Glasgow's food and drink scene has flourished in the past decade or so, growing from the ugly ducking of Scotland's culinary scene into one of its stars.
So, for anyone looking to enjoy food, drink and everything in between in the Dear Green Place, here is our foodie guide (with maps)
From the city's longest road to its most popular lane, the West End is home to many of the city's most famous pubs and restaurants.
Picture: Google
(104 St Vincent St, Glasgow G2 5UB)
Already hugely popular in the city centre, this seriously good eatery is one of the best places to go for gourmet comfort food - think burgers with lashings of toppings and bacon topped poutine.
(10 Clarendon St, Glasgow G20 7QD)
Ask any of the city's food bloggers to name one of their best kept secrets and chances are they'll name this absolute gem. Offering food like your mum used to make (if your mum was a michelin starred chef), a menu filled to the brim with Scottish ingredients and probably the biggest selection of desserts you'll find anywhere, you'll wonder why you've not been to this place before.
(111 Cleveden Rd, Glasgow G12 0JU)
A bit further to travel to, as it’s the furthest out of our selections, 111 By Nico is well worth the trek. Nico Simeone and his team run this amazing eatery on Cleveden Road, focusing on creating small menus with big aspirations. Perfectly formed dishes, exciting concepts and delicious seasonal ingredients all combine to create a dining experience that’s unlike anything you’ll find elsewhere in the city, and for prices that won’t break the bank.
( 37-43 Ashton Ln, Glasgow G12 8SJ)
Sporting one of the prettiest interiors on our list, Brel is pretty much the perfect date night restaurant and sports a menu that is more than a little taste of Belgium in Ashton Lane, with Scottish steamed mussels served with soda bread (Moules Frites), The Brelburger and Fondue for dessert some of our favourites.
(393-395 Great Western Rd, Glasgow G4 9HY)
Simple instructions but ones that apply none the less, Turnip & Enjoy is one of those places that get by on word of mouth and that's because anyone who goes, will always come back and more than likely bring friends. Their excellent little kitchen sends out some amazing dishes using only the freshest, local and foraged ingredients.
(14 Chancellor St, Glasgow G11 5RQ)
Korean style fast food is our new favourite food trend and it should be your's too, trust us.
Famed for their eponymous Kimchi, which they use on pretty much all of their menu items. This delicious spicy, fermented cabbage is made using an time-honoured regional recipe and offers a burst of flavour wherever it is employed. We loved the burgers, fried chicken and the Bibimap (Korean short grain purple rice topped with veg, kimchi and topped with your choice of meat or tofu) but the real stars of the show were the Bao – little clouds of heaven bursting with Bulgogi ox cheek, prok belly or tofu. This is one cult you'll be happy to join.
(16 Byres Rd, Glasgow G11 5JY)
Chances are that if you ask anyone for their favourite new restaurant in the West End they'll say No.16. This cosy little restaurant, nestled smartly in at the bottom of Byres Road is hugely popular and for good reason.
The small menu is simply outstanding and is one of the best examples of Scottish cuisine in the city.
(171 Great Western Rd, Glasgow G4 9AW)
Don't worry if you don't eat meat, Glasgow is one of the UK's best cities for vegetarian and vegan food, and in Hug and Pint you'll find one of the best places to go in the west end not only for live music but also for meat free meals with an Asian twist.
(61 Otago St, Glasgow G12 8PQ)
If steak is your thing then you can't go wrong with Tiffney's on Otago Street, still managing to make a name for itself despite Glasgow having some tough (or should that read well done) competition when it comes to dry-aged beef.
Enjoy 70 day aged steaks from Speyside, twice cooked hand cut chunky chips and even add a few prawns or langoustines if you fancy some surf and turf, or haggis if you want to be extra Scottish.
(12 Ashton Ln, Glasgow G12 8SJ)
What more can we say about the Ubiquitous Chip? The original Glasgow culinary institution, it’s a must try for any foodie visiting the city. Featuring a whimsical interior and dishes with both style and substance, it’s easy to see why the Chip has been a local favourite for decades.
With ingredients like Monkfish tail, Galloway Roe Deer, Guinea Fowl and the very best Scottish Aberdeen Angus beef you’ll be spoiled for choice by their small but impressive menu.
The place to go in Glasgow if you want the very best in food, drink and socialising. Often described as one of the hippest places in the UK, Finnieston is at the forefront of Glasgow's culinary experiences.
Picture: Google
The place to go in Glasgow for a steak, despite recent challenges from some very good competitors like Porter & Rye and Tiffney’s, who are both situated close by.
