The Knowhere Guide

Eating and Drinking in Glasgow, Strathclyde*

Glasgow, Strathclyde Pubs, Cafes, Coffee Shops and Restaurants

Food

• will some of yous start letting me know any take aways open quite late around the west end of the city
• Henry's on St Vincent St for fantastic, cheap food. Shimla Pinks for great curry.
• Paperino's is the best Pizzeria in Glasgow
• Big Blue on the Kelvin walkway below Kelvin Bridge, opposite said underground. On sunny days you can have a pint at the outside tables overlooking the river. The pizzas are the best in Glasgow and are little more than a fiver for real quality! Interior is great - like a trendy grotto.
• Los Borrachos has excellent food. If you haven't tried Mexican and want to try it then I would recommend here. China Blossom in my opinion is excellent. My favourite chinease restaurent in the land.
• there is a line of chapaits selling kebabs and pakora things like that dotted everywhere
• Cafe Cossachock, King Street - Only Russian restaurant in Glasgow....scran 7 out of 10, vodka menu (separate from food menu), 10000 out of 10!! The scran is getting better, but if you don't like the Russian taste in food, you'll forget it by the time you get half way down the vodka menu.(honey vodka highly recommended).
• The Orange Balloon is excellent, the Office Wine Bar is pretty good too. The usual Indian and Chinese resturants, which I've yet to try. Several pubs serve food, the best being the Hooden Horse (spicy stuff) and the Ivy House (trad English).
• Canton Express . Only good at 4am after dancing all night at The Garage opposite. Chimmy Chungas now closed. Yes is absolutely amazing for food. Very posh, stylish , expensive, but worth every penny.
• Barcelona Cafe in on Sauchiehall is great as is Havana by Union station, both are trendy pub type of cafe spots
• Countless, really. Sal e Pepe on Gibson Street is very reasonable and tasty italian place. Stravaigan is hailed as amazing, but I wasn''t convinced. The Canton Express is a must for drunken late-night Chinese. always a fight or two, many kissing couples, and you never get what you ask for, but it's a great experience. Kebab Palace extreme west end of Argyle Street. I recommend the chicken kebab and if you order an extra pitta they think you're an expert and make it especially nice. Legendary - I swear. Air Organic (old Bar Miro) for total organic muck at extraordinarily high prices. McPhabbs (new bar in Sauchiehall Street) for good food at okay prices and an incredibly relaxed atmosphere. Bar Bola (off Gibson street) for large portions. Insomnia (24 hour in Woodland's road) for same.
• Cafe Gandolphi, Albion St, Merchant City. A new menu every couple of months keeps you coming back for more as if the Gandolphi Standards werent enough. Ask for Seamus and get him to do you his special G&T.
• Jaconeeli's Cafe, Maryhill Road. Understated, affordable,normal, good,
• Chimmy Chungas has now shut down and become Bar Oz, which does not serve Mexican food. :( A great loss if ever there was one! :(
• If you're peckish but poor in the West End, check out the Grosvenor Cafe on Ashton Lane (behind Byres Road, acess from lane next to the TSB). If there are no tables totally free, just squeeze into any free seats.
• Good currie: Koh-i-Nor at Charing Cross.
• If you're feeling flush and/or flash check out the Rogano for shellfish in a well-classy Art Deco surround.
• Cantina del Rae for great Mexican grub - also very friendly to large groups of jolly youths.
• Sadly, Cafe Manana is no more. We mourn its passing.
• Amy Greggs for a cheese and minging pastie. Studenty tourist types should avoid the undeniable but obvious appeal of MacDonalds etc. - fast food Glasgow style is Greggs the bakers, with staff hand-picked from the worst schools in Scotland - an entertainment in itself!
• Go to Chimmy Chungas for the best in Mexican scoff/swallie.

