Glasgow’s best restaurants are finally emerging onto the world scene as the city gains the culinary recognition it deserves. A raft of award-winning, Michelin-starred, and Michelin-guide-listed eateries have transformed Glasgow’s dining experience, as head chefs create innovative menus combining Scottish produce and international influences.
The best restaurants in Glasgow are championing traditional Scottish dishes, techniques, and ingredients, and you’ll love gorging on hand-dived scallops from the Orkneys, monkfish from the markets in Peterhead, and venison from the Highlands. In true Scots fashion, you can even dig into a fine dining plate of haggis and neeps before washing it down with a wee dram of whiskey!
With so many great places to eat and drink, you might not know where to begin. That’s why I’ve compiled a list of the best restaurants in Glasgow for you. Book a table at one (or all!) of these unique eateries, and there’s no doubt you’ll have an incredible time dining around Glasgow.
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An Insider’s Guide to the 12 Best Restaurants in Glasgow
1. Cail Bruich
One of the best places to eat in Glasgow, Cail Bruich has won every award, accolade, and listing under the Glaswegian sun. Book a table here well in advance, because this Michelin-starred restaurant is always in high demand.
Located in Glasgow’s West End, Head Chef Lorna McNee has crafted an exciting menu that changes effortlessly with each of the passing Scottish seasons. Championing local produce (many of the ingredients are grown in McNee’s garden!), you’ll love the five- and seven-course tasting menus which are served for lunch and dinner.
Your dining experience might start with raw Orkney oysters and fresh garden herbs, or perhaps with fife carrot and sheep curd. Peterhead monkfish, Berkshire pork, and veal sweetbread have all featured in the past, while the accompanying wines are sourced from as far afield as Armenia and Australia.
2. Celentano’s
Another one of the very best Glasgow restaurants is Celentano’s, where the best local produce is transformed into fine Italian-cooked dishes with a Scottish twist.
A Michelin-guide-listed restaurant, Celentano’s is the work of Glaswegian locals Dean and Anna Parker, who wanted to bring a taste of Italy to the city they love.
Located within Cathedral House in the center of Glasgow, you’ll start with a selection of “Dean’s Signature Snacks,” before moving on to the seasonal mains that are intended for the whole table to share.
On the ever-changing “Feasting Menu,” you’ll find Dexter beef rump served with a beef Ragu, alongside Celentano’s sourdough and stracciatella with walnuts pesto.
3. Ubiquitous Chip
Ubiquitous Chip is one of the most famous restaurants in Glasgow. Founded in 1971, this was one of the first Glasgow eateries to really celebrate home-cooked Scottish food at a time when local cuisine had little standing on the world stage.
Now Ubiquitous Chip serves some of the best contemporary Scottish dishes in the city, merging traditional cooking and local produce with a little modern flair. The a la carte menu features venison haggis, neeps, and potato puree; pig cheek with cauliflower, walnuts, and fenugreek; and Shetland cod served with lobster paella cake.
The eight-course tasting menu offers a full spread of Scottish masterpieces, including Arbroath smokie mousse, slow-cooked ox cheek, and Newtonmore venison. Add the wine-tasting flights for a truly gourmet dining experience.
4. Shish Mahal
Glasgow could well be the birthplace of tikka masala, a yogurt-based curry sauce prepared with tomatoes, onions, chilis, and other spices. The exact origins of the dish are disputed, but Ali Ahmed Aslam, the founder of Glasgow curry house Shish Mahal, has a strong claim on the dish.
As local legend goes, Ali covered dry chicken in a tin of tomato soup and the spices he had on hand, creating the tikka masala dish that’s now beloved across the UK. That was in the 1970s, and whether the story is true or not hardly matters, because Shish Mahal is still going strong decades later.
As you might expect, it’s one of the best places to eat in Glasgow for some local Scottish-Indian cuisine, with an extensive menu that includes everything from vindaloo and biryani to korma and naan.
5. Ox and Finch
You’ll find Ox and Finch on Sauchiehall Street, where Mediterranean-inspired dishes have brought a little sunshine to central Glasgow.
Ox and Finch might be listed in the Michelin guide, but their laid-back, open kitchen is more bistro than fine dining. The cuisine, however, is gourmet, with the likes of fried artichokes and burnt Aleppo butter, confit duck salad, and beef tartare to start.
Follow it up with poached sea trout, spiced haddock, or slow-cooked lamb shoulder. Ox and Finch has a dedicated veggie and vegan menu too, including charred hispi cabbage and grilled halloumi with brown butter swede.
