September 2014
Borne out of An Lochan, the Wee Lochan is a quaint little restaurant in the Broomhill area of the West End. I'm not really sure of the history of the place and whether it's the same owners as before (or whether there are any links with an Argyll hotel with a very similar name); perhaps these are questions for next time...
We turned up for lunch without a booking (as seems to be our way these days!) as we had actually intended to try Don Costanzo in the Park Area for the first time. However, it was closed when we arrived (1220), despite the website saying it was open, so we've still not been there. We sat in the car for a few minutes trying to think of an alternative lunch spot and were soon en route to Broomhill as we realised we hadn't been to An Lochan since the name change (or ownership change..?).
We were soon sitting at one of the three available tables with some ice cold water and some lovely bread rolls and butter. The restaurant was almost full of a variety of patrons and the general buzz was good. Mrs Glasgowscran had her obligatory glass of white wine whilst I, the driver, had a refreshing fresh orange and lemonade.
We poured over the menu and I opted to start with the Cullen Skink and Mrs G the scallops with pancetta and pea puree. The Skink was very good; nice and hot with beautiful chunks of fresh fish. It was one of the nicest Skinks I'd had for a while and I certainly do enjoy a Skink (careful!). Mrs G loved her starter. She's got an obsession with scallops and will rarely see past them if they're on the starter menu! The combination of the scallops, pancetta and pea (classic) made for a mouth-watering (I tasted it) plate. Yes, we were both very happy thus far.
For mains, Mrs Glasgowscran had ordered the pigeon, from the starter menu, which sounded fantastic (we've been eating a fair bit of pigeon recently due to a hunter-gatherer at my work and have really been enjoying it; very underrated meat). The friendly front of house staff member came and explained that there had been a mix up with their supplier and they had sent partridge rather than pigeon. Rather than simply giving Mrs G the menu and asking her to choose something else, the lovely lady showed real interest and concern; she enquired as to whether Mrs G fancied something gamey and then suggested the venison from the dinner menu. This was not normally available at lunch but it showed there was a genuine desire to appease the customer in the face of a slight hiccup.
The venison came with dauphinoise potatoes, parsnip puree, green beans and figs rolled in bacon (we think, Mrs G wasn't a fan of these). The dish was finished off with a tasty gravy. Other than the figs in bacon Mrs G loved this dish which certainly satisfied her desire for game!
I had ordered the Thai-style fish (I can't for the life of me remember whether it was cod or monkfish... My hunch is the latter. I must start jotting things down!) served in a coconut broth with fragrant rice and tempura prawns and spring onion. This dish was superb. It was very authentic tasting with a perfect level of spice; the tempura prawns and spring onion were simply lovely. The portion size was generous and I could not stop myself from devouring every last grain of rice.
As per usual we were not up to the task for trying to devour dessert, despite the options sounding very nice...
All in all a lovely lunch. We were impressed not only with the quality of the food, but also the reaction of the front of house staff in order to overcome a mix up with the food they could actually put before us. On top of this, they charged us the price the starter pigeon would have been for the venison. This was actually less than half the price the venison sold at. I can't emphasise enough that this act really did leave a pleasant taste in our mouth (both literally and figuratively) and we will certainly be back shortly.
Well done Team Wee Lochan. read more