NORMALLY I go to a restaurant once, review it and never go back. When it’s been in the paper there’s no point returning because owners either ain’t too warm and welcoming or even worse, they are and think I’m looking for something for free.

So if I find somewhere I like? The window for dining there ends when the copy is submitted as that’s usually when The Herald contacts the restaurant to tell them they’ve been reviewed. And, oh, a photographer is coming.

Which kind of explains why I end up eating in the Old Fruit Shop twice in one day.

First time I’m cycling past when I spot it, get drawn in by warm bare brick, a cheery vibe, a curious menu and the fact that early afternoon on a bank holiday weekend deep in cafe-land, there are still seats available. Hurrah.

One skillet of baked eggs with Dal Tadka, red lentils, spinach, coconut milk, potatoes and crunchy little pumpkin seeds later and I’m chatting to the owner guy, looking at the evening menu (only available on a Friday and Saturday night), and booking the very last two-seater table. For tonight.

Fast forward to 7.15pm and Cal’s been roped in not only to dine with his old man but to drive me here and back again with his shiny new driving licence.

It’s 7.15pm as we roll up, Scotland are playing at Hampden tonight, and supporters are already streaming over Snuff Mill Bridge just up there, passing these big plate glass windows. There’s the lawyer Gerry Devaney, double taking, reversing and bending back for a wave.

Hi Gerry. Ah, and crikey, there are some of my neighbours squeezed into a four-seater beside the kitchen. Hi! Been here before? No. Eaten yet? No. Let’s check back in later yadayada.

And so to the evening menu and a right-away big decision. There’s a chef’s cut meat dish apparently, just one: tonight it’s steak at £25.

Or do we just graze our way through the small plates that make up the rest of this light, snacky, hip-and-happening crowd-pleaser? Crispy pork cheeks then in an apple cider batter, apple and fennel slaw too with a tangy Mojo Verde for dipping (£6.30). Think big crunchy, savoury, juicy bon-bons with a tangy kick.

There’s more tang too from a plateful of giant chippy onion rings, dusted in sea-salt, doused in malt-tasting vinegar, chives snipped over it all (£4.50). Crab arancini to follow, the rice steaming as they pull open and a wave of lemon and capers, suddenly and surprisingly, chasing down the meaty crab vibe.

We puzzle for a moment over the fried tempeh that accompanies the gado-gado (£6).

Is it meant to be crisp? Or soft? It’s a soybean loaf studded with peanuts, fried golden and best used to scoop up dollops of that very light, but spicy, peanutty thang whilst crunching our way through the finely sliced Indonesian salad.

There’s a gooey, cheesy raclette, stuffed with potatoes, salami, sticky carmelised onion and hot vinegary gherkins. This little dish is wiped clean with some bread. And now we relax into one of those hand-pulled, ugly-mugly, stretched but clearly made-in-here focaccia. A tartiflette, meaning more potato, cheese sauce, rosemary, garlic. Nuggets of bacon and chive fire it pretty deliciously into life (£5.20).

Amazingly, I say, as we look around at the post-meal debris on our frankly very tiny table, and peer sideways at the steak being eaten by the lady at the next one, I could do with a dessert. Umm. Desserts they have not yet mastered, however, as it looks like there’s only a very similar selection of bakery stuff that was on offer this afternoon.

Anyway, as Cal points out, we did also have a patatas bravas of chorizo, Manchego and aioli pretty early on in tonight’s dining experience and maybe we should let what we’ve eaten settle in. Sigh. OK, I agree.

I make a mental note to slide in just one more visit before you read this.

The Old Fruit Shop
69 Old Castle Road
Glasgow
G44 5TG
Opening hours: 8am to 5pm except Sat and Sun when open til 9pm
0141-261-8127

Menu: Crowd pleasing little dishes largely prepared with care and a bit of verve: Gado gado, Tartiflette, chippy onion rings, crispy pork cheeks. 4

Service: Hard to fault, friendly fast and as on the ball as anyone would expect from a brand new place trying to make an impact on a crowded market. 5

Price: Hmm. It’s all hand-crafted stuff so somehow crab arancini at £7.20, and Crispy Pork Cheeks at £6.30 seem fine when the onion rings are £4.50. 4

Atmosphere: Bare fired bricks, and old polished range in the middle, brass piping for the heating, it’s very small but good vibrations. 4

Food: They’ve just started doing dinners so the menu is a bit of a Cook’s Tour of what’s hot and interesting and the tartiflette, the pork cheek, and the gado gado all pushed the right buttons. 8

Total: 25/30