Breakfast at Tibo, Glasgow

It's Sunday today. Instead of having a breakfast at home, we decided to go out for late breakfast so we have just been to Cafe Tibo (http://cafetibo.com) in Dennistoun, Glasgow. This is the place we had always wanted to try every time we parked our car near by to go to Coia's Cafe for their seafood linguine.

We stepped inside - it's a very relaxing atomosphere with displays of paintings and photographs on walls. I later learned from their website that they help promote artworks by local artists through regular displays within the restaurant.

We consulted their menu .... they have good selections for all day breakfast serving until 5pm. I was contemplating having Eggs Florentine but both my husband and I decided to have their Full Veggie Breakfast.

I also notice they have today's specials on the blackboard. Mediterranean vegetable and rice soup ... that sounds nice. Fillet of Seabass with seared scallops, Thai stir-fry and pea puree. That sounds nice too. I take a mental note that I shall come back and try their specials ....

We ordered breakfast tea to go with our fry-ups.

It was a good brew .... We were having a nice cuppa, looking at some paintings on the walls....

And before we know, our veggie breakfast arrived!

Cafe Tibo's veggie breakfast consists of veggie sausages, veggie haggis, baked beans, mushrooms, roast tomato, fried egg, potato scone and toast on a good sized plate.  It's not bad for £7.95.

We enjoyed our breakfast and nicely brewed pot of tea.

As we were eating our breakfast, we notice others were having mac'n cheese or Egg Benedict. Yes, we could come back for lunch, cakes and coffee in the afternoon or even dinner to try other food on the menu. This place always looks nice outside in the evening - I bet it would be just as lovely inside as outside in the evening with soft and warm lighting and their decors.

We arrived just after 12. The restaurant was quiet and we were served fairly quickly. Staff who was serving us was very friendly and welcoming. I would definitely go back and when I do, I would like to try their seafood curry or macaroni cheese from their main menu.

Cafe Tibo is on Duke Street, east end of Glasgow and just next block from Coia's Cafe, Italian restaurant.

That's all forks.

Riverhill, Glasgow

Riverhill Restaurant and Bar (http://www.riverhillcafe.com/west-nile.htm) is on West Nile Street, more or less across the road from Las Iguanas. Apparently there is also their coffee bar at 24 Gordon Street which is not that far from it.

It's a great place for brunch, but they also have very good breakfast menu, lunch menu and dinner menu too. I went there with my daughters for lunch when we were in Glasgow for Christmas shopping. We did not book a table but as we got there just around noon, we managed to get ourselves seats. It's not a big place so it'd be probably better if you book in advance. Alternative you can sit at the long counter table.

Wall decor behind us ....

We consulted the lunch menu. It has lots of tasty and interesting sounding things on the menu. For starters, there are Grilled octopus, chorizo, smoked butter, burst cherry tomatoes and almonds; Navajo fry bread, cheese and chilli oil; Cauliflower skordalia, charred cauliflower, lavish and toasted pumpkin seeds or Peanut-crusted mahi mahi, sweet potato pickle and raita. Skordalia is a Greek style dip.

For main course, you could have Goat cheese and roast pumpkin pierogies, spiced pecan, sour cream and crispy sage; Today's curry; Wild boar gnocchi, tomato ragu, mushroom pesto and crispy skin; Fritto Misto, mustard sauce, bitter leaves and soused shallots; Cobb salad - grilled chicken, egg, onions, tomatoes, romaine, black beans, bacon with a red onion dressing or Lentils, radicchio, cavil nero, feta, walnuts and honey. Pierogi are Easter European style filled dumplings.

