News
Glasgow Review
Sun 1st Mar 09 - 18:56
Restaurant review: The Grill on the Corner
Published Date: 01 March 2009
By Richard Bath
THE chat in restaurant-land is that the number of casualties out there will be like a bad day on the culinary Somme. Many of the less feted proprietor-chefs in overstocked Edinburgh are looking over their shoulders. Reports are also filtering in of small-town restaurants circling the wagons to make sure they are able to see out 2009.
It was with some surprise, therefore, that when I turned up at the Grill on the Corner, in Glasgow, I found the restaurant doing a roaring trade on a Tuesday lunchtime. Sure, this is one of those places that doubles as a works canteen for Glasgow's pin stripe brigade, but with city-centre prices and barely 18 months under its belt, this is exactly the sort of place that is acting as an economic barometer throughout the county.
Maybe the brisk trade has something to do with the innovative offer of half-price lunches that was e-mailed to selected worthies earlier this month, and which plopped into my inbox just as I was making arrangements to review the place. The offer had initially run for the month of January but had been extended to take in February. Perfect timing for me in these cash-strapped days, but on reflection perhaps not the telling sign of a vibrant restaurant sector that you might envisage if you walked in off the street.
Tom knows the place well, as the site now occupied by the Grill on the Corner was once home to his kids' favourite branch of Est Est Est. Many lazy Sundays were passed in this very room with his family, he said, noting that very little has changed when it comes to décor and layout. Not that the place looks like a pizza joint: elaborate chandeliers, big picture windows and high ceilings are matched with a simple white colour scheme and strategically placed potted palms to give the place a whiff of Raffles.
Our fellow diners were an eclectic lot: there were suited-and-booted professionals doing business, a pair of tourists, several ladies lunching and a family with a couple of small children. The atmosphere was cheery, and general manager John Allison very keen to help – so much so that when I asked for change to feed the parking meter outside, he offered to do it for me. Happily, the rest of the staff follow his lead.
Looking over a menu that remains the same for lunch and dinner, we were relieved to be paying half-price for our meal. Tom started with half a dozen Irish rock oysters, which were great but we did wonder what was wrong with Cumbrae's finest – equally succulent but Scottish. We also wondered whether they would have had a smaller price tag than £9 had they been sourced closer to home.
I opted for garlic roasted Portobello mushrooms with tomato and pesto, which came on an almost-sizzling hotplate with a slice of ciabatta bread. This was good, honest comfort food – exactly what I needed.
The menu at the Grill on the Corner has a range of lunchtime winter warmers – bangers and mash, steak-and-ale pie, classic burgers, that sort of thing – not to mention a handful of elaborate salads and a dozen or so fish dishes, but if it is known for anything it is the steaks, which work their way from the humble steak frites to the Wagyu Kobe fillet (£50 – something to do with it being reared on beer and massaged daily).
Even with a 50% discount, that was still too costly for lunch, so instead Tom chose an 11oz rib-eye steak while I ordered ostrich. We were surprised to discover that my £17 slab of grilled ostrich came without chips or veg, adding another £6 to the dish – a naughty trick, and one that really irks me.
That was, however, our only complaint. Tom's thick slab of steak was cooked just as he asked for it, while my equally chunky portion of ostrich was, if anything, a little underdone – which is better that than overdone. Ostrich meat is like a lean, gamey version of beef. Although popular since Roman times, it is undergoing a renaissance – thanks in part to its taste, but mainly because it is so low in fat and cholesterol.
My meat was very tender, although Tom was more enamoured of the flavour than I was. Not that he was struggling with his steak and its accompanying honeyed carrots – the whole lot disappeared in no time.
Tom rounded off with melba mess, a fantastic concoction of peaches, meringue and cream. I was less overwhelmed with the affogato al caffe, a trio that included a small dish of ice-cream, a shot of Amaretto and an espresso.
We were left satisfied and sated by a meal that ticked all the boxes for a city-centre grill. If only it were half-price every day of the year.
Vital statistics
The Grill on the Corner
21 Bothwell Street, Glasgow (0141 248 6262, www.thegrillonthecorner.com)
Out of pocket
Starters £2.75–£16.95 Main courses £9.75–£50 Puddings £4.50–£5.50 Two-course children's menu £7.95
Rating
7.5/10
