Fabulous lunch at 111 by Nico, West End in Glasgow

My husband, myself and my daughter Emily have just been to 111 by Nico (http://111bynico.co.uk) in West End in Glasgow for lunch today.  It was a fabulous dining experience!

Ever since I read the restaurant review by Marina O'laughlin in The Guardian's Weekend magazine, I have always wanted to go to this place and finally the time has come!

We booked our table for 12.30 in case we could not get in. It turned out that we were the first customers and we could choose any table we wanted. There was a booth next to the kitchen. It looked nice and cosy but we opted for a table by the wall as it was a lovely day and we would be sitting in a natural day light from a warm sunshine.

Cosy corner .....

We sat down and perused our menus.

Nico and his Head Chef Modou

We were then faced with a big dilemma - everything on the menu sounded so good we did not know what to choose!

Eventually we decided. Emily and I ordered Smoked Mackerel for starter and Stone Bass for main course. My husband ordered Langoustine and Squid for starter and Artichoke for main course.
We also ordered Warm Bread Loaf, Paprika Butter.

Emily and I were really excited to try their food.... and then the Warm Bread Loaf and Paprika Butter arrived.

The bread was delicious AND paprika butter was really creamy texture and flavoursome.

Whilst we were enjoying this, the staff brought us demitasse cups of mushroom veloute with rapeseed oil as amuse-bouche.

According to Wikipedia (What do we do with internet!), the word, amuse-bouche, is 'mouth amuser' in French, offering a glimpse into the chef's approach to the art of cuisine. We did not expect this at all and this was met by our absolute delight; mouth amuser indeed. I almost wanted to clap my hands with huge grin on my face. This was really delicious and we could not wait what comes next.

Our starters then arrived.

This is Emily and my Smoked Mackerel with Asparagus, Quail Egg and Radicchio.  Beautifully presented on a beautiful plate. Look at the contrast of vivid colours of purple radicchio and fresh green of asparagus. It's like spring has come!

This was a very refreshing starter. Radicchio was not bitter at all and asparagus tastes lovely green with bite. You cut into the quail egg and it was yokey inside.

My husband had Langoustine and Squid with Farfalle Pasta, Olives and Shellfish Bisque.  This was gorgeous to look at and gorgeous to taste. Shellfish Bisque came separately and the staff poured it onto the plate at the table in front of us. I love the blue plate too. It just make me want to go to The Mediterranean Sea.

When all the stuff on the plate finished, you still just can't help not finishing up the bisque too. Yes, that's why the staff brought him a spoon with the dish. It was really flavoursome.

My husband didn't want to lick the plate clean [Yes, we were in the restaurant] but it was so tasty he managed to polish the last trace of the bisque with his spoon.

Wow, everything was really delicious so far and we still have main course and dessert to go. We can't wait.....

Whilst we were waiting for our main course, other customers started to come in. Some of them ordered Smoked Ham Hough that came in a glass dome piped full of applewood smoke over the ham hough. When the staff lifted the dome, the white smoke escaped and wafted throughout the restaurant, enveloping around the diners. I bet Emily would order this next time.

Our main course arrived.

Emily and my Stone Bass with Miso, Cucumber and Horseradish Cream.  Beautifully presented again.

The staff then poured light miso flavoured broth over the dish ....

... and is ready to eat! Love the plate again.  Fish was cooked to perfection.

Of course, you finish off the broth to the last drop .... yum.

This is my husband's Artichoke with slow cooked egg, sprouting broccoli and leak. Artichoke was really tasty so was sprouting broccoli and this is a fusion of different flavours and texture. Love the plate again too.

Underneath, there was a slow cooked egg hidden....

My husband loves artichoke. He really enjoyed this dish and finished all. He said he would order this again. Look how clean the plate is!!! Even the empty plate looks really good...

We love the plates. They compliment the dishes they serve really well. Emily looked at the back of the plate and learned that they are Steelite plates (http://www.steelite.com).

We thoroughly enjoyed our courses so far. What we liked about this place is that the portion size of each course is just right. Not too little, not too much, and timing and pace between the courses are also just right. This means that we still have some room left for desserts....

My husband tried Chocolate with salted caramel, hazelnuts and rhubarb.

I tried Pear with cheesecake, lime and amaretti. This is a deconstructed cheesecake with lovely pear and tart but lovely lemony jelly.

Emily had the flaming Coffee creme brûlée. This was really tasty.

We then finished off our meals with great coffees.

Macchiato and cappuccino

We finished our coffees and asked for the bill. What's the damage? 3 course meal is £20 - for the quality, this is not bad at all.

When you visit their website, the first thing you notice on the Home page is Nico's philosophy:

"A JOURNEY OF PASSION"

"My vision is simple:

Firstly to create a unique dining experience for my guests.

The second is to give young people who've faced 

enormous challenges the opportunity to share my

passion and drive for cooking, to teach them 

my gift and philosophy and hopefully

change their life for the better.

This is my vision

This is my passion

This is our journey"

Apparently Nico has a training academy for young people to give them the opportunities to gain skills to be a top chef one day.  On the wall it says ....