You see where I am going... It's not an ordinary cafe restaurant. Menu has some global twists, almost making you feel as if you are travelling without leaving anywhere. And I have only just read you their lunch menu and not got even on to Dinner menu yet. Just reading their menus makes me smile and gets me thrilled - I want to try every single item on them from A to Z, top to bottom, left to right, except I don't eat meat so I need to exclude them. If you eat meat, there would be more food travelling you could do at this place! And if you think their food menu sounds good, wait to see their classic cocktail menu with difference (http://www.riverhillcafe.com/menus/Riverhill%20WNS%20Bar%20Menu.pdf). It's not a big list but their cocktails sound really good. I want to try their Riverhill Bellini, which they claim they try to make as close as possible to the colour and flavour of the original Bellini created at Harry's Bar in Venice.

Anyway, despite all these, we decided to try their casual/quick lunch menu.

Emily had Katsu curry chicken - crunchy breaded chicken strips, pickled cabbage, katsu curry aioli, toasted baguette.  It was a good sized baguette filled with lots of chunky breaded chickens!

I had Crayfish, hot smoked salmon, caper mayo, lemon, rocket and toasted wholemeal bap. The bap was huge, and when you lifted the top half, you see it was packed and piled up with crayfish and hot smoked salmon!

Maria had Green gammon croque monsieur - boiled green gammon, mustard sauce on toasted sourdough. You should see the size of it - like someone's foot.

Well, well, well .... the generous volume of food and quality of ingredients are fantastic. You may pay extra but they are not your ordinary coffee shop sandwich or baguette.

Whilst we were tacking into these, we notice that a couple next to us were having huge plateful of full Scottish breakfast. You can also get vegetarian one if you like that comes with helium, spinach, falafal, masala beans, tomato, mushroom, toast and tattie scone.

You can also get skillet eggs, such as Shashouka (Tunisian style eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, chilli peppers, and onion spiced with cumin), Huevos Rancheros (Mexican style spicy eggs) or Jamon Manchego (Spanish ham and cheese). They had a vegetarian skillet eggs on their special menu that day and I am regretting not to try it to this day.

We then had coffee to finish our meal before we ventured out for further Christmas shopping.

You would probably easily pass by this place without noticing. Step inside and you find a small but cosy cafe restaurant that offers amazing selections and qualify of food. 

Looking at these photos and their menu make me feel hungry as well as wanting to go back there to try something different, whether for breakfast, brunch or dinner and you can travel around the world with them without leaving Glasgow. 

That's all forks!

Afternoon Tea at MacDonald Inchyra Hotel, Falkirk, Scotland

We have just come back from a lovely Afternoon Tea at MacDonald Inchyra Hotel (http://www.macdonaldhotels.co.uk) in Falkirk, Scotland.

It was not a nice day, a little bit wet and grey at around 3 degree outside however considering that it is approaching mid January we should not complain about the weather.

I have been to this place a long long time ago but they must have done refurbishment, I thought the reception was quite welcoming and cosy with the decor being almost like someone's living room rather than cold, impersonal and business like.

We are a party of four - my mother-in-law Mary, my younger daughter Maria, my husband and me. Our table, that could seat 6 people, was already set for four of us so there is some extra room on the table, which was good.

As soon as we were seated, Mary spotted brown sugar cubes and popped one into her mouth like a candy.  There is also a big jug of cold water with ice cubes and a slice of lemon on our table, which I thought was a very nice gesture. It was also nice to get proper cloth serviettes instead of paper napkins.

Once someone came to take our orders for tea, our Afternoon Tea stand arrived in good time.

I phoned in advance that half of us would like vegetarian option. When the stand came to our table, we thought half of sandwiches on the bottom layer was vegetarian; it turned out that we got a separate plate for vegetarian options, along with another plate of cakes!!

Wow, what a spread!

Selections of sandwiches for standard one are smoked salmon, egg mayonnaise, ham, and cheese with pickles, along with mini canapés with brie cheese and caramelised onion chutney and sausage rolls. 