Their Cuts on the Bone range would be more at home in the opening Flinstone’s credits than they would on a tiny plate. Huge cuts of meat that will have your mouth-watering as they are placed onto the table in front of you.
Perfect for sharing they lead to some fun socialable dining experiences as you struggle to finish them. The Butchershop also specialise in Sunday Roasts meaning a visit there is the perfect way to end the week.
(1125 Argyle St, City Centre, Glasgow G3 8ND)
Seafood fans are notoriously fussy when it comes to choosing their favourite restaurants so when they are pretty much unified in their opinion that this place, named for the are in which it resides, is one of Glasgow’s best, you can rest assured that it’s good.
Split between a roaring trade in award-winning cocktails and satisfying the huge demand for their delightful dishes, The Finnieston is the place to go for those in the know when it comes to Glasgow’s food and drink scene.
Albacore tuna, bass, coley, mullet, scallops, mussels and lobster all feature on a menu that sources all of its ingredients from the best Scottish producers and places them in the creative hands of some of Glasgow’s best chefs.
(1155 Argyle St, Glasgow G3 8TB)
Scottish menus and Scottish produce are very much the in vogue trend of the moment (and quite rightly so) and this drive to reconnect Scots with their national cuisine and the wonderful array of products provided by our natural larder is nowhere better encapsulated than in the Gannet’s small but mighty food offering.
Having come up with the concept in 2012, chefs Ivan Stein and Peter McKenna traveled the country in search of producers who shared their passion and the result is a menu that features ingredients as diverse as they are far ranging – Shetland squid, Inverness red deer and lamb from the Borders are all used in some of the wonderful dishes on offer.
(28 Westminster Terrace, Glasgow G3 7RU)
Pretty much the go to for great curry in the city, Mother India has seen of challenges from many an upstart over the years.
It’s easy to see why the place is so highly praised when you take a visit there yourself, the staff are welcoming and always happy to help with choosing, while the restaurant itself is classically designed, spacious and very often features live music. The food though is the true star of the show, the tapas style dishes allow for plenty of sharing and make for a fun, sociable atmosphere.
(920 Sauchiehall St, Glasgow G3 7TF)
Hip and contemporary are two words that you could throw at Ox & Finch but they hardly do it justice.
With a spacious, well lit venue and a stripped back interior with sleek leather booths and huge windows, the restaurant itself is fairly reserved compared to a menu which ranges from comforting to the sublime.
Small, tapas dishes are the order of the day here, and thankfully they make eating here even more fun, a culinary adventure the seasonal menu runs through neatly ordered sections offering seafood like skate wing and poached hake through to raw cured and cold dishes like dry aged carpaccio and rabbit rillettes with prunes, laphroaig and smoked potato salad. And yes, the dishes are as tasty as they are pretty.
Not to be outdone the more glamorous west end, Glasgow's city centre is teeming with excellent eateries, delightful diners and highly rated restaurants.
Picture: Google
Derek Marshall’s Gamba. This two AA rosette award-winning restaurant offers a menu that is updated every six weeks and regularly includes locally sourced produce such as Isle of Gigha halibut, Scottish lobster and Scottish smoked salmon from Marrbury.
The cosy, basement destination has been described as one of “Glasgow’s culinary standard bearers” and with 16 years of serving customers some of the best seafood around, you’ll be hard pushed to find a better seafood restaurant anywhere in Scotland. While you are there be sure to check out chef Derek Marshall’s signature fish soup, customers and reviewers alike regularly rave about it, and rightly so.
If any of the of the restaurants on this list deserve the appellation of ‘the original Glasgow seafood restaurant’ then it’s the Rogano.
Should Jay Gatsby ever step out of the pages of fiction and visit Glasgow, this is where he would go.
Opened in 1935, this art deco themed restaurant has been serving the best of Scottish seafood to locals and visitors alike for over 75 years. Situated just off of Glasgow’s chic royal exchange square, the Rogano is a must visit for those looking to sample a little bit of Glasgow’s rich history, all while sampling some amazing seafood.
Not your typical Indian restaurant, Dhabba, and sister restaurant Dakhin (which we also recommend - we've added it at number 3a), were ahead of the curve when it comes to hyper regionality – one of 2016’s major food trends – offering regional Indian cuisine in a city that’s well known for it’s infatuation with curry.
Specialising in dum puhkt, in which the ingredients are sealed in a dish and cooked in their own juices, Dhabba has an amazing array of sections in their menu with chicken, lamb, vegetables and of course seafood all featuring heavily.
