Merchant City, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

What does it say about the culinary tastes of the British middle classes that this spin-off chain, with about 40 locations based on the original Theatreland icon, has been such a rip-roaring success? True, there’s some “great people-watching” at the “always buzzing” Chelsea Garden venue (which has one of SW3’s best gardens). And, without doubt, those branches in Kensington, Tower Bridge and Kingston also particularly stand out amongst the rest for their “super atmosphere”. In general though, the knock-off look of their locations “isn’t a patch on the original on West Street, yet pretends to be exactly the same”. And when it comes to their brasserie dishes: although its many followers tout them as “acceptable, albeit nothing special”, their rating-average identifies them as “underwhelming tick-box fare”; all offered by service that’s very “indifferent”. And yet they are “always busy”! In June 2024, it was announced that billionaire Richard Caring had successfully sold his entire Ivy restaurants stake. Now that he is laughing all the way to the bank, it will be interesting to see if ratings reverse, continue or deepen their southward trend.

“The revival of Glasgow‘s hip West End continues apace” and “Unalome stands out for the excellence of its cooking and the refinement of its service”, according to all reports on Graeme Cheevers’s highly accomplished and accoladed three-year-old. “Tables are set apart so that conversations can be had without neighbours overhearing” and a fair proportion of reports say it provided the “gastronomic highlight of the year”, but one that’s “a joy and unpretentious despite the level of cooking”. The main event is a seven-course tasting menu for £135 per person. Top Menu Tip – “Scallops are exceptional as is the duck. And how they manage to source Gariguette strawberries from Midi-Pyrenees is a tribute to their eye for detail”.

“Really wholesome and imaginative food with no fuss and frills” has won a solid reputation over the past 10 years for Jonathon MacDonald’s modern European small-plates specialist in Kelvingrove. It shut up shop for six months last autumn to allow for major renovation works while the team switched its attention to opening a new sister venue, Margo, in the city centre.

It’s all change at this Finnieston fine-diner – a conversion of a long derelict tenement building that was launched in 2013 and has sat at “the top end of Glasgow’s gastronomic scene” ever since. In March 2024, coinciding with the departure of co-founder Ivan Stein, chef-owner Peter McKenna announced plans to re-brand the venture as a more accessible neighbourhood restaurant, becoming part of a growing wave of restaurants dropping their tasting menus. Besides à la carte and good-value set-lunch and early-evening menus, The Gannett Vn 2.0 has introduced a new ‘Sharing Sunday’ lunch, with a refurb also apparently on the cards. Given that the only odd gripes of yore were the prices and perhaps an excess of ambition, this can only be good news for the locals – more feedback on the new direction, please!

“Modou’s 10-course extravaganza is a must for impressing on special romantic occasions” – “hidden away in the West End”, it was “originally in Nico Simeone’s stable of restaurants”, but he handed over to his protégé Modou Diagne, once a homeless refugee from Senegal who worked his way up through the kitchen brigade. It’s “fantastic value”, with “well-cooked, varied and imaginative” dishes.

2023 Review: This Southside newcomer opened in late 2021 on the site of Gnom (RIP) and serves up Mediterranean small plates (as well as a dedicated vegan menu) inspired by the cuisines of Spain, Italy and France. No feedback as yet in our annual diners’ poll, but in an August 2022 review, Rob Mackenna of The Herald hailed its “delicious small plates”: “short, sharp flavour bombs exploding all over the palate”.