Mitchell's, Glasgow - Restaurants in Glasgow | s1play.com

Food that’s worth singing about

Review published on 10/09/2009 © Sunday Herald

Since the turn of the year, the building that formerly housed The Ivy on North Street, Glasgow – now jumped ship to swish new premises on Argyle Street – has sat glumly in darkness, it’s once hip confines starkly empty.

Then, earlier this summer, the place suddenly sprung back to life. One Saturday evening came the soft crooning of a male voice, channelling Frank Sinatra via a karaoke mic drifting through the night air.

A few weeks later an A4 flier dropped through my letterbox containing a bar lunch menu, the words “meal deal” emblazoned in bold letters, the words “starter and main only ... £4.50” written enticingly underneath. Included was a sizeable list of dishes including steak pie, macaroni cheese, fish and chips with mushy peas, bangers and mash, stovies, burgers, chilli and jacket potatoes, the flier promising top food that is easy on the pocket (and, it struck me, hopefully on the stomach too). My interest was piqued. In these cash-strapped times, it was worth a whirl.

The bar, now reincarnated as Mitchell’s given its close proximity to the Mitchell Library, is under new management. With such value for money pub grub on offer, you would think the place would be stowed out, the staff run off their feet, but arriving for Sunday lunch, we have our pick of tables. The place is empty, save for a handful of middle-aged guys sitting at the bar, twisted round in their seats, eyes glued to the flat screen TV on the wall. In unison, their eyes swivel to the door as my companion and I make our entrance. A hush descends and it feels like we have stumbled into a wild west saloon, then they quickly lose interest and turn back to the television.

There’s a curious ambience to the place, perhaps partly to do with the fact it’s so deserted. The decor is eclectic, not least a grand looking oil painting hung above the fireplace, sitting somewhat incongruously next to a handmade poster nearby which reads: “Anne Marie at Mitchell’s, Karaoke, 1-5pm, Thursdays”. Still, who can fault the high octane fun of karaoke on a Thursday afternoon?

We choose a booth at random which, it soon transpires, gives us a not so chic side-on view of a passageway being used as a storeroom with assorted boxes of napkins, beer mats, salt and pepper shakers and sachets of sauces piled up. Past the boxes of kitchen supplies I can see the chef bustling around in his whites, the bright yellow baseball cap on his head bobbing about as he works.

I plump for garlic bread to start, which is homemade and spread thickly with lashings of delicious butter, while my companion selects potato wedges. Far from the soggy offerings passed off by too many chefs these days, they are wonderfully crisp and fluffy. Both dishes come with salad which, with its mountain of iceberg lettuce, thickly chopped white onion and slither of tomato is not quite haute cuisine, but certainly fresh and tasty.

Between courses we entertain ourselves by eavesdropping on the guys at the bar who cover an impressive array of conversation topics from the intricacies of football to computers, decorating and the price of a good bottle of supermarket plonk. Then the bar clears as they all make a mass exodus for the door, desperate for a quick smoke.

For mains I have chosen a carb-fest of macaroni cheese with chips and salad. The macaroni is sublime and the homemade chips not bad either, although the salad has been substituted for another slice of garlic bread, which is perhaps overload given my choice of starter. The only low point is my companion’s bangers and mash. While the sausages are nicely done and smothered in glorious gravy, the potatoes are lumpy and over heavy on the butter.

While we manage to make a sizeable dent, the portions are so big, we struggle to finish, leading the barman to fret we haven’t enjoyed our food. We definitely did. There’s nothing like hearty pub fayre to brighten up an otherwise dull Sunday. It’s just a pity the place wasn’t more lively.