Tis the season to drink Bolli! I missed my work Christmas night out as I was, you guessed it, working! So I organised a night out with some of my Glasgow friends. Apologies for the delay in posting been a bit hectic with visiting the family and again working nights over Xmas. The majority of this group are friends of Fi and Iain’s and I kinda got in with them by attending Iain’s famous games nights. A few weeks ago a few of the ladies were round at my place and we complained that we never had the chance to wear a party dress and heels and that we needed to do something about this! What was initially a small crowd of people for dinner declined in numbers due to the normal drop outs last minute and in the end only 4 of us ended up making the rainy journey to Shandon Belles. I know it’s only been 5 seconds on here since I last posted about this place but in real life it’s been a while. This is round two!

We booked in early at 5pm but we counted ourselves lucky only booking a couple of weeks in advance that we got a table at all the last weekend before Christmas.  We had to give the table back for 7 and arrived a little late, oops. Largely due to wardrobe issues with the ladies. The waitress was a bit funny with us about the fact we had already reduced the table number once that day and when we got there we were down from 5 to 4. This was in spite of me trying to fill that space and it made me feel a little awkward. I mean it wasn’t me that they hadn’t turned up! I was there.

The table was beautifully set for Christmas and we all started with, yeah I’m predictable, Kir Royals. Again the waitress was a little funny with me when I ordered these for the table. Largely as she didn’t know what they were and I asked for them with prosecco (we were on a budget). I ended up just asking for a bottle of prosecco (£25) and 4 shots of Chambord (£18), I know it wasn’t creme de cassis so not traditional but I like both versions.

We all went for 3 courses and half a bottle of wine for £25 so we got a bottle of red and a bottle of white on top of the prosecco etc. Recipe for tiddly people!

We all tucked in to the bread for the table as we knocked back our Kir Royals as we were all starving, pulled our crackers, took some photies and waited for our starters. Iain went for the breaded fried mozzarella with aioli and mixed leaves. The rest of us had poached salmon with egg and dill mayo and smoked salmon creme fraiche. The dish was simple and fresh. The salmon with the dill, as always, went well. The salmon was possibly a little under seasoned and the egg mayo definitely was. It wasn’t particularly interesting or exciting but was nice. Iain said the mozzarella was absolutely delicious with very tasty aioli.

The mains were lovely. Iain and I had plaice. I was little nervous as it came with rocket which I normally hate as people tend to put tonnes of it with a delicate fish and all you can taste is the rocket. This was an exception, with the delicious lemon butter it was just a mild peppery addition to the beautifully cooked fish and prawns. Fi had the bream which had an oriental twist with soy and ginger and sticky rice. She said the dressing went really well with the fish and was very happy with her choice. Izi had meatloaf with garlic mash and spiced Italian sauce. She used words like yummy and that it was not overly spicy but had a nice kick.

On to puds! Everyone else went for bailey’s panacotta with minted chocolate. They all loved it. I had a small taste. It was creamy and delicious but I couldn’t really taste the baileys. I had carrot cake, that was really nice with a lovely burnt toffee sauce. But it was again not particularly exciting and I felt a little like I could have gotten as nice from Tesco finest.

I still really like this place and I think they do good food at a very good price. I think I maybe expect more as it is attached to the two fat ladies so am maybe a little over critical as it is more fine dining. So I need to remember it is not that. It’s a bistro. We had a lovely time but I didn’t enjoy the food quite much as when I came here a few weeks earlier with my parents. Possibly as they were having more covers and sittings due to the Christmas demand. My friends however absolutely loved it and were raving about the food well in to the night when we had met up with more people out drinking more cocktails in Finnieston. I still would recommend this place. It is a really good bistro.

Foodie xx

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