Eating Out: The Living Room

Aug 8 2012 By Emma Smith

Living Room Image 1

I’D been to The Living Room a couple of years ago for lunch with a friend and remembered it as being a great place to eat well at a reasonable price.

So, I was looking forward to returning to the venue, which is just a short walk from Glasgow Central station, to see what had changed.

I quickly discovered that the restaurant now has an AA rosette-winning team and that the bar has won awards for their cocktails.

As I made my way through the bar into the restaurant area, I was immediately impressed by the sleek and stylish decor and the friendly staff.

We were seated in a comfy leather booth, where we soaked up the ambiance and studied the wine list.

We decided to go for the Castillo Clavijo Rioja Crianza (£22), which had come top at a wine-tasting the evening before.

For starters, I went for mussels, which were served in a white wine, cream and garlic sauce (£6.75).

My partner opted for the red-and-yellow tomato bruschetta with pesto and mozzarella (£4.50).

My mussels were tasty and the sauce was bursting with rich flavours. The warm bread which came with it was the perfect accompaniment.

At the other side of the table, the bruschetta was fresh and zesty, and got nods of approval.

With the starters out of the way, we couldn’t wait to sample the main courses – roasted red pepper and tomato risotto topped with a herb and garlic mascarpone (£9), and a trio of pork – pancetta wrapped pork fillet, crispy pork belly and Bury black pudding with sage, garlic mash and apple sauce (£13.50).

Risotto is one of my favourite dishes and this one didn’t disappoint. It was light, fluffy and full of flavour.

The pork was also a hit. There was a slight change to the dish as they had ran out of the apple sauce so the chef prepared a plum sauce, which was the perfect compliment to such a succulent dish.

Picking a dessert was tough as they all sounded delicious and were homemade.

We share a the chocolate truffle cake and dairy vanilla ice cream with crushed ‘hokey pokey’ (£4.75).

The cake was utterly mouth-watering and the ice cream was creamy and refreshing.

It was the ideal dessert to finish off what had been an evening of top dining at one of Glasgow’s most stylish restaurants.

I won’t be waiting as long before I return.