GetStuffed FoodDrinkRestaurants
Hot shot Africa remains a bit of a dark continent as far as our appreciation of its cuisine goes. But mix in some exotic drinks, dance and entertainment, and the Southside of Glasgow is suddenly rocking to an African beat, as Rona Alexander discovered
> RECENT OPENINGS The best of the new restaurant, café and bar openings in Glasgow and Edinburgh, covered in every issue by The List’s team of independent reviewers
Glasgow
BOTECO DO BRASIL 62 Trongate, Merchant City, 0141 548 1330, www.botecoglasgow.com, £13 (lunch/dinner) A ‘boteco’ in Brazil is more of a neighbourhood bar than a full-on restaurant, and this new establishment on Trongate is as much about caipirinhas and bossa nova as it is about dinner. Make your way through the crowd drinking around the bar (and dancing to regular live Latin bands) to a table at the rear, however, and you can indulge in hearty Brazilian dishes such as xinxin or moqueca. Tapas-sized dishes go splendidly with beer or killer cocktails.
FALAFEL 27 Gibson Street, West End, 0141 334 1414, £6.95 (set lunch) / £11 (dinner) This new kid on the Gibson Street block is a Lebanese sit-in over two floors and a take-away serving more than 50 halal dishes. A typical starter is the fattet hummus: layers of chickpeas, toasted bread and crushed garlic topped with pine kernels, while main dishes include mixed grill, roast lamb, roast chicken, or moussaka. Teething issues include slightly unreliable opening times, but with special offers such as buy one, get one half price and a two-course lunch for £6.95, locals are getting the message.
C amflava is both a must-try destination for Southside diners and a culinary home from home for Glasgow’s growing African community. This former snooker club has been converted into a bar, restaurant and nightclub, with live music from Congolese musicians adding to the good-time atmosphere at the weekends. The décor is clean, almost clinical, with black and white tiling throughout the dining room and more stereotypical African styling in the bar area. The Ivorian and Cameroonian chefs have created a menu ranging from Mozambican staple peri-peri chicken, to North African couscous, with West African dishes and flavours predominating. Highlights include a starter of alloco (sautéed plantain and rocket), deliciously smoky black-eyed pea and spiced pumpkin stew, and spiced chicken cooked
10 THE LIST 15–29 Apr 2010
with plantain, onions and peppers, as well as the chance to try cassava, yam and green banana and succulent goat. Desserts – not a strong feature of African cooking – include banana and rum crepes and chocolate fondant. + Authentic African ingredients and a feel-good vibe - Layout means live music can make it difficult to talk and eat
CAMFLAVA
1006A Pollokshaws Road, Southside, Glasgow,
0141 440 7070, www.camflavaltd.co.uk, Mon–Sat noon–1am; Sun 5pm–midnight
Two-course set dinner £7.95
NUR 22 Bridge Street, City Centre, 0141 418 0990, www.nur-restaurant.co.uk, £7.95 (set lunch) / £16 (dinner) An Egyptian restaurant may be a first for Glasgow, though with kebabs, houmous and stuffed vine leaves, Nur shares common ground with other Middle Eastern cuisines. However, ‘felafel’ here is a distinctive Egyptian variant made with broad beans and ‘tagines’ are soupy Egyptian casseroles only distantly related to the Moroccan stew. For something genuinely different, there’s basterma, delicious, spicy preserved beef, served with scrambled eggs as a starter. Belly dancing (weekends only) and shisha pipes (outside only) are available, though alcohol is not: you can BYOB for a £4.45 corkage charge.