Ordinarily, I would think a noodle bar would fit in well in the student packed west end but Wudon sticks out like a sore thumb. The service lacks the speed and efficiency Wagamama offers, the prices are just that bit too high for the students and the stark interiors don’t offer diners glamorous surroundings.

The food itself is bland, of the three meals my party ordered they all tasted the same and we found ourselves hunting out Wasabi to bring some flavour to the meals. As someone who is diet conscious I welcomed the addition of a non fast food eatery take away in the west end and I do enjoy noodles but a little bit  more spice wouldn’t have gone amiss.

Has anyone else visited Wudon Noodlebar? What did you think?

The Italian Caffe is an Enoteca which means that it boasts one of the most varied and diverse wine lists. These wines are available by the glass or by the bottle, letting you taste wines that you may not have tasted before. I asked the waiter what wine would best suit my meal and they were able to recommend one. I was pleasantly surprised that the staff actually knew what they were talking about, making my dining experience that much more enjoyable.

And like the Italian Kitchen, the food from the Italian Caffe is of a very high standard, producing authentic italian cuisine with fresh local ingredients.This makes this italian restaurant one to try out, if you love italian food and a comfortable and warm atmosphere with some of the best variety of wine in Glasgow.

The Italian Kitchen’s menu is extensive covering all the classic dishes we are used to but with a pasta and meat menu to make even the most refrained water at the mouth.

The food is freshly prepared and was very delicious. I chose the Melanzane in Carrozza,
which is fried aubergines stacked with mozzarella, followed by the homemade meatballs in a tomato sauce. The starter was very nice indeed, although I am quite the fan of aubergine, regardless it was very fresh and not overly fried, a nice thin layer of breadcrumbs with a little crunch. The meatballs were, again, very nice; the sauce was very flavoursome with a heady mix of herbs making it all a little bit more interesting.

The restaurant itself is stylish but still remaining comfortably informal.

Overall the Italian Kitchen has stayed true to the great Italian chef, and from my short time in Glasgow it has been the best of all the Italian restaurants I have dined at.

Here are some more helpful reviews about the Italian Kitchen Glasgow:

Trip Advisor

The List

Sugarvine

The Great Western Road restaurant is the second Cail Bruich the family has opened the first being in the Bridge of Weir.

The menu is a beautiful mix of gourmet and traditional; serving traditional dishes with a nice twist veering away from the typical options we are used to seeing.

On the menu for myself was Ox Cheek Pie which was delicious, perfectly cooked and quite a surprise for someone usually quite timid in the culinary department. Similarly my dining partner stepped out of the box, so to speak, and thoroughly enjoyed her Pork Belly.

Overall Cail Bruich is a warm and welcoming restaurant that offers delicious versions of our traditional Scottish meals- in a country where all too often we are choosing other national foods over our own it is nice to find a restaurant that is proud of Scottish culinary offerings and serves them in style.

www.cailbruich.co.uk

The Bier Halle situated on Great Western Road is one brilliant for a sunny day, with its covered outdoor seating area it is perfect for those willing to brave the miserable weather in an attempt to capture some of summer Scotland has to offer.

As previously mentioned the bar itself stocks a wide and varied range of biers, and it’s biggest selling point has to be its 2 for 1 on all pizzas and pastas. The pizza’s are freshly made, however, somewhat a bit sparse on toppings and a little dry… the bier was of course delicious, but when the bill came I was a bit surprised about how pricey the bier in fact actually was. A raspberry berry was in the £3.50 region, which directly across the road in my favorite off license The Cave costs around £2.

The atmosphere in the pub was good, the service a little slow but overall I would say that the Bier Halle food is not bad considering what you pay for, but I would recommend going easy on the pints of bier if you are looking for a cheap bite to eat, it can get pretty pricey.

Travelling down the wee stairs to the pub and restaurant you are not prepared for the mass of space and stylish decor that you are met with. With regards to atmosphere, interiors and staff the Lansdowne Bar and Kitchen ticks every box required by the über cool west end crowd to be considerably hip; holding a certain charm that prevents it from being too try hard and more laid back.

Only having drinks, we didn’t actually get to taste the menu, but we certainly enjoyed the atmosphere the only downside being that with it being situated in the west end it charges west end prices. So if you are looking for a cheap night I would suggest you look elsewhere.

The Mancini can found on the popular Great Western Road in Kelvinside; small in size but big in personality the restaurant is busy with welcoming staff.

As expected on a Saturday night the restaurant is busy, full a crowd that consists mostly of the young professional sort, and every table is overflowing with people having a good time.

The menu has all the main ingredients for an Italian restaurant: pasta and pizza, with a few interesting dishes thrown in for equal measure. What is so pleasing about the menu has to be the fact that it has a nice selection of starters, I feel that many restaurants let themselves down by neglecting the first course, and I particularly enjoy having a nice starter to kick things off with.

