6 Glasgow restaurants named in the SquareMeal Top UK 100

SquareMeal, an independent restaurant guide, has announced the best restaurants that the UK has to offer.

SquareMeal’s UK Top 100 is the only list of its kind to exclude London’s restaurants - allowing the wider UK’s dining scene to shine.

How does it work? Using a combination of thousands of reader votes and SquareMeal’s experts, the UK Top 100 Restaurants list is a true reflection of Britain’s varied dining scene - featuring everything from fine dining experiences through to farm-to-table restaurants and gastropubs.

As part of this year’s top 100, 13 Scottish restaurants were named, with six in Glasgow.

Here’s the six that made the list, and what the team had to say about them.

Cail Bruich

Chef Lorna McNee heads up the kitchen and has ditched the previous a la carte format for two multi-course tasting menus.

The contents of these menus are dictated by the seasons and largely made up of ingredients that have been sourced locally.

Unalome by Graeme Cheevers

The restaurant’s name - Unalome - refers to a Buddhist symbol, which represents the path to enlightenment.

It’s a symbol that perfectly encapsulates Graeme’s own journey - his passion for cooking has taken him as far as Singapore and New York, before returning to his home country of Scotland.

Bar Brett

Bar Brett is a modern wine bar and barbecue restaurant from the team behind Cail Bruich.

Bar Brett’s offering is a little different, however, in that it specialises in natural, low-intervention wine and cooking with fire.

Gloriosa

The menu at Gloriosa is focused on dishes which have been influenced by the Mediterranean and can be paired with a selection of wines from small independent European producers.

The offering is made up of a short selection of small and large plates, designed to share (we’d recommend ordering five or six dishes between two).

Julie’s Kopitiam

Located just a stone’s throw from Glasgow’s Queen’s Park in Shawlands, Julie’s Kopitiam is a small neighbourhood joint serving Malaysian street food.

Owned and run by former MasterChef quarterfinalist Julie Lin Macleod, the casual restaurant is often full to the brim but you can simply add your name to a list, be given a time, and pass the time in a nearby pub until it’s your turn.

Celentano’s

Set in Cathedral House near Glasgow’s bustling city centre, Celentano’s is a relaxed Italian-inspired eatery.

Husband and wife team Dean and Anna cook up snacks, bread, pasta, fish, meat, and veg as simple yet exciting sharing plates.

Head of content, Caroline Hendry, explained Scotland’s place on the list saying: “A combination of votes from thousands of diners, along with the opinions of our professional restaurant critics has led to the spotlight firmly landing on Scotland’s dining scene.

“It’s brilliant to see so many of Scotland’s best restaurants featured in our UK Top 100, particularly those serving traditional Scottish cuisine that our readers clearly love.”