In September, Margo - a new restaurant from renowned Scottish restaurant group, Scoop, the team behind Ox and Finch and Ka Pao - will open in Glasgow, bringing a new drinking and dining spot to the city centre.
The team gained planning permission for the new restaurant in late 2019, with speculation growing recently as to whether it'd be a city centre Ox and Finch or Ka Pao.
Margo has been described as being 'bigger and bolder' than the 10 year old Ox and Finch by Jonathan MacDonald Managing Director of Scoop Restaurants Group.
The kitchen at Margo will be headed up by Glasgow native Robin Aitken, who first joined Scoop as a chef at Ox and Finch back in 2014. After a period of travelling and working abroad, Aitken returned to Scoop as part of the senior team leading Ka Pao Glasgow to its first Michelin Bib Gourmand, and Ox and Finch retaining its Bib Gourmand for the 10th year.
Aitken will lead the kitchen in delivering a menu of snacks, small plates and sharing dishes that highlight curated seasonal produce, sourced from the finest growers and makers. The menu will evolve regularly, while retaining a flavour-led approach with a focus on Scottish seafood, meat butchered in-house, and bread and pasta made from scratch.
Guests can begin their meal with snacks such as Smoked haddock churros, manchego and saffron and Margo focaccia with prawn head butter, before moving onto Beef tartare, grilled onion salad, crispy potato and crème fraîche; Beetroot, Yellison goat’s curd and cocoa tortelloni and West Coast crab tart with bitter leaf salad.
To follow, a selection of larger dishes will range from Skate wing with kumquat kosho, trout roe and green peppercorns and Lamb faggot with seared liver, bonnet polenta and salsa verde, to feasting-style plates including Dry-aged sirloin on the bone with café de Paris butter and Half Creedy Carver duck with liver parfait, marmalade and toast.
For dessert, Aitken’s team will present their takes on classic puddings, including Baked rice pudding crème caramel; Lemon and sorrel posset; Blackberry and fennel meringue and Chocolate nemesis - made with chocolate from local makers Bare Bones - to round off the meal.
A cocktail list has been designed to complement Aitken’s food, including signature frozen martinis, yoghurt punch and classic serves given a Margo twist through techniques such as fat-washing and carbonation.
Margo will offer Scoop’s most comprehensive wine list to date, with classic fine wines sitting alongside natural and biodynamic bottles from small, independent producers. A large by-the-glass selection will also be available, giving guests the option to pair glasses with their meal.
Located at 68 Miller Street, Margo will seat 138 diners across an expansive main dining room and upper mezzanine. The team has collaborated with Stuart Black of Mosaic Architecture and Design, who has curated a group of local craftspeople to create bespoke furniture and carpentry for the space.
At Margo, architectural metalwork and traditional clay render are mixed with ceramic and terracotta tiles and salvaged light fittings, resulting in a warm and welcoming space with an industrial edge.
A large open kitchen with counter seating gives guests the opportunity to watch Margo’s chefs at work, while banquettes and booths offer a more intimate dining setting for groups.
Heading up front of house is Paige Wilson, who has led Scoop through milestones including the opening of Ka Pao Glasgow in 2019 and the restaurant’s receipt of its first Michelin Bib Gourmand, as well as the launch of Ka Pao’s second location in Edinburgh.
Under Wilson’s leadership, the front of house will extend to guests at Margo the same relaxed, friendly and informed service for which the group has become known.
Of the launch, Jonathan MacDonald Managing Director of Scoop Restaurants Group said: Margo will be an evolution of our first restaurant, Ox and Finch, which has just celebrated its 10th birthday.
“Both restaurants share the same ethos of being relaxed, accessible and fun, alongside a focus on quality. Whilst retaining lots of the features that have made Ox and Finch so popular for the last decade, Margo will be bigger and bolder.
“We’ll be pushing things further in the kitchen, baking our own breads, making fresh pastas and also doing some in-house butchery.
“There’ll also be a larger, more adventurous wine list, which the team have been sourcing from a range of great suppliers. We’re very excited to be able to share what we’ve been working on with Glasgow, and we’ve also got some exciting plans coming up for Ox and Finch later in the year."
