Ian Brown Food & Drink 55 Eastwoodmains Road,
Giffnock, Glasgow 0141 638 8422

WE blow in with the November winds to be met by a waitress’s raised eyebrow and a cool nod towards a table set snug below a window pane bearing a frosted relief of the very chef himself.

Is it really almost five years since I was last here? It seems warmer than I remember. I had squat lobster back then. And praised the Browns for attaining the holy grail of restaurant success - a husband and wife team that hadn’t actually mollicated each other. Or have they? No sign of Mr Brown’s trademark chef’s toque tonight.

Looking beyond the kitchen hatch there are only two tiny toques, black kitchen caps really, a-bobbin on the noggins of two young chefs.

No sign of Mrs Brown either. Not much sign on the menu’s main courses of the fine dining that burst onto Glasgow’s south side years ago, though surely this amount of time in suburbia would wear more than the rough edges off anyone’s ambition?

We Johnstones - the first fake name I could think of when booking - look at the menu and then look back at each other. Do the a la carte mains seem just a tad country club? Steak, sea bass, more steak, chicken, rack of lamb, salmon and flying a lone unconventional flag, pigeon breast.

There’s a fixed price menu at £13 for two courses and £16 for three. But what do we get for that? Well, hang on…only a set girolle and truffle custard on toasted brioche. We’ll certainly try that. Oh, no we won’t. Sold out, a young waiter tells us. To be replaced with, wait for it, gnocchi and tomato sauce. Ha, ha, that gets the award for the most unlikely menu substitution of the year.

We pass on the gnocchi but order what else is available and settle down to see what turns up amidst custard-coloured walls and orange candlelight, beautifully polished and sealed wooden tables and lots of hubba-hubba chat from the families around us.

An amuse bouche of thyme and butternut squash strolls up. Aren’t they always butternut squash these days? It’s mercifully free of dreary squash flavours and packed with chicken stock and thyme.

Next, a basket of freshly warmed bread, still slightly gooey in the middle, comes along, to be dipped in rapeseed oil and balsamic as we wait.

We know what’s still to come. The last of the specials. Pickled herring - yes, I’m serious - and beef soup. Hmmm.

But the herring when it swaggers over is nothing like what’s expected, being cured in beetroot, draped with an apple and red cabbage slaw and stacked and tweaked and presented well…deliciously. Fine diningly, even. Crikey.

The beef soup is, I assume, in fact it has to be, made from the juices of the roasts being served at other tables, and is dark and deep and even comes with its own slices of sweetly flavoured meat.

And…I forgot, I ordered the only thing on the a la carte that jumped out. A succulent braised pigs cheek on a white pudding with port jus. Good. Scottishy. Kind of Micheliny.

Frankly? We’re on mains now and the fine spaghetti of vegetables in ginger sauce could be a dish on its own, but the pork belly and paprika potatoes are crisp.

A freshly-made chestnut bridie with triple-cooked chips is a bit bafflingly, agricultural amidst this on and off fine dining, but it’s all eaten.

Mrs Johnstone, who makes a mean chip herself given some Golden Wonders, rightly points out that whatever Heston B claims, twice fried is usually enough.

As we’re fighting over a great orange and Crabbies green ginger creme brulee, Mrs Brown herself walks in the front door. We met once, briefly, at a pop up restaurant, so she double-takes and comes over. Mr Brown has man flu, apparently, the staff have been on the phone because they’re mobbed, she’s come down on this Sunday night to lend a hand. Hard, really, not to like this sort of place.

 

Menu: All the interesting food action seems to be taking place on the specials menu while the a la carte has gone a bit south side Glasgow. Jumps from fine dining to homely. 4/5

Atmosphere: Classy warm room with twinkling candles and a bustling kitchen visible through the hatch. Can be a bit noisy but it’s a neighbourhood success. 4/5

Service: Mrs Brown does the front of house in a chatty way while Mr Brown does the kitchen. It works. 5/5

Price: The Sunday specials were £13 for two courses and £16 for three and everything seemed to have been from scratch in that kitchen. Bistro-style bargain. 5/5

Food: Half fine dining, half homely food is an unusual combination, but everything seems to have been made with care, skill and from scratch. That’s what really counts. 7/10

Total 25/30