Guy's

I love Guy's. It's one of my favourite restaurants in Glasgow. Why? The chef/owner, Guy Cowan has been there every time I've eaten there over the past few years. He's either in the kitchen or hanging out checking on the place. He walks around the dining room and asks you how your meal was. The food is always good, so usually he gets a "Mmmmhmmm!" as I greedily scarf my meal. It's small and romantic, but suitable for celebrations too. As I said to Mr A yesterday, it reminds me a little of somewhere you'd go to in New Orleans- decor wise, food wise, and friendly wise.

Mr A ordered the spicy tuna sushi roll (£9.95) for his starter- it easily could have served us both- it was a massive 10 large pieces. The amazingly fresh, sashimi-grade tuna was nestled next to and a pickled vegetable which I wasn't able to identify, other than it was home pickled and yummy. I had the smoked salmon plate (£10.25) silky slices of salmon from Aberdeen served with capers, fresh lemon, and a couple pieces of wholegrain baguette. Both were so yummy and large we could have shared one easily.

For our mains Mr A had one of the three special raviolis available- spinach and ricotta in a cream sauce (£12.50). Oooh decadent. I opted for the spaghetti with porcini sauce (£12)- being in a mushroomy kind of mood. The spaghetti was perfectly al dente and was such a pleasure to bite into- it had reached pasta nirvana. Mr A's raviolis were delicious as well, but he seemed to prefer mine! I was reminded of a comment from an acquaintance from Naples, who managed one of the better italian restaurants in town. I asked him once where his favourite place was for pasta and he said, "Guys."

Even though we were pretty stuffed by the time we scoffed the lot, I demanded dessert. The famous fruit crumble had been enjoyed by me a couple of times before, but maybe I got a bad piece this time, because it was lacking a lot of the fruit that had made it so special in the past. It was mostly apple and pear- not much pineapple, peach or cranberry- still yummy but not the tropical sensation I remembered. Mr A had the sticky toffee pudding which is practically the national dessert of Britain- and it was properly sticky and served with plenty of toffee sauce and vanilla ice cream.

Guy's is a fab place for a special meal- whether you're celebrating a special occasion or 'just because'. As we left Guy nodded to us from his small group in the bar, for once I could say properly, "Thanks, it was lovely... see you again."

Guy's Restaurant and Bar

24 Candleriggs

Merchant City

Glasgow

G1 1TD