For vegetarian option, we got selections of egg mayo, cheese with pickles in white, brown and poppy seeds (?) breads as well as canapés of brie cheese with caramelised onion chutney and also smoked haddock (don't know why smoked haddock for vegetarian option but we are happy with this as we do eat fish; we just order vegetarian as it would be easier than explaining that we don't eat meat but we eat fish and seafood).

There were 8 scones - 4 plain ones and 4 with currants (or sultina?) which came with raspberry jam and cream.

Cakes were also delicious - lovely soft sponges including chocolate orange, fruit cake and ginger ones as well as mini tartlet with custard cream filling with strawberries. There were also boozy cherries too. 

This was actually itson voucher deal and we did not expect this much selections of sandwiches and cakes as well as generous portions. We got two teapots which they happily replenished for us right away when we asked and it was really a good brew. 

I saw other people having afternoon tea and they all seemed enjoying themselves too. The Bar/Restaurant area is very nice and relaxing with soft lighting. The place was busy enough but not too busy, staff let us take our time to enjoy our afternoon tea in a relaxing atomosphre and we never felt being rushed. 

I then notice there were few people coming into the bar in their fluffy white robes and slippers ordering drinks. The Hotel has spa facility and their Luxury Afternoon Tea Spa Day package includes fluffy robes, slippers and towels, 1 x 60 minute treatment such as stress-away muscle massage or hot stone full massage, use of spa facilities, afternoon tea and glass of fizz. Wow, that sounds really relaxing already. Just think -  having a lovely hot stone full body massage and then sauntering into the bar in a fluffy comfy robe and slippers for a glass of bubbly and later on, have a relaxing and lovely afternoon tea. It sounds like a lovely way to spend your weekend!

There were so much food and we could not finish all. We asked if we could take away cakes, which was no problem for them to arrange. 

We really enjoyed our Afternoon Tea experience at Macdonald Inchyra Hotel.  The hotel is located in Grangemouth area, which is primarily known for the large petrochemical industry including oil refinery. It's not a sort of place you think of coming unless you got business here, that being said, it is central to Stirling, Glasgow and Edinburgh to visit as tourists; it is also easy access to the Kelpies, the largest equine sculptures of 30 meters high. And from our house, it is probably around 30 minutes drive. You never know. We may come back to this hotel again for spa break with afternoon tea....

We have had a lovely afternoon tea today and it was a great way to start our weekend ....

That's all forks!

Whisky tasting at Glengoyne Distillery, near Killearn, Scotland

We have recently visited Glengoyne Whisky Distillery (http://www.glengoyne.com), 100% Scottish family-owened, for a whisky tasting tour. It's located near Killearn, which is only less than 30minutes from where we live yet we never thought of visiting there before. My husband is a sort of connoisseur when it comes to whisky and his favourite is Highland Park however Kirkwall, Orkney where its distillery is located is too far away to visit for a whisky tasting, I thought visit to Glengoyne could be an interesting idea for his birthday present in December instead.

It was near Hogmanay and we thought the place would be very quiet but it was still receiving steady flow of visitors whilst we were there. It was quite a fine day to visit, albeit being cloudy, but without snow or rain with temperature being around 5 or 6 degree. Considering it was the end of December, it was a perfect day to visit this place.

Apparently the founder of the today's Glengoyne Distillery began distilling illegally in 1820, then acquired the licence to distill at Glenguin of Burnfoot in 1833. The name then changed to Glengoyne in 1907.

We arrived by a taxi and Emily also kindly offered to pick us up afterwards so I thought I would also try a dram or two and perhaps I could appreciate the taste of whisky better after the tasting tour.
By the way, 'dram' is a Scottish word that came from Scottish Gaelic meaning simply 'drink' in English and is equivalent to 1/13 of a pint which is 43ml in measure.

We walked through the gate, passing by No.1 Warehouse to get to the reception in the back to start our tour.

We noticed some stacks of casks displayed with people's name plates. We later learned that these are the names of people who own/owned casks with Glengoyne Whisky in them, which no longer happens.

