An Apology, and a Waistline Out of Control

First, an apology. No, not to Mrs Nigel for taking her back to Britain’s rainiest city, but to my loyal cast of devoted readers who may have felt a little left out the past few weeks. I know that many of you look forward to 10.30 on Friday for a little nosh, and that I have failed you in that regard. Numerous theories have been put forward from something as mundane as alien abduction to the truly bizarre idea that I might have been testing GLP-1 pills, and that eating activity had ceased.

The prosaic truth is that Mrs Nigel and I have been having far too much fun travelling the exotic high spots of the UK, revisiting a few old faves (Baba is still a marvellous restaurant with ultra patchy service), and trying out some new ones. In fact, if ever GLP-1 would come in handy, it would be about now. Even a week involving walking the equivalent of Mount Snowdon 5 (and a half) times does not seem to be putting a dent in this reviewer’s growing waistline.

Anyhow, I shall try to renew the cadence, with a choice few new restaurants and hotels, and perhaps a few where we have tried a different service. We’re back at the OXO Tower in a few days, this time for dinner, and I hope they are ready for us.

Why Glasgow Is Britain’s Real Foodie Town

Back to Glasgow, which indeed we were. If you have read my review of Margo, you will know that I think that Glasgow is the foodie town in Britain. It’s a pain that it is a 10 hour round trip for dinner from London, so I would recommend staying overnight, and if you do, you could do far worse than the Radisson Blu by Central Station. We’ve stayed in the Voco before which actually overlooks the platforms (redolent of the St Pancras Hotel), but the Radisson has the advantage of being quite a lot cheaper for the same money, and the rooms are square. This may seem an odd observation, but our first room at the Voco was so small and stuffed with furniture, you had to climb over the bed to get into it.

We arrived in the middle of the latest heatwave, which meant it was London Easter temperatures and the rain was warm. We saw a lot more exposed flesh than sun, but you don’t go to Glasgow for its climate. We’d left it a bit late to book dinner, and left our names on the “Alert” list of OpenTable for the Ox and Finch. Our emergency backup, Paesano, was looking more and more likely. However, within minutes of going on the list, the “no availability” had turned to “come when you want”.

When we arrived, it was clear why. The awnings were opened up outside the restaurant, and a number of hardy souls had ventured out into the “heat” and were sitting on the pavement, leaving plenty of room for those of us less accustomed to the local environment to sit inside.

The Corner Table Where They Hide the Old People

This is not my first Ox and Finch rodeo, and for me it sits at the top of the restaurant chain in Glasgow. It is pretty much impossible to get a bad meal in one of Glasgow’s independent restaurants (although we did have a bad night at another favourite the night after, but I’ve agreed to keep shtum, pending a revisit), and if you look at the Michelin Guide, you’ll see all of the Ox and Finch restaurants in the Bib Gourmand section (they are fast becoming the Tesco of the Glasgow food scene, so many of them are there, with the Ox and Finch, Margo, Sebb’s and Ka Pow the current roster).

The last few times we’ve been, we have sat downstairs in a great little private dining room, convenient for the loo. As there were only two of us, we were back upstairs, in a very nice corner table (where they put the old people to keep them out of sight of the younger punters)

It is a proper sharing plates menu, and it is not a “starter and main” type of place at all, with some smaller and larger dishes to share, but there is no way you want to stick to 4 between 2 of you. Which was the start of our undoing.

When the Waitress Takes the Menu Off You

You often look at a menu and think “ooh, I could eat all of this”. It’s not often that you have one of the waiting staff almost physically pulling the menu out of your hand to stop you ordering more food, but that is where we got to. I was desperate to have the spiced cauliflower, but both the waitress and Mrs Nigel put their collective feet down.

I have said in the past that the Ox and Finch is one of the rare 6 out of 5 restaurants, and I am sad to say that crown has slipped, very slightly to a 5 and a half. Most of the food was just amazing (the Negroni test proved that it was going to be so). I can safely say that I can never order hummus ever again, anywhere. The dash of zhoug has genuinely redefined whipped chickpeas for me forever. Given its prevalence on restaurant menus, it was really unfair of them to make it this good.

The cod cheeks were amazing, with the chorizo absolutely melt in the mouth, almost nduja-like, I could have spread it on the toast. The pork loin, absolutely cooked to perfection, and miso was an amazing counterpoint. They must have a tasting kitchen the size of France to try out all of these different combinations. The superlatives continue as we romp through the rest of the food, with an amazing lamb ragu (made from confit shoulder) with orzo, which I usually dislike. Beautiful, beautiful charred cabbage. OMG, I wish I had a teleport machine, so I could go back right now.

The Skate That Tasted of Cream of Tomato

This is the point at which, if we were in a film, you would hear a screeching of brakes, the music would stop, and the frame would freeze with some sort of trite narration. The fact is we had ordered one too many dishes. But sadly, not just from the volume perspective. The last one on the list was skate wing, a great favourite in our household now that it is more generally back on the menu, being more responsibly sourced than when we tore through the skate population in the late 90s and early noughties (our generation were soooo bad in our youth). It’s generally impossible to screw this up, but this was that one occasion. The skate itself was fine, but the sauce was basically canned tomato soup, and it just ruined it. I am not alleging kitchen skulduggery, and I am sure if we dug into the Ox and Finch’s recycling bin, we would not find a rogue tin of Campbell’s Cream of Tomato, but somehow, that is exactly what the sauce tasted of, and it seeped into the skate. Mrs Nigel managed to polish some of it off, but for me, it was pretty much inedible. Such a shame, and hence losing half a star.

Warm Verdejo and the Great Ice Bucket Heist

Otherwise? A nice bottle of Verdejo, but far too warm. We asked for some ice (to go into the bucket), and we knew we weren’t in London any more when they brought us a brandy glass with ice and a spoon to ladle it into the glass. When no one was looking, I poured that ice, my Negroni ice cube and our tap water into the bucket and shoved the bottle back in: The water level remained dangerously close to the top all night as the ice melted and the bottle sank deeper in…

Service was very friendly. The positioning of our table meant we were a little neglected from time to time as it was slightly tucked away, but it was the night England were playing Norway in the World Cup, and there was a little “Anyone but England” vibe about the city. That was brought home when we went back to the hotel bar to watch the match to find a bunch of people in Norway shirts, and huge amount of cheering when Norway went one up. We slunk back to our room to watch England’s eventual (and slightly lucky) defeat.

Please don’t be put off by this review: the Ox and Finch should be on everyone’s “must-visit” list if in Glasgow. Don’t be put off but its out of the centre location: Nowhere is very far in Glasgow, and it was a 30 minute walk from the hotel (over the never charming M8), and a 6 quid Uber back.

Honourable Mention: Dog-Themed Cocktails at Lunar

And a quick honourable mention to one other place we visited on this trip. The Lunar cocktail bar in Strathbungo. I wish I had taken a picture of the cocktail menu. It is unashamedly unusual, and this time round was dog themed, with all of the cocktails having names like “Jack Russell”. Here is a picture of mine. I loved it so much, I wore the Chihuahua sticker for the rest of the evening. This place doesn’t go for “twists on classics” which regular readers know I think should be punishable by imprisonment, but instead thinks up cocktails from scratch. Mine had beetroot bitter, mescal, some other stuff I can’t remember. Delicious, so check it out!

Getting There, and the Verdict

• Overall Rating: 5.5/5
• Food: 5.5/5
• Service: 4/5
• Ambience: 4.5/5
• Wine: 4/5
• Negroni: 5/5
• Would we go back? For breakfast, lunch and dinner

Ox and Finch: https://www.oxandfinch.com/