After much consideration I settled for the Gateau of Smoked Salmon and Pepper, Crème Fraiche and Citrus Salad to start with. It was, simply put, delicious; the gateau itself was incredibly light and when combined with the grapefruit that formed part of my citrus salad it was deliciously fresh; and left me feeling refreshed and ready for my main course of vegetarian lasagne.

I do this lasagne no justice when I call it a vegetarian lasagne, for it is a lasagne of wild mushroom, leek and asparagus and much tastier than any meat counterpart could ever offer. Again, the Mancini got the combination of the rich ingredients spot on with the lasagne, it was, without being crude, very very yummy, and left me wanting more.

To accompany our meal we had a reasonably priced bottle of house red wine, although I am not a wine connoisseur myself the wine was a nice compliment to the meal we had, and for those with the more experienced palette there was a wide selection to choose from.

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the Mancini, the food was delicious and the service impeccable, I would recommend this restaurant to anyone who enjoys good Italian food.

Brel is a small Belgian Bar on Ashton Lane, a street that I am quickly becoming accustomed to and falling in love with.

I have enjoyed the majority of the bars I have visited on Ashton Lane so far, the atmosphere in the bars and the lane itself is electric; although it can get incredibly busy in the small bars the variety of people coming and going makes it worth the while. Brel is no exception to this, although, like everywhere else on the lane, it is incredibly small Brel still manages to offer a beautiful interior, complete with conservatory glass area at the back, and brilliant service.

Being a Belgian bar of course they carry an impressive range of Belgian beers and the menu is laden with sausages and frites, all very bistro and delicious when washed down with a Leffe Blonde.

On the day of my visit to Brel, a Saturday, they were hosting 12 hours of back to back live music as part of the West End Festival, so it was absolutely packed to the rafters. This was not a big problem for my group of friends, but I would advise against taking children or large groups of people in, as there are only a handful of tables and the majority of people were standing making it difficult to navigate your way around. However, the live music was brilliant, and even though the weather was miserable, the crowd’s spirits remained high.

I would recommend this Belgian bar to anyone looking for something a little bit different and with a atmosphere as Brel has it in the bucketloads.

Given that it is one of their main attractions, I thought it would be cheeky not to have a cocktail, and what a time it took me to decide. Calling the cocktail list large would be an understatement; it is massive, they cover every single cocktail you can imagine with many variations on the classics.

Although, many men may feel cocktails are a girls thing; and with great emphasis upon the cosmopolitan, made famous by Sex and the City, in the menu and with the bar hosting a Cosmo Club every Wednesday it is understandable, but looking through the menu there were many gent friendly cocktails such as the Gimlet, Grand Sidecar, and a new alternative to a classic the Creole Mojito which the boys at our table opted for. Although this may appear like a bad reflection upon the Metropolitan I chose a cocktail not on the menu itself; I requested the barman to make me a French Martini, which funnily enough is never on any menus but on enquiry, if a cocktail maker, or mixologist, is any good then they will know how to whip one up- and boy did the barman at the Metropolitan know how to make one! It was divine!

The cocktails in Metropolitan can be pricey but the mixers and bottled drinks are average price; however, the quality of the cocktails is worth every penny and even if you can only afford one I do recommend visiting the Metropolitan just to treat yourself to one of their delectable cocktails.

Metropolitan Drinks List

Hidden away on a small street in the fashionable Merchant City area of Glasgow Esca is a very nice Italian restaurant, it is small but the clever use of space and the modern décor make it feel both airy and cosy at the same time.

The pre-theatre menu is somewhat limited, but for £11 a head for two courses including a glass of wine it isn’t too bad. I am not a big soup person but as I don’t like mushrooms, mussels or sardines I was forced through default to have the carrot and coriander soup of the day for my starter which was very flavoursome, although a tad over salted, but it was very fresh and surprisingly didn’t fill me up to much which I always fear when choosing a soup for starters.

I really was in the mood for lasagne but again the limited pre theatre menu left me with little options, I would ordinarily go for the pizza but for the sake of this review I avoided it, and I chose the carbonara instead. I am usually a big fan of carbonara, but I was disappointed by Esca’s offering, it was too creamy and very very rich in flavour making me feel a bit sickly and causing me to leave half a plateful of pasta uneaten. No one had much to say about our individual meals, although the others at the table finished their whole portion so all couldn’t have been that bad. Our wine was accompanied by a free glass of white wine, and followed by a bottle of their house white, which was pleasant enough and was fine enough for the price of it.

Overall, I wouldn’t rate Esca’s food very well; my meal was overly seasoned and too rich in flavour which really can spoil it for me. I will, however, give Esca the benefit of the doubt as this meal was ordered from the small pre-theatre menu and if I had the selection of the full menu I know I would have chose differently. When it comes down to it, however, £11 for two courses and a glass of wine is pretty good value which on many occasions that is all your looking for a meal in a nice atmosphere for a reasonable price.

For the Pre-Theatre Menu priced at £10.95 visit their site on 5pm.