A new neighbourhood independent restaurant called Vera opened in Glasgow’s Southside this week, serving Mediterranean-influenced modern cooking from chef Zak Young, who has worked in two of the city’s most celebrated kitchens, Cail Bruich and Unalome.
Vera, from the Latin for ‘true’, is on Nithsdale Road near Strathbungo, and pitches itself as “a relaxed place to eat well, drink well and feel at home“.
The menu of “thoughtful and uncomplicated” food is based around high-quality ingredients that change with the seasons. The flavours will be familiar, with a sprinkling of surprise combinations – so focaccia comes with whipped tofu and XO sauce, a pork and octopus skewer with kumquat hot sauce, linguine with Arbroath smokie and horseradish, cod with fig leaf and preserved tomato, and confit new season potatoes with koji dressing.
The founding team commented: “The Southside already has an incredible independent food and drink scene, and that was a huge part of why we wanted Vera to be here.
“We didn’t want to create somewhere that people feel they have to save for a special occasion. Vera is supposed to become part of your week — somewhere you can decide at five o’clock that you fancy dinner, pop in for a glass of wine and something to eat, or end up staying all night.
“The menu will constantly evolve with the seasons. There’ll always be something new coming out of the kitchen, but the philosophy won’t change: great produce, big flavours and food that we genuinely love eating ourselves.
“Ultimately, we want people living around the Southside to feel like Vera is their restaurant.”
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