New in Food: Chop House, Baffo and more
Our latest round-up of new bars and cafes across Scotland features a private investigator-inspired cocktail bar, a new home for Glasgow street food, and the glorious return of Edinburgh's favourite bao
Looking for new restaurants and cafés in Edinburgh and Glasgow? We've got you covered. This is our column on notable new food and drink openings across Scotland, from cocktail bars to charming cafés. Opening a new food and drink venue in Edinburgh or Glasgow? Let us know – send the details to peter.simpson@theskinny.co.uk and we may include it in this column.
New food and drink in Edinburgh
Sitting above the venerable veggie institution Hendersons, The Pakora Bar serves up a host of vegetarian and vegan options across its Indian-inspired menu. Meat-eaters are also well-catered for, with a good amount of buzz being generated by the haggis and black pudding pakora. Oh, and it's open til 3am. Happy days (and nights). 96 Hanover St.
Edinburgh-based lovers of Taiwanese steamed buns, your prayers have been answered. Brought to you by one of the team behind the dearly departed Ninja Buns, The Ninja Kitchen serves up gua bao packed with a whole host of exciting ingredients, from kimchi beef to hoisin tofu. Find the Ninja Kitchen inside the shiny new bar-slash-club-slash-restaurant Bourbon. 24a Frederick St.
Red meat. It's the speciality of the first branch of Chop House down in Leith, and things are no different at House number two. Delicious dry-aged steaks, a solid drinks list (with BYOB wine on Tuesdays and Wednesday), cool decor that makes the most of the arched interior, and a great location in the heart of the city centre – carnivores, check it out. East Market St.
Head down Rose Street, turn off the main street at Tickets Scotland, and you'll soon find a private detective-inspired cocktail speakeasy. Sounds like a set-up, but this is the real deal – Bryant and Mack serve up great cocktails in a brilliantly decked-out space that's all brickwork and big comfy chairs. Well worth investigating *drum roll*. 87 Rose St North Ln
Cocktail bar and part-time private detectives', Bryant and Mack
New food and drink in Glasgow
New to the West End, in a prime spot opposite Kelvingrove Museum, you won't miss Baffo; there's a giant glowing moustache above the door, you see. Glowing moustaches aside, there's a neat quirk to Baffo's pizza menu – grab yourself a solo 12-inch pizza for well under a tenner, or team up with some pals to take on a mezzo metro (a half-metre of al taglio-style rectangular pizza). Or just have a mezzo metro to yourself; we won't judge. 1377 Argyle St.
The rise of street food has been great for foodie types on the whole – but it isn't always compatible with the sideways rain and arctic windchill of a Scottish summer. In swoops Taste Buchanan to solve the problem, with some of Glasgow's top street food folk taking over the food court in Buchanan Galleries. There's bao from Chompsky, hot dogs from Surf Dogs, pizza from Firebird offshoot Nomad, chicken and waffles from Union Waffles and much more. Buchanan Galleries.