Baked – Pizza al taglio

Baked is a pizza place that opened recently, less than one year ago. It’s a unique place in Glasgow since it’s the only one that makes “pizza al taglio alla romana” litteraly roman-style pizza sold by the slice. This pizza is different from the usual round pizza with crust, it’s way thicker and much easier to digest due to the really long proofing (Baked does it for 72 hours).

3 baked pizzas — From left to right: Salami and mozzarella, potatoes and rosemary and focaccia with mortadella, cherry tomatoes and rocket.

The pizza joint is situated in the East End, in Denniston. The location is not the best since is not a popular place in Glasgow, but the food is so good that customers are willing to get there even from Partick. This kind of pizza is crunchier than the normal pizza you can get from Paesano, for example. The pizzaiolo and owner of Baked is creative and open-minded. This can be seen on the pizza toppings that he puts together, my personal favourite is: grapes, goat cheese, sausage and rocket. You can find plenty of vegeterian and vegan options and also a Nutella pizza.

Close up pizzas baked — Left aubergine, tomato, mozzarella and basil. Right fennel and porchetta.

Besides the pizza there are Suppli and Cannoli which are both amazing. Everything is homemade with passion and sold at a resonable price. Some ingredients are imported from italy like the Porchetta, but when it’s possible they try to get local stuff. They also serve a terrific coffee, espresso of course.

As you read I’m really happy about this place and you’re right! When I’m there I feel like I’m really at home. The atmosphere and the quality of food of Baked is the most authentic Italian experience you can get in Glasgow in my opinion.

Finsbay Flatiron

Finsbay Flatiron is a steak house and restaurant, situated in Woodlands road. The decor and design of the restaurant is modern and sophisticated.

One of the owners of the restaurant is the famous Scottish rugby player Stuart Hogg, which helped the brand growing fast through social media platforms. The menu is really simple: steak, sauces, sides, one special and a small selection of wines and beers. The price of the 8oz steak is very resonable, £8 during the week and £10 on weekends.

The meat and the wine were okay but the sides were not thrilling. The chips were a bit soft and the Mac&Cheese was too buttery. Overall they were not very tasty.

On the bright side the atmosphere is cozy. I think that, thanks to the projector setting, it’s the perfect place to watch sports, for example the Six Nations games.

FF West End also provides a fun activity wich is called pay it forward, an interesting alternative to vouchers: You can pay something, for example a drink, to your friends in advance. You can use it also as a way to set up friends on a date; they will be called by the restaurant and let know of their booking.

In conclusion this restaurant is a good place for a date with its fresh look and modest prices, even though the food itself is not its strenght.

Five guys

I’m not a fast food kind of guy but sometimes I find myself in them for ease/convenience. I found out that Mcdonalds and Burgerkings hamburgers are better in Italy and fries are way better here, don’t ask me why. Today I went to Five Guys, there is a big hype around this palce and I wanted to investigate.

The place decor it’s kinda like an american 60s diner, with white and red tiles on the walls. The menu is really simple and versatile at the same time: There are hamburgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, fries and milkshakes.

fiveguyscheeseburgers — two “regular” cheeseburgers with one big portion of fries

Having lived in US for a while I know what a good hamburger tastes like.
After tasting the hamburger in depth.
I have to admit that this is the best I’ve had in a while. Second only to IN-N-OUT which is only availble in North America unfortunaly. The normal hamburger in Five Guys is considered a double in other places while small would be considered regular. The prices are not so high compared to other similar fast foods, for example BRGR which is not even close to the quality of Five Guys and it’s only 95p cheaper.

The main difference between Five Guys and any other fast food is the fries. The texture, taste and quantity is better than any other place in Glasgow for sure. If you know a fast food that makes better hamburgers or fries than Five Guys I’m happy to review it!

Homemade Gnocchi

Today me and my flatmate David are going to make homemade Gnocchi it’s much easier than you think. In the end Italian recipes are all very simple.

First thing to do is peeling the potatoes, be careful not to cut yourself!

cutting potatoes — David peeling the potatoes

we are going to make enough for two portions, five small potatoes are enough.

After we have peeled them we are going to boil them until they become soft, enough to put a fork through it. While they boil it’s really important you put some nice funky music to make the potatoes relax in the hot water. This is the perfect song!

Then we are going to leave them dry, the water they absorbed while they were boiling has to evaporate. When they have cooled down we are going to squash them and add to the flour.

Pouring squashed potatoes — David pouring squashed potatoes

Time to knead!

Now let’s make the gnocchi balls: roll the dough into a sausage/snake shape then cut it in smaller pieces, now with your hands make the balls!

photo_2019-02-27_00-38-19 — Making the gnocchi balls

Meanwhile boil some water and then salt it, a fistfull of salt for a medium pot. Now gently pour the gnocchi into the water and wait until they float. When they are all on the surface of the water it means they are ready. Finally take them with a spoon and put them in a pan with your favourite sauce.

photo_2019-02-27_00-38-32 — two portions of gnocchi with different sauces

Buon appetito!

