EAT: Ichiban West End

[click this blog post title to visit their website - www.ichiban.co.uk - image courtesy of ichiban]

Well, I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I have never visited Ichiban before, especially as it's just a few streets away from my home. I cling to the notion that it's very proximity is what kept me away... "your own back yard", and all that jazz...

I'm even more red-faced that this local treasure is even better than one of my favourite Japanese eateries, the Wagamama chain that has spread up and down the UK in the past few years.

The ordering drill is almost identical to Wagamama... you slide into place in a looooooong table (though there are some regular ones - see pic above) with benches either side and start to drool over the long lists of anything-and-everything with (all sorts) of noodles. Rice dishes and sushi are also there to tempt. And for the truly undecided you might be best to plump for a bento box... a lacquered shallow tray divided into neat compartments that presents a work of minimalist culinary art... the "chef's selection" of tastes and textures beautifully accompanied with a spread of little china bowls of saucy things to dip into and generally play with. Fun!

So much so that my lunch guest ordered the self same box of foody tricks in the katsu variety of king prawn, scallops and chicken breast. I couln't be wrestled away from my all time favourite of soup-based chicken chilli ramen; a zinging hot infusion of slender wriggly noodles, kimchi sauce and char-grilled chicken... knee-wobblingly good!

For some westerners the starter/sides blurring is an odd affair. We tried a couple... an ebi gyoza (four deep fried king prawn and pork dumplings filled with cabbage, chinese leaf and leek, served with chili and vinegar sauce) and gyu-niku maki (grilled sirloin steak rolls filled with mushroom and lightly sauteed in garlic, sake wine, onion and soya sauce).

The thing is, it's all a bit of a lottery. Once the individual elements of your group's order are keyed into the little portable handsets (where they are immediately conveyed wirelessly to the kitchen) it's pot luck what will turn up when (aside: I also love their doodling of your order - in numerical form - on each person's paper placemat - great souvenir!)

So try to think more "random banquet" than "starter > main" or even "main with sides". You could easily get just one of the side dishes then a few minutes later one of the main courses, followed by another side dish and wait another five minutes for the final main course. If you are particularly hungry when you arrive, it might be best to order stuff that you can all happily share on arrival at the table, clicking away together with your chop sticks like some demented knitting circle outing.

Ichiban has a plentiful range of drinks many of them traditionally Japanese. So overjoyed was I to have finally stumbled off Dumbarton Road and into Ichiban (with Glasgow's heavens opened onto the streets) that I kicked off with a tapered china jug of hot saki, served into a little egg cup sized china bowl. A wonderful winter warmer. And once the chill was banished I moved onto Japanese beers to wash down the fine food.

You'll have to forgive the plasma-screened music videos on one wall of the main dining room as it really is quite understated by Japanese standards and I actually enjoyed the atmosphere, gently buzzing with people sheltering from the stormy day outside. I think being almost anywhere warm and welcoming inside when the sky is falling about you outside is a treat. But Ichiban was more than just a place to hide today. It was a place for all seasons... and weathers! I'll be back.

Follow the link to their web by clicking on this post title for all the details of their two Glasgow restaurants.

I visited the West End...

184 Dumbarton Road
Glasgow
G11 6UN
tel: 0141 334 9222

And there is a sister restaurant in the City Centre...

50 Queen Street
Glasgow
G1 3DS
tel: 0141 204 4200

EAT: An Lochan Glasgow

[click this blog post title to visit their website - images courtesy of An Lochan]





I went in search of a new place to eat yesterday, somewhere local to me in the West End of Glasgow. A jaunt around the web uncovered somewhere very promising called Cafe Royale... hitlisted by some local guidebooks and a mere mile away - off we set, a friend and I. With Glasgow shedding a cloud or two at the time we leaped into a passing cab and gave the address on Crow Road.

The number was an easy find. But what's this? It's gone!

Well, not really. We are reassured that, like some glamorous international spy, it has only had a face lift and a name change. Cafe Royale climbed into a shopfitter's pupae a couple of months ago and emerged a glossy black changeling; oozing subtle west of Scotland charm as "Am Lochan", or "by the loch".

The proprietor has printed a range of art cards (and their little brothers and sisters in the form of matching business cards). Each features a striking photograph featuring one of their extended team of providers of all the fair foods that make Am Lochan so special... "Claire making our morning rolls" and "Guido smoking our salmon" being just two of the five on offer - collect the set! This suggests that their particular take on restauranteuring has not been binned with the blue trappings of Cafe Royale. Past reviews raved about their pride in all of the people who contribute to your meal. And, for them, that means the lad who stalks the deer on the hillside of Scotland or the lass who collects the shellfish from the watery underworld of Scotland's coast. Good provenance like this should be celebrated and it's great to see Am Lochlan do so in such a charming way.






