Kicking off Friday night at The Gannet, Glasgow

Ugh! It’s 3.50pm on Saturday afternoon and I’m lying wrapped up in a blanket on my sofa popping the paracetamol. Yes followers, I’m hungover. Very hungover indeed.

Why? Yes, at the age of thirty four, I really should know better. I suppose that rather than chastising myself for having had a little too much fun last night, I should acknowledge that it has been a while since I have been out until the wee small hours, and this particular blow out was in honour of Mrs Carter, Beyonce Knowles herself, who was playing at Glasgow’s SSE Hydro venue last night.

Pre-gig food: The Gannet, Glasgow

We started off the evening going for a pre-gig meal at The Gannet, one of my favourite new-ish eateries in Glasgow. I booked a table as soon as we got tickets for the concert weeks ago, knowing that the growing reputation of this place was such that a “walk in” on the night was probably too much of a risk given its popularity and proximity to the Hydro itself.

Upon arrival, we were seated through in the back restaurant area and were offered the choice of either the pre-Hydro menu or the main dinner menu to order from. Depending on your mood there is also more buzzy bar area at the front of the restaurant geared up towards drinks and smaller plates and also a mezzanine area. We both agreed that we were quite glad to be through the back this time as there was a large table of pissed women in the bar – hoho. What a snoot! Fast forward four hours!!

The Gannet prides itself in using produce sourced locally and seasonally in Scotland and the menu certainly didn’t disappoint on this front.

The pre-Hydro menu is a great deal at £15 for two courses or three for £19, however I went for the John Dory special (£17), preceded by a cold Scottish salmon, crab and fennel salad (£6.50) from the main “a la carte” dinner menu. The salmon was thickly sliced and more succulent than your typical smoked salmon slice and reminded me of sashimi in its lovely cool and fresh taste and texture. One small gripe was that I would have liked slightly more crab with the dish given it was billed as such but overall, it was already a healthy enough portion for a starter. The John Dory was perfectly cooked and arrived on an arty dollop of mash scattered with freshly made root vegetable crisps. It was seasoned with love and although many of The Gannet’s portions look on the small side when plated up, the chef somehow always manages to leave me perfectly full. My pal went for parsnip soup followed by a venison main, both of which were delicious by all accounts with the latter being the star pick. I hardly ever go for soup when eating out in the evening as I sort of feel
Its something that I could easily do at home myself, Thai Tom Yum or Ka Gai excepted. Apparently it was a hearty and tasty offering for any of you soup fans out there.

I’m sorry not to have pictures for you of the food, it was gobbled before it occurred to me to take a few snaps for you.

Wine wise, we asked for a recommendation from the friendly and knowledgable waiter. White obviously made sense with my fishy choices and because we were out for the night, my friend didn’t want to be weighed down with a heavy red sloshing around in her belly. We were super impressed when the waiter offered to bring us a sample of his recommendations before us committing to which bottle we wanted. In the end, our blind taste test landed us with a white Sicilian “Catarratto”- actually the cheapest white on the menu at £18 – oh the shame!! Impressed with how this all panned out and that they weren’t just out to be pretentious and get us on the £70 option!

I had my eye on the George Mewes cheese board for puds but decided that I just couldn’t manage-next time! We had a couple of coffees before heading on our merry way.

What happened next is all Beyonce’s fault for not coming on stage until after 10pm, bearing in mind that we arrived at Gannet at 6pm! Stowells of Chelsea by the plastic glass a plenty!

Coming very soon…..

I have decided to do a seperate post on the concert as my head is currently too sore!

For this, and the rest of my weekly Glasgow lifestyle round up, look out for my next blog post coming very very soon! Thanks to The Gannet for a lovely meal last night, I shall be back soon.

Meantime, I’m just away off to lie down in a dark room with a towel over my head, while hubby pops out to get us a Thai Siam!

Speak soon

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