my friends plus one, so didn't need to pay so even better. We arrived and we were escorted to one of the big plush booths. As we were on the guest list we did not eat, so I can't comment on this. The decor is decadent and very cabaret. Lots of gold, black and leopard print. There is a stage in the middle with all the tables round it. There is table service, this adds to the glamor and makes you feel special. We ordered drinks that came quickly and the staff were all helpful and friendly. We arrived just in time for the entertainment, every week is different so it does vary. A few of the folk I was with tonight have been before and said that the line up tonight was especially good. The entertainment consisted of gymnasts, a guy using silks, a mind reader, sword swallower (was great but made me feel uneasy), can can dancers, burlesque, a singer (who we joined on stage for a dance at the end) a hula hoop girl, but my highlight was JC a guy who dresses up like Jesus and dances (it really needs to be seen, to fully get it) the compare was also hilarious and kept everything running smoothly. I really enjoyed the night and will be back.. Highly recommended..

We had a lovely meal here with fabulous staff. If I were going again I'd skip the main and just get…read morelots of starters to share as for me this was the best part of the meal (I had the veggie moussaka main). We were a party of 7 and everyone had their food at the same time. It's also convenient for both train stations

We tried this for dinner on our friends' vacay and we ladies were offended by server Chris. What a…read moresnot! I don't think he could have been less friendly. Super disdainful when asked for food recommendations and for some reason, he was disapproving of our large order. I would've thought he'd appreciate the extra money rolling into the business. Apparently not. We do not recommend though the food was good. Poor service always overshadows a good product.

For me this one is a low four star high three star kind of place. It's definitely a bistro and as…read moresuch the sandwich snack options are a pretty limited (Monday- Thursday) . We went for a late lunch on a Saturday (3pm) and were presented with a dinner menu. It ranges from Morrocan Salad (12) to steak (25). That means at these kind of prices it's more on a par with Ian Brown than many of the other eateries in the area. We just had main courses. Steak and Stag Ale Pie and the Morrocan Salad. In fairness, both things were pretty tasty and well executed, but it wasn't extraordinary or indeed great value. The staff were very friendly. If you have two courses and a drink don't expect much change out of £25 per person. And I suppose that's where this place falls down. The set menu at competing Ian Brown would see you get three courses of a higher standard for a fraction of that price. In short, a decent eatery if a little on the prices side for what you get.

Great little Bistro in Clarkston. Visited recently with a party of 6 including two young children…read more Co-owner Sharon was only too happy to keep the kids catered for aswell as the adults. Amongst our choices were Filo parcels, Chicken Supreme and Steak pie which I would recommend. In fact I would say this is the best Steak pie in the area. The Bistro is definitely a cut above other moderately priced restaurants in the area. Recommended.