6. Ka Pao
Take a stroll around Glasgow’s colorful botanical gardens before taking your seat in Ka Pao for a taste of Michelin-guide-listed Asian cuisine. Serving some of Glasgow’s best Southeast Asian dishes, Ka Pao mixes international influences with Scottish ingredients.
On the fiery menu, you’ll find Shetland mussels with chili jam and Thai basil. Salt and Szechuan pepper oyster mushrooms are served with pickled mooli, while the beef tartare, chili, lime, and green peppercorns are to die for.
Those are just the starters, and when it’s time for your main you’ll struggle to choose between the green curry with beef shin and the southern yellow curry with hake. For dessert, try the mango and calamansi soft serve for a fruity finish!
7. Crabshakk
Crabshakk has been satisfying Glaswegian seafood lovers since 2009. The classic Fish Supper (battered fish and chips) is high up the menu, but once you’ve started with a Negroni, you might want to try Loch Fyne oysters, langoustine, or even a whole cooked lobster to mix things up.
Crabshakk’s fine dining seafood is ever popular, and there are now two branches of this great Glasgow fish restaurant. The first is Crabshakk Finnieston, which you’ll find on Argyll Street, and the second is Crabshakk Botanics, on Vinicombe Street.
8. The Gannet
The Gannet is another of Glasgow’s fantastic Michelin Guide restaurants. Showcasing the best Scottish produce on Argyle Street, The Gannet serves a three-course lunch and a fine dining evening tasting menu.
Pop in for lunch and you’ll be gorging on hand-dived scallops, wild mushroom tortellini, and salted caramel fondant. Reserve a table for dinner, and the tasting menu features the likes of smoked eel, wild sea bream, and West Coast crab.
9. Ranjit’s Kitchen
Glasgow is well-known for its Indian cuisine, and one of the best places to dig into some authentic curry is Ranjit’s Kitchen. Forget about your regular Scottish-Indian fusion food, though, because Ranjit’s Kitchen offers home-cooked dishes straight from the Punjab.
Run by Ranjit Kaur, a Punjabi native who moved to Glasgow in the 1990s, the food is made fresh using traditional Indian techniques and spices that haven’t been Westernized. On the menu, you’ll find daal, pakora, aloo tikka, and sabji, all served with roti.
If you can’t decide, then Ranjit’s Punjabi Thali offers an excellent spread of dals and curries to try. If you’re dining with company, then try “A Punjabi Tea for Two,” a spicy sharing platter with paneer curries, samosas, pakoras, roots, and Punjabi-style tea!
10. Shucks
One of the best seafood restaurants in Glasgow, Shucks is run by the same team that gained a Michelin star at Cail Bruich. Shucks is a more casual dining experience, but you’ll still find the cuisine to be Michelin-worthy.
Head Chef George Petaloudis has crafted a seasonal menu drawing on Scotland’s fish stocks and maritime heritage. All fish is sustainably sourced, and whether it’s smoked, cured, or freshly grilled, it’s all prepared in-house.
Tempura oysters, prawn tacos, and crispy fried whitebait are to start, swiftly followed by curry butter poached cod or line-caught tuna steaks. Crispy potatoes, BBQ tenderstem broccoli, and fat chips are on the side, with Old Fashioneds and Oyster Martinis to drink.
11. The Smokin’ Fox
If you’re hungry for some pub food, then The Smokin’ Fox is one of the best places to eat in Glasgow.
Located in central Glasgow, kick things off with a local ale in the bar as you peruse a pub-style menu with a gourmet twist. Start with loaded nachos smothered in chili haggis, before moving on to truffle mac and cheese or Peterhead haddock and hand-cut chips.
12. Unalome
Chef Patron Graeme Cheevers brings you his ultimate fine dining experience at Unalome. This Michelin-starred restaurant is one of the best in Glasgow, so book well in advance if you want to enjoy its gourmet tasting menu during your stay.
Drawing on Japanese inspirations, Scottish produce, and French culinary techniques, Unalome’s tasting menu includes cured North Sea mackerel, warm tartare of red prawn Iberico ham, and stuffed cod loin with koshihikari rice.
You can see the chefs in action by booking a place at the Kitchen Table. You’ll be served an eight-course tasting menu as you watch Graeme Cheevers and his team prepare the evening’s dishes from your vantage point by the kitchens themselves.