The kind of restaurant that Glasgow is famous for – warm, quirky and very, very welcoming. Guy’s is one of the best known of the Merchant City restaurants and for all the right reasons – great service, unparalleled value and most importantly amazing food.
The eponymous Guy is an industry expert with decades of experience in the catering industry which he has used to create dishes that literally range from tuna & scallop sashimi and Bang Bang chicken to mince and tatties and steak pie.
It’s also our favourite place in the city to enjoy haggis, especially when it comes served with Guy’s clapshot and whisky sauce.
(176 W Regent St, Glasgow G2 4RL)
In a city that traditionally embraces more louche pursuits when it comes to culinary satisfaction, you’d be forgiven for thinking that fine dining had been abandoned in favour of the more exciting contemporary style of restaurant, but thankfully one man has maintained the drive to gain the city its first Michelin starred restaurant. Brian Maule spent 11 years training at Michel Roux Jr’s London restaurant, La Gavroche, and returned to the city he loved with a passion to create French-style haute cuisine.
The result is Brian Maule at Chardon D’Or, a food destination that’s been winning award after award for applying Brian’s unique cooking style to Scotland’s wonderful produce. Roast breast of guinea fowl, fillet of monkfish and pan-fried scallops all feature on a menu that will have you struggling to choose from the array of delightful dishes on offer.
Of all the Merchant Square eateries, Arisaig is the one that shines in terms of its food offering. Much like Guy’s it does a roaring trade in Scottish cuisine and is credited with being one of the best around when it comes to employing Scotland’s produce.
Having survived in an area that’s famed for its revolving selection of food and drink establishments, Arisiag has built up a reputation for some truly exciting seafood dishes sourced from some of Scotland’s best producers.
West coast oysters and scallops sit side by side with mussels and salmon from Shetland and for those of you who prefer the fruits of the land there’s plenty of wonderful options too, most impressively in the option of game dishes such as the roast pheasant and the duo of duck. The addition of new bar\restaurant The Hawke upstairs is also the perfect excuse to enjoy some post meal cocktails while you people watch in the busy square below.
(80 Miller St, Glasgow G1 1DT)
Continuing the wave of Spanish arrivals in Glasgow, the newest venture from the team behind the Butcher Shop and Hutcheson’s is their most exciting yet. Effortlessly cool both in terms of food offering and its design, the restaurant offers some of the exciting dishes we’ve seen in a while.
With Grade 9 Galician steak, 30 month salt-cured Iberico Jamon, whole Turbot and grilled octopus all gracing the menu alongside some of Scotland’s best ingredients you’ll be sure to find something to challenge your perceptions on what a Glasgow restaurant is capable of.
((94 Miller St, Glasgow G1 1DT)
The fact that Paesano are busy nearly every night of the week is testament to their great value and stunningly made pizzas.
Their Miller Street operation opened in 2015 and it’s been so successful they are set open their second west end site on Great Western Road this spring. Serving pizza in the traditional Napoletana style with a hybrid yeast and sourdough base, Paesano’s novel version of the Italian favourite is topped off with deliciously authentic ingredients like Tuscan fennel sausage and spicy Salami from Calabria.
Not only are their pizzas truly delicious, their prices are hard to beat with none of them coming in above the £10 mark. It also recently topped a list of the ‘best-rated pizza restaurants in the UK’ on Trip Advisor. Be warned though, if you don’t want your pizza dough smothered in EVOO (that’s extra virgin olive oil to me and you) then make sure to ask for it on the side instead.
(79 St Vincent St, Glasgow G2 5TF)
This is a classic Iranian café, based on the original Bombay cafés which became popular in India during the 19th century. However, the numbers of Bombay cafés is dwindling, so Chaakoo is dedicated to preserving the Bombay café legacy.
You can sip on a classoc Irani Chai tea and nibble on some tasty grill dishes while watching the world go by. The owners are keen for the café experience to be as authentic as possible. The prices are also excellent – there is a lunch time deal, where tiffin and fries cost just £7.50, and a grill or curry costs £9.50.
(12 King Street, Glasgow, G1 5RB,
With a fully vegan menu, Mono is the ideal place to eat out for people with a plant-based diet, as well as those looking to enjoy some delicious, healthy food.
The menu offers everything from vegan bahn mi sandwiches to Buffalo cauliflower pizza and even raw chocolate and avocado cheesecake, proving that vegan food is every bit as flavoursome and varied as its animal-based counterpart.
