I visited London Road's Outlier and had Glasgow's best toastie

Outlier on London Road in Glasgow has frequently been tipped as one of the best up and coming food spots in the city, including being named as one of the world’s best new restaurants by Conde Nast. Its bread and butter is its bakery and coffee shop offering, although owner Steven Turner said the project has grown arms and legs since first opening.

“When it was supposed to open initially, it was just supposed to be a coffee shop, like a wee hole in the wall kind of thing. Then it just kind of grew arms and legs with the bakery and then the kitchen. Then the gallery space was always going to be an integral part,” Steven explained, speaking to us last year. “I've always managed arts venues previously, and it was just more a way to support that sector. COVID had just kicked off just when we were supposed to open our doors initially, we saw a lot of government bodies pulling funding, like at Transmission and all that kind of stuff.”

I tried the beef shin, fennel jam and smoked cheddar toastie - one of the menus more popular items. And it’s popular for good reason. It may seem dramatic, even over zealous to say that it completely changed my view of what is possible from the humble toastie, but this was truly exceptional.

A generous portion of beef shin, perfectly sweet and tenderly cooked, topped with gooey cheddar and a sharp fennel jam that really packs a punch. It is impossible to understate exactly how good this was. It is a testament to the creativity that Steven is keen to foster in the space.

“Outlier has just ended up becoming, I guess, a place that supports creativity even through the bakery. In the kitchen, I'm not a baker, I'm not a chef. I hire them for their time, and pretty much give them quite a big swing of freedom to just play about with what they want to or whatever kind of direction we want to take stuff in. So I think that's why a lot of people enjoy working here or at least that’s what they tell me!” he said.

What Steven and his team have created is now paying dividends and further to that it is becoming an important part of an east end food scene that is truly thriving.