Excellent brunch at Montgomerys Cafe, West End, Glasgow

You got to try Egg Florentine for brunch at Montgomerys Cafe (9 Radnor Street, Glasgow) in West End. My husband is quite particular about coffee and even he has admitted that Montgomerys does a very good coffee. I love their Egg Florentine so much I have managed to coax my husband into going back there again two consecutive Sundays!

The cafe is very near to Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery and Radnor Street is sandwiched between Sauchiehall Street and Argyll Street. As we went there on Sunday, there is no problem to find parking spaces.

It's a lovely place. The decor itself makes you feel happy.

and when you look up, you see a colourful map of the world on the ceiling.

As soon as we were seated, the staff brought you a bottle of water, which was well cooled. 

Before we went to the cafe, I had already decided to order their Egg Florentine and a Vietnamese Coffee, however I checked the menu anyway to see what else they have to eat. Well, there are so many delicious sounding dishes on the menu it could be quite difficult to choose ...

... Yes, Portobello Burger sounds nice but so as Mushroom Salad, and Hot Smoked Salmon Salad too.

Tuna Melt also sounds good.... Haggis Melter!  That would suit Emily's husband Craig, definitely!

Well, I shall have Egg Florentine - the dish I came to the cafe for and my husband had Veg Stack when we went to the cafe for the first time.

He then ordered large cappuccino and I ordered Vietnamese Coffee. It uses a small coffee pot that looks like a hat and sits on the top of a coffee cup. Coffee and hot water slowly trickles through into the cup with condensed milk. Why condensed milk?  French colonists introduced coffee to Vietnam and in those days the French could not easily get fresh milk so they used condensed milk instead.

So I shall just wait for the black liquid trickled into the glass cup. When it's ready, I just stir up all the condensed milk to enjoy but you could leave it for the end.

And my Egg Florentine has arrived!!! Two big thick and fluffy slices of toasted brioche bread with buttered spinach atopped with two perfectly poached eggs with delicious hollandaise sauce that has some kick to it. It's just perfect!

This is my husband's Veg Stack - There is a big portobello mushroom hidden behind the stack ...

I enjoyed my Egg Florentine so much during our last visit, we both ordered this again this morning... and for me, with a cup of Vietnamese Coffee again too ...

I love it ... there are lots of spinach in between the toasted brioche and the brioche is just perfect - big chunky slices yet so fluffy and sweet and delicious.

My husband quickly checked internet to see what's in the brioche or how to bake it. He found Paul Hollywood's recipe on line and I noticed a photo of his book cover. I said, "I think I got this book at home." He said, "I am sure you do.", hinting that I shall start thinking of kneading the dough and bake a lovely brioche loaf. Nice try, but I do have a bread maker and I am sure I have seen the setting for brioche in its recipe book. I may try it....

Anyway, after our first visit to this cafe, we went to Tantrum Doughnuts shop nearby and bought a box of 10 doughnuts, which I will promise that I talk about in my blog another time but soon.

View from downstairs ....

Today, I said to my husband that I want to 'cake away' desserts instead of going for doughnuts as I can see delectable looking cakes are beckoning me ...

So, we then walked over to the counter and see what we can try ....

We got to try those big strawberry tarts ....

and Salted caramel tart with pistachios ....

There are just too many to choose from ....

My husband want to try Mango and Raspberry Delice ...

So these are our desserts at home ....

I have just had the strawberry tart and it was yummy. There are lots of cream in the tart, glazed all over with sweet and sticky strawberry sauce, AND, I found a huge whole strawberry right in the centre hidden amongst the cream. What a lovely surprise. 

I can't get enough of their Egg Florentine. I want to eat it again... 

It's definitely a trip worthwhile for brunch. Staff are very attentive and service is very quick. All the dishes they are carrying to tables look all fantastic. We need to go back again .... yummy ....

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!