Glasgow, International Restaurant Guide

This 40-year-old pioneer of modern Glasgow dining “never fails to deliver”, with its “great food selection” (including excellent breakfasts) and unique interior, including original hand-made furniture by Tim Stead. Its fish restaurant offshoot a few doors along closed down during the pandemic, but owner Seumas MacInnes saved the Gandolfi by selling his home. His sons Donald and Alasdair are part of the team, as manager and chef respectively.

Colin Clydesdale and Carol Wright’s iconic bar has been a celebrated feature of Glaswegian life for the last 28 years, spearheading a ‘world food’ take on Scottish ingredients that was ahead of its time. It never inspires quite as much interest from non-locals though, and even those who say its imaginative food is “very good” can find it a tad “pricey”. In late 2021, their refurbished cellar opened as a new events space.

Chef Nico Simeone’s “amazing-value set-meal” concept, launched in Glasgow in 2017, has now opened in Fitzrovia and Canary Wharf, offering “a six-course tasting menu for only £37” – a “clever formula” with “well thought-out feasts that entice a bubbly audience”. “The menu changes every six weeks”, and is “themed around an experience” – ‘the circus’, ‘the Amalfi coast’ and ‘the chippie’ have all featured – with the cooking winning high praise for “variety, skill and quality”.