A GLASGOW taxi driver remarked the other day on how the city-centre streets had changed over the past few years.
"There's no shops or pubs. It's wall-to-wall restaurants, one after the other," he said. "It makes you wonder if people have nothing else to do but eat."
What triggered his lament was the news that yet another London-based burger chain, Byron, is opening its first Scottish outlet in the city centre. It's true that Glasgow is awash with eateries, and especially burger joints. Byron is just a few steps away from the city's original artisan burger outfit, Burger Meats Bun, launched in 2013 by local boys Ben Dantzic and James Forrest, formerly of the Michelin-starred Peat Inn in Fife. They've been joined by Bread Meats Bread, another upscale artisan burger restaurant; Meat Bar, Meat Hammer and Jacker de Viande, to name a few, are also among the early pioneers of what started out as a thrilling gourmet eating trend led by hip young foodie Glaswegians who ensured their meat - rare beef skirt, pulled pork, minced lamb - was top quality, sourced locally and prepared from scratch on the premises.
They're obviously popular, especially among the younger demographic, which is no doubt why the city has so swiftly agreed to host so many large London and American burger chains quicker than you can say "haud the triple-fried chips but pile on the mac 'n' cheese please". The Handmade Burger Co, Five Guys and Gourmet Burger Kitchen are so close to each other they've already been dubbed the Burger Quarter. No wonder Byron is so keen to get in on the act: its spokesman has said it can't wait to be part of Glasgow's "brilliant" burger scene; spotting a business opportunity, they are simply going where the biggest audience is.
And so, with the single flip of a barbecue tong, Glasgow's reputation as the go-to city for authentic Italian food has been consigned to the scrap heap. I can't help wondering how long it will be before the big Italian chains like Prezzo or Jamie's, which also leapt on the bandwagon built by local families, pull out of town; Pesto, the Manchester-based Italian restaurant chain with grand plans to expand, has already ceded its sole Scottish site in Glasgow to Five Guys.
I've been thinking about this and - health concerns of eating too much meat, cheese, bacon, chips and bread, and social concerns of having such a culinary monoculture nothwithstanding - reckon it's not all bad news. Even if young people are choosing burgers over fish and chips, and washing it down with a craft beer instead of a lemonade, at least they're not hitting the pub all night. And since burger bars are open late, their relatively sober presence means the streets are lively and less scary at night - while the few remaining shops are shut up and dark.
There's also the issue of using local ingredients and preparing burger meals from scratch, which at the minute is the hotly-contested USP between them all. There will always be the consumer who doesn't give a damn about that and just wants a fast-food quick fix. Whether the big burger chains can or will keep their commitment to this remains to be seen.
As we're already seeing with some Italian restaurant chains, there's absolutely no guarantee that the burger trend will last - even if it's yet to peak in Glasgow as it already has in New York. As soon as the next big thing comes along, the big boys will be the first to cut ties and move on.
The independent artisan outfits, on the other hand, no doubt hope to set themselves apart by sticking to their gourmet credentials and building a fan base of burger aficionados. They do this by showcasing the culinary talent that is burgeoning in Scotland with tie-ins with local food producers, distillers and brewers, and bringing in guest chefs. This encourages people to stay for longer than it would take to snarf down a Big Mac or a Whopper.
Burger Meats Bun, for example, has a Meat Up night that has already seen Graeme Cheevers of the Michelin-starred Martin Wishart at Loch Lomond do a pop-up menu of chicken liver hot dog with mushroom jelly and rye crisp; pork bun with sage salted chips, sauerkraut and bacon crumble and a deconstructed granny's apple pie. My point is, these evenings are sell-outs among a clientele that also relishes seasonal specials using meats and cuts of meat not often seen in your typical burger joint - venison, spring lamb and bavette and short rib burger topped with Blue Murder cheese, pickled pear, endive compote and smoked walnut mayo.
I like to think that by bridging the gap between fine-dining and fast food, the artisan burger boys are grooming a whole new generation of future foodies who may be too skint or too scared to cross the threshold of a Michelin-starred establishment.
Fish supper with smoked salt and dirty vinegar, anyone?
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