Pubs

• Underworld, Los Borrachos, Candy Bar, Bargo...list is endless. Tuesdays are usually the cheap nights - 60p vodka mix in Underworld.
• Nico's, Sauchiehall St, Very Cheap Booze all week long, DJ Scott Problems and Playtex every Friday Night.
• Nice & Sleazy still rules when it comes to atmosphere, music ....etc
• If you support Celtic go to the Nairn they'll welcome you with open arms but they'll severly do you if you support Rangers
• ROSS' IS A GREAT HOMELY WEE PUB - IT'S NOTHING FANCY MORE LIKE A FARM HOUSE BUT THE TALENT'S ALWAYS GREAT! ESPECIALLY THE GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO STAND AT THE BACK OF THE PUB. THE NILE IS ALSO ONE OF MY FAVS, IT IS A BIG RANGERS PUB THOUGH FOR THOSE THINKING OF GOING WEARING SOMETHING GREEN!
• Strata in Queen street has excellent cocktails. YUMMY!!
• McCuhill's Way out West is great, the QM stoodent Union is the best, The Living Room is not bad. Bar Oz is ok if you are desperate. Go in to town or Ashton Lane if you are 30+, have a goatee and think black polonecks and leather jackets are de rigeur. You are twats.
• Try Maclachlan's in West Regent Street. At last, a new independent pub where you can have a good blether.
• Ross's nex to the tunnel is good - if you want Tinnitus
• Bar Lautrec's - Thursday night pre-club at The Ambassadors Reception (9pm to 1am) DJ Stuart Elliott and guests spoiling punters with the best in tech-house.
• Hooden Horse on Pembury Road is my fave; good food, excellent range of real ales, great music. The Ivy House is good if you like things 'cosy', and the New Drum is a rather appealing (if no frills) local with good beer and a friendly atmos. Other than that, a mixed bag; from the inevitable Wetherspoons (if you like drinking in a warehouse) to a couple of jaw-droppingly horrible places near the station (can somebody please explain why it is that pubs near to stations are invariably cr*p?) Oh, I nearly forgot, it also has an ace Real Ale off licence in the south end of town which sells draft beer to take away in plastic kegs!
• Solid Rock Cafe,next to central station. Bonkers side. Also Underworld, look at the pictures on the wall!
• Air Organic (old Bar Miro) - a travesty that Miro has been replaced by this squeeky-clean space-age creation, but it's getting better. Bar Bola - sort of okay from time to time McPhabbs - busy little boozer - very relaxed - if you can ignore the comments on the blackboard (inane) it's great. Sunday is good to sit and relax, listening to DJs . Cul-de-Sac (Ashton lane) once commander-in-chief of all Glasgow trendy pubs, now losing ground rapidly - or maybe I'm just getting old. Grove Bar (near Air Organic) is a MUST for experiencing REAL old Glasgow steamers in relaxed surroundings. Hilarious and cheap.
• Sadly, Chimmy Chungas is no more but has become Bar Oz. This is a crass 'Australian' theme pub which has surfboards for table tops. 'Nuff said. If you still end up there, there is a great pub called Hubbards which is just across the street! Watch out crossing the road!
• Bar 10, Mitchell Lane, Off Buchanan St. Right in the heart of the city, Bar 10 is an oasis during the day and a party at night. Good Booze, good food, good punters and a joy to be in.
• The Halt Bar. Woodlands Rd. Friendly local.
• Kilkenny's, an Irish pub in the centre of Glasgow. Definitely the best in Scotland!
• On the odd occasion when the weather is sunny try one of these two pubs: Jinty McGintys in Ashton Lane (just behind Hillhead underground) if you like a lively night with a heavy lean towards all things green and Irish. Or, for a more sedate bar, try Wickets just behind the West of Scotland cricket club, nice beer garden and good food!
• New (Mar 97) place on George Square: Counting House. Loads of good cheap real ale, and the food is good too. Converted bank so the interal deco has to be seen to be believed, eg 30ft ceilings.
• Trendy pub with good food and drink was Babity Bowsers. (It's been a while so I don't know if it even still exists.)
• For a taste of our formative years try a taste of the Peel on Garscadden Road next to the train station. This entertaing bar should do its own Olympics. Imagine... catch the javelin, header the shot putt, mug the poor bastard who's steamin' off the blue train next door. Living in San Francisco makes me wonder if it has all changed.
• Yes = another trendy place with good music.
• Another good pub I recently discovered is Bar Miro near Kelvingrove Park. Good beer and live music. Always good sounds on the house stereo.
• The Tennent's pub on Byre's Road has its own wee off licence next door which stays open till 11 every night and sells munchies, smoking things etc as well as alcohol of all kinds too.
• The Art School is a cool place for cheap beer and drum'n'bass sounds.
• Nice n Sleazy is an ace pub - massive jukebox and it sells Buckfast by the glass (if that kind of thing interests you)

Cafes and Coffee Shops

• Miss Cranston's Bakery & Coffee Shop has THE best cakes in the world. Quite pricey though.
• That place - Insomnia which is open 24 hrs in Charing Cross. How about the Chinese restaurant in Sauchiehall st - open 24 hrs where all the clubbers go when they are pissed at 3am?
• who needs coffee when you've got Buckie
• YOU HAVE TO LOVE GREGGS THE BAKERS, IT SERVES GREAT FOOD AND AT REALLY CHEAP PRICES! THE ONLY DOWN SIDE IS THAT EVERYONE ELSE IN THE CITY HAS WORKED THIS OUT AND THE LINE AT LUNCHTIME WILL BE FORMED RIGHT OUTSIDE THE DOOR AND HALF WAY DOWN THE STREET!
• The old sofa in Starbucks on Sauchiehall Street is the most comfortable place in the world and belongs to me after working 9-6 in Buchanan Galleries!
• there is the busy n friendly Uni cafe n there is noo quite a lot of internet cafes aboot and a nice wee wan on Dumbarton road
• For a snack or a steak you can't go wrong between Partick and Scotstoun, a great selection of cafes and restaurants right along the main drag (Dumbarton Rd). Plenty of excellent pub grub too, don't forget the bottom of Byres Rd.
• The Grosvenor Cafe. Cheap food and lots of studenty - type atmosphere.

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Last updated: 2007-11-19