However, such altruism aside, the restaurant serves fantastic food. You eat their food with eyes - colours and contrasts, and then aromas of different ingredients and then taste - flavours and textures, etc.  And some fun too .... a glass dome filled with applewood smoke and a flaming creme brûlée.
All staff were very courteous and friendly too.

111 because the restaurant is at 111 Cleveden Road ....

We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch today. We realised that we were in the restaurant for 3 hours!!!
We did not even realise that we were there that long. Such a leisurely lunch, what a fantastic dining experience.  We would definitely go back.

We went outside and walked back to our car. Emily noticed a cherry blossoms. Beautiful. What a fantastic day we had today. 

Have a nice day and that's all forks!

Excellent pizza at Paesano, Glasgow

Mmmmm Pizza ....

We have recently been to Paesano Pizza (http://paesanopizza.co.uk) for Napolitan pizza on Miller Street, Glasgow.  All I can say is, Mmmmmm Pizza....

The restaurant is quite airy, a bit canteen like feel, yet not too cold in decor, providing very relaxing atomosphre. There are bags of pizza flours stuck up against the wall toward the back of the restaurant, beyond that you see chefs making pizzas.

According to them, their wood fired pizza ovens have been built by Gianni Acunto of Naples (http://www.acunto.it/en.html), who have been making traditional ovens for four generations. Their pizza is a hybrid yeast and sourdough proofed for over 48 hours and cooked at an intense heat of 500 degrees, resulting a moist, light, soft, digestible crust which is aromatic and delicious.

They also say that their mozzarella is fresh Fior di Latte from Teano in Campania, approximately 30 km northwest from Rome. Their creamy Mozzarella di Bufala is from Mondragone in Campania, the capital of buffalo mozzarella. They use only Strianese San Marzano tomatoes from Sarno in Campania that provides stronger, sweeter and less acidic tastes. Their extra virgin olive oil is from Lanciano in Abruzzo, and they only use Caputo "00" flour from Naples. According to an internet, the flour is made with high quality and elastic gluten that provides extraordinary taste, perfect for pizza making.

Wow .... just learning where all ingredients are coming from already transport me to Naples in my head!

So we consult with the menu ... This is the pizza restaurant and, apart from some selections of nibbles on the side, pizzas are all they do.

So, what shall we try ....?

They also had specials, which sound great ....

You notice that the price is good, the most expensive is £8 and the cheapest basic one (without cheese) is £5. 

My husband ordered a pizza with capers, olives and anchovies. I ordered pizza with artichoke, mushroom and sun blush tomatoes from the special menu and Maria spicy chorizo from the special too. Can't wait for our pizzas ....

While waiting for our pizzas, we were nibbling artichokes and sun blush tomatoes. I got to tell you. These are seriously good marinated artichokes and sun blush tomatoes ... big size chunks of artichokes. I can just eat these all day with nice vino. I love artichokes. 

Before we finished off artichokes, our pizzas already arrived!

This is Maria's spicy chorizo pizza. 

This is my husband's capers, olives and anchovies pizza ...

and this is my pizza with artichokes, mushrooms and sun blush tomatoes ... this pizza is phenomenal!

On each pizza, there were lots of toppings on top and underneath melted mozzarella. Cant' believe this is only £8!!

And, unless your pizza is already spicy, you should also drizzle this chilis oils on your pizza....

After the pizza, even though I was already more than full, I just wanted to try soft ice cream cone as I had seen ones on Instagram.

My husband kept explaining, repeatedly in fact, that I need to get the cone but I kept thinking soft ice cream as I could not understand why I had to pay extra  £2 just for a[n empty] cone on top of soft ice cream, so I ordered soft ice cream.  And look what happened....  I got soft ice cream, literally, hahaha.

And it was a huge heap ... had I ordered 'the cone' as my husband kept repeatedly saying, I would have had a soft ice cream with cone and would have been .50p cheaper. What was I thinking???

The heap was too big and I am afraid that I had to give up halfway through. Thinking about it now, I want the rest of the ice cream now ....

Anyway, after that, we [especially me] behaved like a tourist, taking picture of their Paesano neon sign on the wall and also went to the toilet for toilet check. [They passed.]

It was such a great pizza experience, my husband and I have gone back again for lunch today, hahaha.

We both ordered the special pizza with artichokes, mushrooms and sun blush tomatoes again and also ordered marinated olives to nibble whilst waiting for our pizzas.  Olives were really big and meaty!

We were impressed that our pizza came fairly quickly.

 The pizza was gorgeous as last time. It was such a big pizza but I even managed to eat 2/3 of mine.

We arrive there around one pm on Sunday afternoon and the place was quiet, however by the time we were leaving the place was getting busier. I heard that people cue to get in when it is busy. I can understand that.

I checked on internet - paesano means countryman, fellow Italian or friend, usually from the same neighbourhood, city or region.  Well, you come to this pizza place to be transported to Naples in your mind and be a Paesano for a few hours whilst eating their wonderful pizza!

That's all forks!