Tour started in a lovely lounge area with welcoming dram of Glengoyne 12 year old, followed by a introductory video about the distillery.

The tasting notes for 12 year old says - scents of lemon zest, coconut, honey and dried oak with tastes of toffee apples, ginger, orange and shortbread with finish of a hint of sherry, soft oak and cinnamon spice. Did I get any of these .... no... perhaps a bit of honey and oak maybe ....

We then went outside to the veranda where we could see the small distillery loch in the back. In older days, they used to use the water from this loch but now the water for making whisky comes from a much bigger reservoir behind the hill. They said that they still use the water from this distillery loch for cooling process during the distilling spirits.

Their website also informs me that  a distillery manager named Cochran Cartwright drowns in this loch in 1899 - allegedly after one too many drams. Some says that Cochrain's ghost still haunts the grounds!

Unfortunately we are not allowed to take photographs from this point so I can only give you a quick summary of what involves in whisky distillation process. Main ingredients are barley, water and yeast. Malted barley (for the starch contained in the barley in sugar that will change into sprit in later process) is dried and grinded into coarse flour (called grist), which is mixed with hot water in the mash tun for brewing process. This process will change the starch in fermenting sugars and this sugared juice is called wort. Yeast is added to start the fermentation process, producing alcohol and carbon dioxide. At the end of this process, it is like a beer with approxiately 8% alcohol. Next process is the distillation to separate alcohol from water using copper pot stills which look like this ....  

Souvenir pot still, anyone?

Scotch whisky is double distilled (except some distilleries such as Auchentoshan who does three times like Irish whiskey).

There were no fermentation of distilling going on due to Christmas holiday when we were there however it was still interesting to see all these facilities.

Spirits during the second distillation, between 63 and 72% of alcohol will be casked. We were then shown to No. 1 Warehouse, which used to be the old barley kiln (see below with pagoda roof) in olden days.

Inside there are displays of varieties of casks and how those would affect the colour of the spirits during ageing process.

At Glengoyne Distillery they use oak from the forests of northern Spain, which is dried naturally by sun and air for three years. Once ready, each cask is hand-built to fill with sherry in Jerez, leaving to absorb its rich colour and flavouring for up to three years before it becomes ready to be emptied and delivered to the distillery to age their whisky over the next 10 to 18 years, thus taking the rich gold, amber and copper tones naturally from the wood. Wow, I sound like doing a sales pitch! 

There are about 100 active distilleries in Scotland. To be able to claim Scotch Whisky legally, whisky must be matured in oak casks for minimum three years. Oak cask is not airtight, allowing its surrounding air within the warehouse entering the cask but also lets evaporate the whisky it contains. Apparently between 1 to 2 % a year evaporates which is called 'the angels share'.

We were then shown to a private room to taste two award winning whiskies - 18 year old and 21 year old.

As we were the only one who opted for Gold Medal Parade tour, we had the guide and the room all to ourselves for this tasting.

First we tried Glengoyne 18 year old which won San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2014 and The Spirit Business Award 2014. The colour is medium gold. The tasting notes says that the nose has  'awash with red apple and ripe melon, heavenly and well rounded, drifting into hot porridge topped with brown sugar.' The taste is 'full bodied, round and rich, first macerated fruits, marzipan and walnuts; then warm spices, dry cocoa and lingering Seville marmalade' with 'long, warm and dry' finish. Wow, sounds wonderful, alas, I did not get any of these whilst my husband was throughly enjoying his dram, appreciating the aroma, taste and its finish in his mouth. I had another sip but I still did not get it so I gave the dram to my husband who appreciated well.

The next one is Glengoyne 21 year old which also won double gold San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2014. The tasting notes says, appearance is 'deep copper, meandering legs', nose has 'red apples, spicy strudel, toffee, sherry and dried fruits, Christmas cake in a glass' and its taste being 'lots of sherry, honey, oak with a developing aromatic sensation, ending with a heavenly cinnamon nip' with 'long, sherry, spicy, warm and dry' finish. This was really a special whisky, smelt wonderful. Spicy strudel? If you say so .... yet I still didn't get it. I don't think I have a nose for whisky at all. So I gave the dram to my husband who could appreciate much much more.

