11/03/12 - Epicures of Hyndland, West End, Glasgow

Saturday afternoon, 5 of us went to Epicures for lunch. It was really busy and really noisy but we were seated within 5 minutes of waiting. The Manageress was lovely and cheery and seemed really efficient at getting everyone in and sat down. The problem with West End places like Epicures are the omin-present ‘ladies that lunch’ who sit for 3 and a half hours over a bottle of wine and some salad. Hurry up and leave!!

The service was really impressive. Over the course of our meal we had 3 different waitresses but they were all brilliant. I was a bit nervous at the one who took our main course orders without writing them down but the 5 of us got everything exactly as we asked. One of us got the soup which was a huge bowl of carrot and parsley served with soda bread. The pastrami sandwich looked great but strangely a lump of cous cous accompanied it on the plate. Odd but looked pretty though. The veggie ploughman’s lunch had far too much blue cheese on the plate but still looked bright and appetising with some lovely home made picalilli. I had the seafood platter which had a mound of smoked salmon, some prawn cocktail, mackerel pate and another terrine and some skewered prawns as well as some salad leaves to pad it our. Far too expensive at £9.50 (I think) and there wasn’t enough bread served with it. Unfortunately I was still hungry afterwards! I also hate eating off wooden plates. They look pretty but I can’t help feeling they are unhygienic. The cake menu was diverse and interesting but still had old favourites like scones served with clotted cream and carrot cake. The £3.60 parsnip and maple cake my other half had came with a dollop of cream and was moist and delicious. Coffees and teas came with a tiny cube of tasty brownie and one of our party liked it so much he ordered a whole one. He said it was awesome….

All in all I think it’s far too noisy, it was cold and it’s really expensive. But if someone else is paying and you don’t mind not talking (you really can’t hear each other speak) then I would think about going again but take a cardigan! Had heard from others that the service was shocking – it certainly wasn’t on Saturday.