I'll let them take over to explain their changes and their values...

As you may have noticed, Cafe Royale has changed. For starters, there's
our rather dramatic new colour scheme, which we think makes the place look a
shade more sophisticated. And then there's the name - An Lochan, which means "by
the loch" in Gaelic.

"By the loch, in the middle of Glasgow's West End? Perhaps that makes better sense when you know that's also the new name of our small but perfectly-formed hotel which sits on the beach at Tighnabruaich - you guessed it, overlooking the loch, and with stunning views across to the Isle of Bute.

"Why name a restaurant after our hotel? Because we want all lovers of fine Scottish food to understand the link between them. Put simply, they feed off each other. All the delectable fresh seafood as well as most of the delicious meat and game we cook here in Glasgow has come straight from our trusted suppliers in the Kyles of Bute. Shonna, Mary and Arthur catch us the most succulent scallops and langoustines; Winston Churchill (no, really) stalks the most tender venison. And then Ian or Roger loads the day's catch into our little white van and drives it to our kitchen door... and onto your plate just a little while later.

"What does our hotel get out of this mutually beneficial relationship? Well, next time you need to get away from it all and spend a few days eating fabulous food in breathtakingly beautiful surroundings, maybe the name An Lochan Tighnabruaich will ring a bell for you?"


So, what of this well-connected food?

We chose from their seasonal lunch menu, a three-by-three selection for stater, main and dessert. The works comes in at £15.95 and dropping a course leaves a couple of pounds in your pocket (and off your waist?) at just £13.95 - a bargain, we thought.

Starters were almost a non-starter - it was a challenge just to make a choice. I loved the sound of them all... chicken liver pate with mini-oatcakes, cullen skink or wild mushroom soup. I finally plumped for the cullen skink a thick and satisfying bowl of creamy fishy heaven, especially on a chill day in December in Glasgow. My dining partner revelled in an old favourite, a fine smooth pate zinging with flavours. (I should know, coz I sneaked a taste.)





Mains were equally impressive. My lamb shank with crushed potatoes and roasted chestnuts made me almost glad it was winter. Savoy cabbage was light, crunchy and tender and a great partner to the mainly rich things heaped artfully upon my white china plate. My friend settled on the poached salmon, a fine slab of meaty fish teetering on top of a mound of champit tatties (that's potatoes bashed up with a potato masher!) and shredded cabbage. I seem to remember comments of "cooked to perfection", "absolutely delicious" and a general repeated rejoicing that the salmon was "bone-free"...

We hummed and hawed and eventually passed on the dessert. Though, wistfully, I still wonder what spooned delights I missed out on in the baked apple crumble and vanilla-pod ice cream? Perhaps the thought of ice cream on a cold day was what finished off the idea but I think it was more the generous portions of the two dishes we had first. Another time for puds and a great excuse to go back. I've some friends coming up from London for a Hogmanay weekend and this place is already on the shortlist for a lunch or dinner date.

I know I shouldn't encourage stereotypes but I do like to choose places with some sort of Scottish tang when I have English friends to stay. I know they love it, an icing on the cake of making a trip to "another country". The setting here is far from the tartan shortbread tin school of decorating but it does suggest something of the West of Scotland with it's large paintings of the coast and it's striking wall-sculptures celebrating the fruits of the sea. The colour scheme has that muted greenish bluish light with purple hints that almost suggests you are loch side. Extreme comfort too in their new seating; all squishy leather and velvet in creams and purples. Modern, stylish but somehow still "Scottish".

Service was charming and efficient and we enjoyed chatting about their changes, their sister hotel in the Kyles of Bute and our plans to come back with a crowd of friends (an early warning for Hogmanay 2006 - they're fully booked for dinner already!)

If you fancy a trip lochside without actually leaving the leafy sandstone of our Glasgow's west end you can find them here...
AN LOCHAN Glasgow - 340 Crow Road, Glasgow, Scotland, G11 7HT. Tel. O141-338-6606.

And if you really would much prefer to escape to their loch side cousin anyway, then point your carriage in this direction...
AN LOCHAN Tighnabruaich - Kyles of Bute, Argyll, Scotland, PA21 2BE. Tel. 01700-811-239.