This is a video recipe of gnocchi, they are slightly different from the one we made since they have eggs as well!

Ramen Dayo

In a cold night of January me and my girlfriend felt like eating ramen noodles. We asked my flat mate which is an Asian food lover and he reccomended Ramen Dayo. He told us that they make the best ramen in town. I felt obliged to find out if he was right.

The restaurant is well decorated with a really nice atmosphere also thanks to the lighting, but I don’t like how they used the space: they could have easily make space for four more tables. The place was not busy at all, but many people came in the restaurant and then left soon after that. All the tables are for four or more people and customers don’t want to sit near strangers therefore there is a lot of wasted space.

On the other hand, the food was lovely. We ordered edameme, chicken dumplings and two bowls of ramen “Tonkotsu” wich is pork broth with springy ramen noodles, pork belly, marinated mushrooms nori seaweeds and spring onions. The broth was really tasty and the pork belly nice and tender, the only downside were the onions which weren’t very pleasant. The price was fair compared to the quality of food. We had a satisfying meal in a cosy place.

Ramen Dayo won the “Certificate of Excellence2018” from tripadvisor and I think it was deserved. From now on I will always follow my flatmate reccomendations!

Falafel to go

When you are walking on busy Sauchiehall Street and feel like having a snack take a turn at Hope Street and go to Falafel to go which is a good alternative to junk food of McDonalds, KFC and BurgerKing.

This tiny place, that can fit only one person, makes an amazing falafel wrap with hummus, pickels, lettuce and chilli. Everything is homemade. They also sell homemade hummus. The price is only £2.50 for basically a whole meal

photo_2019-02-26_19-27-17 — Falafel to go shop front view

The opening hours are 6pm until 3am making it the best place to go for some night food. The chef/waiter/manager and only person that works at Falafel To Go it’s really nice and quick.

Due to the growing popularity of this fantastic spot the wait for a wrap has increased, unfortunately they can’t hire more staff since there wouldn’t be enough space for them. Also I’m not so sure about the hygiene of this small capacity. But everything it’s worth the beautiful taste of the vegetarian wrap which is the perfect combination of taste. At the same time soft and crunchy, warm but also cold and spicy and mild too.

In conclusion if you are coming home after some drinks in a cold night and you are hungry stop at falafel to go you won’t regret it!

Mozza vs Paesano

Only 5 years ago for an Italian, eating pizza in foreign country was a nightmare. But thanks to globalization now it’s possible to have a pizza basically the same quality of Italy with also an honest price.

Paesano is the most popular pizza place in Glasgow and I in my opinion due to its excessive popularity the quality has decreased and queue has increased. Moreover I think they don’t proof enough the dough which it makes difficult to digest.

photo_2019-02-27_10-17-56 — Mozza pizza with ricotta, onions, nduja, pancetta and basil.

Now there is a new king of pizza in Glasgow: Mozza! The pizza restaurant in Renfield Street has 12 different pizzas with a good variety of authentic toppings. And the best thing is that any pizza is £5 before 5pm. They make the pizza well done, crunchy and with a moderate amount of tomato just as I like it! My favourite pizza is the one with nduja and pancetta. They also have a mysterious pizza which the chef decides what are you getting! For dessert they make birramisu which is a tiramisu made with beer. Also the coffees are nice and strong.

Besides the food I think that also the service is better that in Paesano where I feel too much like in a fast food. In conclusion I strongly recommend mozza which is a cheap and good pizza, perfect for students!

Viet or non viet that is the question

One of the things I find that the UK does better compared to motherland — is the abundance of restaurants from different parts of the world. Italians are so patriotic about food that they don’t consider as much food coming from different places. On the other hand British people are not so proud of their food, I would say they are rather embarrassed, therefore they are more open.

I decided to expand my horizons, I went to non viet . An authentic vietnamese restaurant. I went there with my sister and my girlfriend both Italians.

WhatsApp Image 2018-12-14 at 12.14.42 — Tofu noodles

The place wasn’t really busy even tho it was around christmas. I would say it was rather empty. There was more staff than customers. The menu is really broad compared to other modern restaurants around and there is a great vegetarian and vegan options.. The disadvantage of having a varied menu is that customesrs may take long to decide – that’s exactly what happened – even more if many of the dishes are unknown. Anyway we managed. We ordered the mixed platter to start and then we shared Tofu pho (tofu and veggies noodle soup) , Pho Xao Ga (Stir fried flat rice noodles with vegetables and chicken) and Ca Kho To (Caramelized Mekong Catfish).

The starter was impressive, it had everything “Crispy spriing roll, pork & prawn summer roll, pork wrapped in betel leaf with rice vermicelli noodle, BBQ squid with salads & fried fishcakes. ” each little dish had its own sauce and the waiter was happy to explain them one by one. Luckly we shared a platter for 2 in 3 because it was a lot.

Non Viet has 4.5/5 on tripadvisor and I think it’s deserved.

Also Yelp gives the same score to the vietnamese restaurant.