Giraffe in Glasgow, Scotland

(Almost) Every Saturday morning, my husband and I go to Glasgow, buy The Guardian newspaper and then go to Starbucks to read the paper whilst enjoying our coffees. Recently, whilst heading out toward Buchanan Street after our morning coffee fix, we noticed this new restaurant called giraffe (http://www.giraffe.net/locations/glasgow-west-regent-street).  We checked the menu on the window, which looks quite good so we decided to try today for lunch.

Inside is quite airy, specious yet with warm and friendly atmosphere.

Looking up the ceiling ....

Whilst we were perusing our menu, we ordered ourselves Fresh Lemonade with Mint - 'cloudy & refreshing, made fresh every day' they say. We liked the sound of it. When we tasted it, it was indeed quite refreshing and tasty.

Here are their menus - drinks on the left, food on the right ...

They do Brunch until 4pm ....

My husband ordered Falafel Deluxe Burger - grilled pepper, helloumi, carrot, beetroot, mixed leaves, tzatziki, red pepper and harissa hummus.  It sounds really good....

He enjoyed the burger. He also add some chillis sauce to his burger to make it tastier and spicier....

I ordered Sharing Mezze Platter - tabbouleh, hummus, Tunisian ratatouille, baba ghanoush, tzatziki, falafels, grilled halloumi skewers and mini pitta breads.

From top left to clockwise - falafels, grilled helloumi skewers, mini pita breads, baba ghanoush,
Tunisian ratatouille, tzatziki, tabbouleh and hummus.

I have never tried baba ghanoush.... having tried off my plate, it tasted like aubergine but quite tasty. I then googled to find out what baba ghanoush is. According to Wikipedia, it is eggplant salads starter, mixed with onions, tomatoes, olive oil and various seasonings, popular in the Levant (area covering Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria) as well as in Armenia.

Baba Ghanoush with pomegranate seeds and olive oil (right)

Anyway, my Mezze offered me choices of colours and flavours. As this was meant to be a sharing platter, I could not finish all so I shared it with my husband. He is not usually keen on aubergine yet he did enjoy baba ghanoush on the plate.  He said that if I made this, he could eat aubergine.

Whist I was eating this, I also remembered about the TV programme I was watching last night, 'Rick Stein's From Venice to Istanbul'. In this programme he finally got to Istanbul and was eating Mezze with his friend which included mushed aubergine dip kind of dish, so that might have been baba ghanoush.  Maybe that's why I semi-consciously chose to have the mezze platter for lunch today at Giraffe....

My mind and head is now full of all these colourful and flavoursome dishes from Levantine region with images of wonderful food from Risk Stein's TV programme last night. Looking at our lunch picture makes me hungry now. And guess what, one of our neighbours who are Pakistani British, seems to be cooking for dinner and I can smell wonderful aroma of curry and spices ... Mmmmm. It's almost like smell-vision to me right now.  

We enjoyed our lunch today and we would definitely go back to this restaurant again. I think, next time I would like to try Miso & Lime Grilled Salmon with wasabi rice, teriyaki greens and fresh lime with sesame crunch, or Tofu & Squash Laksa - fragrant spiced coconut broth with snap peas, broccoli, red chilli & rice noodles as I like tofu. I have seen some photo on Instagram of Thai Duck Stir Fry and it looked delicious too although I don't eat meat so I won't order this.  It also have nice cocktail menu too.

I have also done toilet check - of course it has passed - it's a new premises so everything is clean and new.  It's in upstairs, going up this step ...

It's a bit of a maze but just follow the sign and you do get there.... and don't get confused with doors to Staff Only.


Throughout the premises walls are decorated with colourful framed prints that also add to the friendly and warm atmosphere ...

That's all forks!