Unless otherwise stated. prices in brackets are the approximate cost tora three-course meal for two including a bottle of house wine.
GLASGOW
Indian
I Raidoot I3 I lyndland Street. 334 0084. Mon-Sun noon—2pm: Spin—midnight. Less than a year old and already its fame has spread by wordof mouth and an elephant! Situated in an ex-Italian restaurant it is divided into smoking. nosmoking areas and is a splendid example of the nouveau (ilasgow ctirry shop. (£25)
I Cale India 117 North Street. 248 4074. Mon—Thurs and Sun noon—2.30pm. 5pm—midnight; Fri Sat noon—midnight. An establishment built in loitg empty premises next to the Mitchell Library. ('afe India combines an upmarket Asian eatery with bright. airy wine bar
BACK LIST
.
separately. or together if you prefer.
‘thc complete Indian experience‘. (£25)
I Baltiir‘s Indian Brasserie Silltdyltircl I’Iace. Sauchiehall Street.22l I452. Mon-Sun 5pm—midnight. (ilasgow‘s first entry into the upmarket ‘(‘avalry (‘lub‘ type of Asian restaurant. Beautifully finished. it makes a refreshing change from the average Indian. Run by well-known restaurateur Balbir Singh. owner of'tlie much-loved Ashoka. quality is guaranteed. (£25 £30)
I Spice of Life York Street. 22] offal. Mon-I‘ri noon 2pm arid 5pm 12.30am; Sat 5pm lam; Sun
5pm -- 12.30am. Situated in the nightlife-orientated York Street. from the people who brought you the Ashoka. this is an above average restaurant of its type. If not as special as its West lind counterpart. any sort ofcurr'y close
: to dawn cart be a
! godsend.(£lt’v-£20)
":5 . 7- _s’.;, 3
l
‘ .ifirah'.~‘_. p #3 I. . .r. 1"Tl-v ,- "1'3 .41. s - .~ . q t' »_ e
I Di Maggio's Pizzeria (yl Ruthven l.anc. 334 85b0and 1038 I’olloksh‘aws Road. 032 4194. Mon—'l‘hurs
l lam—2pm and
5pm~ midnight; liri
l larn-2..~0prn and
5pm lam; Sat
I lam— lam: Sun
5pm midnight. 'l'asty pix/as and pastas. and brisk helpful service, .\Itisic tends not to be background. particularly oit ‘live' music nights at Rtithven l.anc. so watch w here you sit. (L15)
. Cul-de-Sac 4-1 Ashton Lane. 534 4749.
Mon 'l‘htirs
noon I I50pm; Sun
I lpm; l-‘ri Sat till midnight. Busy \Vest I‘lltl eating house providing excellent selection of crepes. steaks arid hamburgers with a few vegetarian dishes. Watch blackboard for the Phil dti
Join. and book ahead for
weekend rescry ations. (£25)
I The Ubiquitous Chip 1: Ashton lane. 334 500".
Mon Satnoon 2.30pm
arid 5p- 1 lpm. ()uality Scottiin food served in generous portions. All produce is fresh which makes the combinations
of v egetables interesting. . - l’leasaitt surroundings. Optlons helpful staff and extensive i Regularrestaurants wine list. Book ahead. 5 offering vegetarian (£35)
IThe Gourmet House 19
l variations.
Ashton Lane. 334 3229. Mort-~'l‘lttirs noon 2pm and 5pm- midnight; Sat noon midnight; Sun 5pm midnight. l.ike no other restaurant in the city . its excellent ('antonesc food is alway s of delicious. high quality. Vegetarians are in for a treat. (£30)
I The Rogano Restaurant l I Iixchange Place. 248 4055. Mon Illllt‘s noon 2.30pmaiid
10pm; l‘ri Sat
noon 10.30pmfl‘lte scry ice and atmosphere in this famous seafood restaurant make it the place for a special night otit. .-\ll disliesare delicious. and vegetarian menu. while small. is unusual. Attentiye staff and good wine list. Booking necessary. (£25 in diner; L55 lll restaurant)
DINBUBGH'
French
I L8 Bouzy Brougham l’lacc. 2290809. Mon Sat Noon 2pm;(i..‘~0 film‘si); Sun 12.30 2pm.
p.30 9.30pm. (‘laimed by some to be ‘tlte No, I I‘i'ench restaurant in lidinbtirglt'. its name comes front a village in the (‘hampagiie region and. as you‘d expect. old bubbly figures large in their cooking as well as their cellar. (£38)
I Merchants 17 Merchant Street. 225 4009. Mon Sat noon 2.30pm;
(v.30 10.30. Recently
graced by Gore Vidal—
wltat more need be said'.’ except that the food is nouvelle aitd beautifully presented. and the service excellent. (£40)
0 Le Sept7 ()Id Iiishmarket (lose. 225 5428, 'Ities~Sat. evenings only . the ground floor brasserie is an indispensable eat and di'inkery . (iood beer selection. large and edible crepes. and small dusky interior openingonto terrace on balmicr evenings. No booking.
0 L‘Auberge St» 58 St Mary 's Street. 55b 5888. Mon 'I‘htirs 12.3(L-2pm. (v.30 930; Fri Sat
12.30 2pm.
