Andiamo in Milngavie, Glasgow

Having bought a MOB (mother of bride) dress for Emily and Craig's wedding, I now have to find a matching hat, a pair of shoes and a little clutch bag.  Emily found a shop called Mad Hatter in Milngavie and since we were there we also decided to try a local restaurant there for lunch.

We tried Andiamo (http://www.andiamo-restaurants.com/Milngavie/Home.html).  We didn't book and the place looked busy for lunch but the restaurant accommodated us without any problem.

Whilst our table was being getting ready, we sat in the bar area.

Emily checking cocktail menu already ....

We did not have to wait too long and were shown to a table in a light and relaxing conservatory area.  We also found that they were serving set lunch menu in addition to a la carte menu.

I love ravioli and found that they had lobster and crab meat ravioli in their a la carte menu so I decided to try this.  Emily opted for lunch menu. Maria and Craig also ordered off a la carte menu.

For starter, Craig had Minestrone soup whilst Emily had Crostino con Gamberoni (crunchy slice of garlic bread topped with prawns and pineapples marinated with chilli, lime juice, chopped parsley and olive oil).  I tried Emily's crostini and liked the refreshing combination of prawns and pineapples.

For main course,  Maria had Pollo Valdostana (supreme of chicken bread crumbed and pan-fried, topped with tomato sauce, salami and mozzarella served with penne in a tomato and cream sauce). She really loved this as everything she loves are in it and on it - chicken, cheese, salami, pasta and it was a huge chicken, almost like a love heart shape.  It's like a breaded chicken pizza. Oh, Maria loves pizza too, so this was like her heavenly combination!

Craig had Pollo Mediterraneo (supreme of chicken pan fried with Mediterranean vegetables, black olives, tarragon and tomato sauce served with rice).

Emily had Spaghetti Puttanesca (with anchovies, capers, garlic, chilli, tomato sauce and herbs).  I was expecting a few small strips of anchovies in the spaghetti but instead there were lots of good sized anchovy chunks along with lots of olives, capers and chopped tomatoes, so I was rather impressed by the way they did with their Puttanesca - with lots of ingredients and this is a lunch menu dish too.

I had Ravioli Astice Gamberoni e Granchio di Mare (Freshly handmade lobster, crab meat and king prawns ravioli served with a light tomato, dill and cream sauce).

There were lots of big ravioli, each one with lobster, cram and prawns mixtures filled to the rims. I think it was only just under £14!

See what I mean.... there were big chunks of lobster meat in ravioli!  Impressive!

After having managed main courses, we decided to try their desserts too.  We ordered Strawberry cheese cake, meringue with ice cream and I wanted to try their cafe affogato (ice cream with espresso coffee poured over it).

I asked them to bring ice cream with espresso on the side rather already poured over it as I wanted to do this by myself.

Soon I realised that it was not an easy thing to pour coffee over ice cream without making any mess as espresso came in espresso cup. I did not think. I managed it though and it was tasty. I enjoyed it very much (...however I must confess I still like Cafe Coia's Cafe Affogato the best - see my earlier blog about Cafe Coia's). 

The restaurant is decorated very stylishly throughout with consistent colour scheme of black, white, silver and purple.  What I liked was that the same theme is carried through to the toilet too. Often restaurant does not pay much attention to their toilet but not here.  And that big purplish pink chair  - you got to try sitting on it, which I did of course.  The restaurant definitely passed my toilet check, it was very clean. 

Overall we have a very lovely lunch. I thought it has a very good menu with lots of choices, both lunch menu and a la carte menu, food comes in good portion size and price is reasonable too. Maria is already thinking about going back there for her birthday.... We checked cocktail menu at the beginning and they don't seem to be too expensive neither.  I would not mind going back there and have their ravioli again. I love ravioli!

I have just checked the meaning of Andiamo in English - it means 'Let's Go' according to on-line dictionary.  Yes, let's go back there again and I would try their lunch menu or another lobster, crab meat ravioli, or even start off with one of their cocktails at the bar whilst sitting on a comfy chair.

That's all forks!