Our second stop on our Hogmanay tour of Scotland was Scotland’s largest city, Glasgow. Unlike Edinburgh, Glasgow is not a charming European city with castles and ancient things; rather, Glasgow is a fairly modern city with a large university and numerous factories. It struck me as a real working town, in a great way. Along those lines, Glasgow has a reputation as being gritty and, in places, somewhat dangerous, and I probably would have skipped Glasgow all together had we not (1) needed to catch the train to London from Glasgow Central and (2) our friend’s grandparents met in Glasgow before immigrating to North America and he wanted to see the city. These two points pushed me into staying two nights in Glasgow. Due to both of our evenings being public holidays (yes, January 1st and 2nd are public holidays in Scotland), I didn’t get the complete Glasgow experience, but I did take a food tour with a lovely local, ate lots of delicious food and learned a decent bit of Glasgow history. I enjoyed Glasgow quite a bit and would like to return and explore further. This post describes the food tour that we took through Glasgow – my favorite way to see a city!
At Glasgow’s Brown’s Brasserie on the food tour. I loved the little palms.
STOP ONE: VEGAN HAGGIS AT A LOCAL BREWERY
Our first stop on our Glasgow food tour was at one of Scotland’s most well-known breweries, Innis & Gunn, for a beer and, dun dun dun, Haggis! Before diving into the main event (i.e., the Haggis), Innis & Gunn is a well known Scottish Brewery that makes, most famously, a slightly sweet, velvety beer aged in Single Malt Whisky casks. And while I usually hate beer (or anything) aged in whisky barrels, I do enjoy this beer! The brand Innis & Gunn was created in Scotland way back in 2003 and its an OG craft beer. Of course, our meal began with a half-pint of Innis & Gunn’s original brew, called, appropriately, the “Original”. As expected, the Original was incredibly smooth and quite tasty (despite being aged in whisky casks)!
Innis & Gunn’s Glasgow City Centre location. It’s right near Glasgow Central.
Clearly had a big Hogmanay celebration.
Innis & Gunn’s Original.
Moving on from Innis & Gunn’s noteworthy beer, our tour guide advised that the first tasting of the tour would be … Haggis! I was not particularly excited to sample Haggis again, but this was a vegan version (i.e., no meat!), so I was game to sample it. The Vegan Haggis was served in fried ball form, paired with a homemade brown “chippy sauce”. Being honest, I much, much, much preferred the vegan version to the real Haggis that I tried back in Edinburgh. I would actually order this version again! Point one for the food tour, as I would have never ordered Vegan Haggis on my own. The Vegan Haggis paired very well with the Chippy Sauce. Definitely give this a try if you want to try Haggis but are scared…or even if you just find yourself at Innis & Gunn. Even the meat lovers on our tour praised the dish.
Vegan Haggis with a Brown Chippy Sauce.
The full sampling at Innis & Gunn.
STOP TWO: STEAK FRITES UNDER GLASGOW CENTRAL
Our second stop of the day was a restaurant called Alston Bar & Beef that is located under Glasgow’s Central Station. I thought the fact that Alston Bar & Beef is located inside a train station was a little odd (and reminiscent of See No Evil Pizza in New York!) but the food was good, as was the vibe. I totally forgot that I was under a train station! And, aside from being located under the train station, Alston Bar & Beef is famous in Glasgow for serving the absolute best Scottish beef in town, claiming to only serving the top 1% of Scottish beef!
Welcome to Alston Bar & Beef!
We began our tasting with Scotland’s most famous soda, IrnBru. IrnBru is an orange-colored soda that is referred to as Scotland’s “second beverage” (after whisky). It was created back in 1901 and is made from a secret recipe consisting of numerous ingredients. People strongly disagree over IrnBru’s tastes like, but many (or most?) Scots absolutely love it. I found it to taste slightly like an orange sherbet. Definitely try this drink when in Scotland – you can find it everywhere.
IrnBru soda.
Our IrnBru was, surprisingly, paired with Steak Frites with a pepper corn sauce in a small copper pan. As mentioned above, the beef is Scotland’s best beef, and it was incredibly tasty. I would absolutely come back to Alston Bar & Beef for more Steak Frites. The fries were equally good, especially when dipped in the peppercorn sauce. 5 stars all around!
The steak frites dish.
The full meal.
And for the non-meat eaters, Alston Bar & Beer served a sizable serving of the most delicious mac and cheese made with exclusively Scottish cheese. This was incredible. I stole several bites!
Scottish mac and cheese.
STOP THREE: CIDER & CULLEN SKINK AT A NICE RESTAURANT
Our next stop was at an upscale restaurant in the Merchant City area of Glasgow. This restaurant, called Mharsanta, was perfectly decorated for the holidays. We began our tasting with a glass of Scottish cider that was light and crisp. Our food tasting was, once again, Cullen Skink. Yes, this is the same dish that we also tried on our food tour in Edinburgh and as a reminder, its a traditional and popular Scottish soup made with fish, vegetables and potatoes. While the one in Edinburgh was more of a soup, this version was much more of a “chowder”. Think chunky soup, lots of potatoes, and not the least bit fishy. The Cullen Skink was topped with tiny specks of leek, making it taste excellent. I would 100% recommend Mharsanta to anyone traveling through Glasgow. Our tour guide told us that its her go-to restaurant when her parents are in town!
Scottish cider from Lost Orchards.
The tasty Cullen Skink at Mharsandra. See, more of a chowder than a soup.
The full meal. Very photogenic.
STOP FOUR: DELICIOUS DESSERT AND DRINKS AT A BRASSERIE
We ended our tour with dessert at the cutest restaurant almost directly across from Glasgow’s Christmas Market named Brown’s Brasserie. A UK chain, Brown’s Brasserie is a chic spot offering traditional Scottish foods and fun Instagram finds, such as a Champagne Tree. We skipped the Champagne Tree and everyone enjoyed either a Whisky or a Scottish Ale. I went with the beer (again, I very much dislike whisky, lol). We each then selected a dessert. I choose the classic Sticky Toffee Pudding, which would be my first Sticky Toffee Pudding in Scotland (I had several in Ireland and enjoyed it). This Sticky Toffee Pudding was made with bourbon vanilla ice cream, salted seed granola, and brandy snap tuile. It was warm, and really incredible, especially the ice cream.
A Scottish beer at Brown’s Brasserie.
A dram of whisky.
Scottish Sticky Toffee Pudding.
At the end of the day, this tour was super interesting and fun, and a great way to learn about Glasgow on one of its public holidays. Highly recommend!
STEAL OUR FOOD TOUR
Innis & Gunn: 22-24 W Nile St, Glasgow. Open daily 12 – 12 (10 on Sunday and Monday). Casual.
Alston Bar & Beef: Central Station, 79 Gordon St, Glasgow. Open Monday – Tuesday 4 – 11, Wednesday, Thursday & Sunday 12 – 11 and Friday and Saturday 12 – 12. Reservations recommended. Casual, but more upscale than Innis & Gunn.
Mharsanta Restaurant & Bar: 26 Bell St, Glasgow. Open daily 12 – 11, until 12 on Friday and Saturday. Reservations recommended. Casual, but more upscale than Innis & Gunn.
Browns Brasserie: 1 George Square, Glasgow. Open daily until 11. Reservations recommended. Note that this is a chain with numerous locations in the UK. Casual, but more upscale than Innis & Gunn.
EatWalkTours: This is the link to the food tour we took. Ours was the Glasgow tour at a cost of 95 British Pounds per person and included all tastings and drinks referenced in this article.