(v.30 10.15pm. llaute cuisine at fairly steep prices. btit delicate and delicious with it — asare the broken linglish accents. (£40)
Lunches
o Duncan‘s Land .s' (iloticestcr Street. Stockbr'idge. 225 I037 ’l‘ues Sat Noon -2pm; p.30 l0pm. Attractively prepared Italian cuisine served with Beethoven in cosy l7th century surroundings iii the heart of the New'l‘own. (Lunch «£16.50; Dinner {30.)
o The Blue Parrot 49St Stephen Street. 225 2941. Mon Sat 9-3pm;
IlleS Sat 7.30pm—l Ipm; Stiii 10.30-3pm. Bohemian basement cafe
whi
ch ‘is totally transformed' at night from eclectic and tasty daytime fare and tablecloths. to purely French traditional cooking and candles. (Lunch—£2.50 main course; Dinner £23425.) 0 Lachana 3 Bristo Place. 225 4017. Mon‘Sat Noon~2.30pm; 5—8pm. Build a l’isa plateful for £1.99. do your best with a bowl for £1 .30. or opt for veg. soup and green salad (separate plates) for £2.50. A vegan paradise.and a healthy experience for the unconverted. o Asha Tandoori 8 West Maitland Street. 229 0997. Mon—Sun noon—2pm; 5-midnight. ‘(iranny and the kids'll love it' promise this family-- friendly restaurant which specialises irt lunches. with child—sized options as well as beefier ones. Adult four course lunch £6.50; children‘s menu £2.50. and high chairs available. though only for the young. 0 The Windmill Coffee House Hill Street (continuation of'Fhistle Street. westwards). 226 3458. Mon—Fri 9—2.30pm. Italian—run cafe with friendly atmospltere. plenty of elbow room. and delicious creamy coffee. Six portions of salad with or without meat for £2. and the gooiest cheesecake in town. lixcellent value and extremely filling.
Ina London publisher‘s last week I had occasion to use the chairman‘s personal watering-hole and discovered that he had a private bath chock-a-block with ice cubes. Ever since I've been trying to figure out what it signifies without much success. I‘m sure there‘s a perfectly reasonable explanation. But ifl were Kafka. and thank heaven I‘m not. I'd have the men in white coats in right away.
They're a funny bunch. publishers. I had a note last week from Chernobyl who seems to have got himself into a position of financial responsibility with a national publishing society. demanding my subscription for ‘88 and inviting me to attend a Burns supper. Dress and behaviour apparently are ‘informal.‘ I‘ll bet. Yet everyone thinks publishers are so straight-laced. like the clergy or librarians. when in fact the opposite is true. and they‘re really as wild as sin.
There was a time. not so many moons ago. when you could catch the entire Scottish publishing industry in Clark's on a Friday night but with the invasion of insurance men there‘s been a mass dispersal and you‘d need to be Leopold Bloom to catch up with them all now. I used to pop round after I‘d called on
Alan 'l‘aylor: in. out. round and about. and still no-one knows what he's talking about . ..
ALAN TAYLOR’
EAST LIFE
Norman Wilson. a Burl Ives lookalike. who played his cards closer to his chest than Paul Newman in The Hustler. I helped Norman out with Books in Scotland for a few issues. a magazine he’d started when he retired front John Menzies. After he‘d decided to let me in he always asked what my poison was and he'd bring a quadruple (iordon's for me with no ice. "l'he tonic water‘s been in the fridge though’. he said habnuaHy.
We never talked much about the business of the magazine but Norman knew his olives and was as sharp as a lemon. [once asked him what he missed most about his job and he said. ‘My chauffeur.‘ He knew all the ancient Scottish publishers and told me once about a
(ilasgow rogue. no longer extant. who was famous for prevaricatinu
. over the payment of royalties. An ; author. passing his office one day.
saw by the .lag parked at the door
that the great man was in residence.
I Ie stormed in and demanded cash tip front to see him and his tribe
through the cruel winter. Iiventuallv
he succeeded in prizing sixpence from the mean bugger. He pointed to the .lag purring outside and laboured the fact that it was his efforts that allowed the felt-collared gent to live in a style to which he ought not to have become accustomed. ‘Ah. btit you see my dear fellow. you and l have different standards'. he said. as if he was the Shah of Iran.
'I‘here's no answer to that. But it is
a truth not quite universally acknowledged that you‘re as likely to come across a poor publisher as you are a hard-up farmer. This. however. is the age of the agent. rabid middlemen and women who take 10 per cent and make a nuisance of themselves on behalfof tongue-tied scribblers. I asked one of them what they did all day and he said. ‘I lave lunch with other agents.‘
Still I‘d have got hold ofone if I'd written the novel I promised rnyselfl would over Christmas. It was to have been a literary blockbuster ranging. like Mohy [)rek or The Thorn Birds. far and wide and encompassing all the elements in The List‘s In. ()ut and Still Out feature. I envisaged a rags to riches story in which Jimmy Boyle. buying salami in Valvona and (‘rolla. meets the Meadowbank 'I‘histle manager. there because he'd renounced Marks‘ (‘hicken Kiev. I won‘t go on but you get the picture; it has drama. suspense. love interest ('l‘om McKean falls for Emma Thompson who prefers Doc Martin). exotic locations (Dublin and Wales). and as much Perrier as you can drink. ()h. and every page is punched with six holes. I‘ve a feeling I've got something here that might interest Spielberg. So you'll keep it keep it to yourselves. won't you'.’
The List 22 Jan — 4 Feb 1988 45