Brooklyn Cafe @ 21-23 Minard Road

It's a Southside institution's birthday this week and its just a mere 80 years old!! Serving the Southside Community since 1931 (when the above photo was taken) the Brooklyn Cafe has long been the haunt for generations looking for a big Sunday breakfast and a tub of their famous ice-cream (listed in the Herald as one of the 100 things to do in Scotland before you die). It's funny that we've not written a post about these guys before but I guess there are certain places which we've not covered due to them being so well known that we all take them for granted. 

We are big fans of family run local businesses, especially places that have been established for a long time. They embed themselves into the history of the local area and give that area an identity and connection to its past. Brooklyn Cafe is one of these places.

We've heard stories of people going there for breakfast before they went ice skating at the old ice-rink at Crossmyloof or memories of ice-cream and walks round the park when they were Children. Today if you go to the cafe you'll see a host of images on the walls showing the cafe through the ages and its fun to spot the different time periods and changes it goes through in the 60s, 70s and 80s. Some of the really old ones, as per the one above look great, with tall thin glazing panels and delicate and intricate lettering. Would love for more shops to go back to that old style, the modern way of large flat plastic fascia boards lose the skill and design flair of the traditional sign writer and a lot of the character is lost.

Another lovely nostalgic touch about the interior of the Brooklyn Cafe are the stairs, where the risers have all been formed in glass with the various different owners etched into the frosting. Its a subtle link to the past and shows a place proud of its history.

 As it says on their menu "Domenico Pelosi arrived in Glasgow in the early 1900s after a brief spell in Wales. On the 15th October 1931 he opened the Brooklyn Café. From the 1960’s it was run by his youngest son Adolfo (Dolfi) and Michael they were helped by members of their own families most notably Dolfi’s wife Domenica (Jean). Tragically Dolfi then Michael died suddenly within 10 months of each other in 1979 and 1980. Jean was therefore thrust into running all aspects of the business as well as bringing up and caring for her family. She threw herself into these tasks and was helped in the café by her daughter Caroline and soon after by her son David. Jean followed her instincts by slowly introducing more home cooking to the menu, to add to the ever popular family ice cream from the Pelosi Ice Cream company. In 1986 Jean and David invested in the café and completely overhauled the layout and concept of the café bringing in better, wholesome home cooking as she had provided for her family all these years. It was an instant success with queues for tables almost everyday. As David recalls “It was a far bigger hit than we ever expected, we had never encountered any thing like it… we had to learn on our feet. We both went 9 months without a day off!” "

The food in Brooklyn Cafe is good quality, it's not a fancy place but you will get good value for money and its all pretty tasty. They have a pretty big menu with all the family favourites, they do a mean Cheese Steak, tasty pastas and the very successful All Day Breakfast which I must admit to having eaten one or two of over the years. If you are after a quick relaxed bits on the way home from work, you'll not do to badly popping in here and afterwards you can treat yourself with the rather famous homemade ice-cream which is still made on the premises. They make it freshly throughout the day with the peak of summer seeing them mixing up new batches every thirty minutes!

One thing we have always wondered was where did the "Brooklyn" in Brooklyn Cafe come from. The manager Johnny advises that sadly the story behind the name is lost to the history books. People seem to have their own theories, that it was named Brooklyn as it was across the way from Queens (The two famous districts of New York) others that it was linked to Mount Florida, to a family connection in New York or that it just sounded good. Anyone got any good suggestions for a reason why it might have got the name? Stick them in the comments below.

Brooklyn Cafe

21-23 Minard Road

G41 2HR

0141 632 3427
Mon - Sat: 08:00 - 21:00
Sun: 09:00 - 21:00