Cask strength - the far right bottle

We were then taken to the shop to try the last dram of the whisky tasting tour - Cask strength (58.7%) whisky. It is described as 'digestive biscuits, ripe bananas and a hint of pepper. The tasting notes says the appearance is amber gold, the nose has 'ripe banana, warm baked custard, peppered strawberries, digestive biscuits, soft oak and a short sherbet tingle' with tastes of 'thick resehip syrup, Demerara sugar developing into a spicy, gooseberry dryness, wonderful balance and splash of water brings intensified syrup and green fruits' with 'very long' finish. I sipped a little and gave the rest to my husband who appreciate intricacies of wonderful world of whiskies.

The only meaningful thing I got from the whole whisky tasting was that when you add a touch of water into a glass, it transpires the taste of whisky into a different level in flavours without diluting it. Such a clever drink indeed. I wish I could understand whisky as it would be so much fun and interesting if I can try whiskies from different regions within Scotland to really appreciate them.

According to The Scotch Malt Whisky Guide (http://www.scotchmaltwhisky.co.uk), each region produces distinct character of malt whiskies.

- Lowland Malt: light in colour with dry finish with certain sweet fruitiness to the flavour, and excellent as aperitif, e.g. Auchentoshan.
- Highland Malt: slight whiff of smokiness with a sweet start and dryish finish with a trace of saltiness, e.g Glenmorangie or Glengoyne.
- Islands Malt: slightly more peaty but its neatness is generally softer and sweeter than Islay ones with coastal feel to them, e.g. Highland Park.
- Islay Malt: where Islay surface is very flat, consisting largely of peat that has a huge influence on the flavour of the whiskies - very smoky and medicinal, salty and sea weedy with a dry finish - very acquired taste, e.g. Laphroaig
- Cambeltown Malt: full bodied with depth and slightly salty finish with hint of peat, e.g. Springbank.
- Speyside Malt: sweetest of all Scotch Whisky with either heavy and rich sherry flavour or complex light floral flavour, e.g. Glenfiddich.

Imagine you can get to try all these different whiskies in each region, how great that would be. I may need to go to some kind of lesson one day to understand Scotch Whisky properly, starting from Lowland Malt and when we retire, we could tour around Scotland to visit all these regions and see if I could get any of those tastes and flavours like toffee, Christmas pudding or oranges.

Anyway, the tour ended. Our tour guide, Gareth, was a wonderful and friendly guide and we enjoyed the tour very much. I did not had much of drams as I gave most of mine to my husband who actually appreciated and enjoyed much better whilst I opted to be satisfied with the angels share!

Anyway, whilst waiting for Emily to pick us up, we checked some merchandise at the shop.

35 year old Glengoyne Whisky - £2,850 a bottle!!!

I could neither afford nor justify to splash almost £3,000 for a bottle of whisky so I settled with buying two whisky glasses (Tourist!) and a box of whisky flavoured fudge.

Once Emily came, we all went to the back of the Distillery to admire the surroundings. It's not a big ground but lovely and peaceful.

 

Looking at these surroundings you could almost imagine people who engaged in illicit distillation in almost 200 years ago, away from the eyes of Customs and Excise.  

The word Whisky comes from Gaelic word uiscel using meaning water whilst distilled alcohol was known in Latin as aqua vitae 'water of life'. 

Indeed, Scotland is blessed with wonderful quality of water and well suited to produce whisky. It is equally interesting that adding a touch of water into a dram could elevate the taste and flavour of whisky into a different level. 'Water of Life' indeed!

Slainte mhath (good health in Scottish Gaelic)!

That's all forks.