The Little Cake Parlour, Pollokshaws Road

Well I tried to write a post about The Little Cake Parlour last week but hit a snag when we managed to eat both cakes before taking any photos of them. This should give you a good indication that the cakes are very tasty. That night we had a rich chocolate brownie and a gooey chocolate cupcake. Lisa (who owns and runs the shop) advised that the brownie was a new recipe she was trying out and that she preferred her own recipe. I'm looking forward to trying the old recipe then as the new one was v good indeed. With a wee bit of Brooklyn Cafe Ice cream, it would make an excellent desert to serve up to guests.

Actually, this what we intended to do at the weekend. We'd invited friends round for dinner on Sunday night so on Saturday I went along to The Little Cake Parlour to buy some cakes for serving up after the meal. This time, as a precaution I took all my photos, before I'd even purchased the cakes, preventing any eating mishaps robbing us of photos.

I decided to go for two lemon cupcakes, which have gooey lemon centres and very tasty iced tops, two chocolate chip Oreo cupcakes which come with tiny Oreos on top and two raspberry cupcakes with fresh raspberry icing and two real raspberries on top. (Un)fortunately, our guests had to cancel at the last minute and so I've been eating cupcakes after dinner the last three nights. I can't quite decide on my favourite - I'm usually quite a big lemon cake fan, as it has quite a light taste but the raspberry filling was also pretty tip top.

The shop doesn't just do single cupcakes though, you can order big batches for special events - like the MOBO awards recently did and you can also get larger cakes for any occasion made in any flavour you choose. With a changing selection of cakes each week and with your own flavour choice available to special order I think I might need to start doing more exercise while I think of something I'd like made. Mmmm cinemon flavour cupcakes . . . or mayple syrup flavour . . .

Win FREE cakes and get a 10% off in March's Great Southside Giveaway.

The Little Cake Parlour
1002 Pollokshaws Road, Shawlands, G41 2HG
0141 636 0808
Heres the link to their site. The Little Cake Parlour

Shawlands Regeneration?

Thought you all might find the below interesting. We decided to find out more about the Town Centre survery that was carried out earlier this year so did a bit of looking on the council's site and found the email address for David Dunlop, the area planner who is coordinating the review. We sent David a quick email asking about the progress and he sent us back the below information and part of the bid document. What do you guys make of it?

"Following the set up of a Town Centre Steering Group last year, the Council have been gathering information about Shawlands which will feed into a Town Centre Action Plan. As part of this in May this year the Council launched a customer survey to find who uses Shawlands Town Centre, why, and what people feel are the main issues. With the help of Glasgow South East Regeneration Agency the Council also hope to commence a survey of businesses in the centre to find their perspective on what the issues are and how they can improve and attract more customers.

As at 1st October the survey resulted in 1196 responses and I am presently in the process of analysing the results of these and hope to publish them later in the year.

People told us for example, the things they liked about Shawlands are its:-

• Good pubs, restaurants, coffee shops, deli’s, clubs and its warm relaxed feel
• pleasant environment, community atmosphere, social life
• independent and specialist shops
• Good transport links to Glasgow, Renfrewshire, Ayrshire, M8 & M77
• Diverse population
• Beautiful parks, greenery and amenities

However they also told us they did not like:-

• Vacant shops and the Arcade
• poor shop fronts and lack of lighting
• Safety and Security
• crossing the road
• Lack of public toilets
• difficulty in parking

On 28 August, on behalf of the Steering Group, the Council also submitted a bid to the Scottish Government Town Centre Regeneration Fund. This fund was launched in May for one year only, and is intended to assist projects which help improve and protect town centres throughout Scotland during the economic downturn. The bid towards a Shawlands Public Realm and Lighting Project is for £680000, and is aimed at carrying out initial improvements towards lighting, footways, street furniture. It is also intended illuminate historic buildings, for example back lighting stained glass in three local churches, provide a lighting installation in Langside Hall, two illuminated fountains in Queens Park boating pond to help connect Shawlands to Strathbungo better, tree management along the western edge of Queens Park and the development of a Shawlands Café Quarter.

As part of the bid we also have a commitment of 100% match funding from private and public sector agencies which would take our overall spend to over £1.5 M. This includes for example the opening of an office of the Glasgow South East Regeneration Agency within the Arcade to directly assist busineses in the centre, advise new starts and help local residents access employment and training opportunities The announcement of successful bids will be on 2nd November. If we are fortunate in securing the funding, the project will be the first stage in delivering a detailed Town Centre Action Plan for the centre, providing early action on some of the key points of feedback residents have given by ‘brightening centre by improved lighting’ and helping to improve Safety and Security.

The proposed Shawlands Public Realm and Lighting Project will also aim to:-

• Build on the unique aspects of Shawlands by using light and key buildings to attract people back to the centre from its traditional catchment.
• Capitalise on a range of major attractions located on the Cathcart Circle e.g.; Hampden (1 m visitors each year), Pollok Park (700000+ a year), the Tramway (25000+), Queens Park (75k)
• Help ‘reposition the centre’ as the City approaches the 2014 Commonwealth Games, to become a leisure and social retail destination providing a specialised quality food, drink and a retail offering which is able compete against larger centres. "

As David mentioned they should have heard the results at the beginning of November so we'll send him another email to find out if they have been successful. While I don't agree with all their proposals, for instance I'm sceptical about fountains in the pond, but the fact that some plans are progressing is a positive sign and it looks like things are moving in the right direction. (In the comments below lets here what you think would be good for the area.)

While the survey has now been processed and an application made, the survey is probably still the best way to let the Council and the Steering group directly know your thoughts on what you'd like to see happen, so click below and fill it in.

Here are the links.

Quick Survey
Customer Survery (longer)

The Dresser's Room - 47 Skirving Street

Hidden at the bottom of Skirving Street, in Shawlands, is The Dresser's Room. This vintage boutique offers a real cacophony of vintage delights from across the eras. The lovely owner Jade Halbert, an experienced fashion editor and stylist, opened the boutique in April of this year.

Each piece in the store, whether it is one of the fabulous 1920's evening gowns or the 1940s coats and dresses has been expertly chosen, is unique and is very good quality. Jade also sells handbags and accessories by Pea Cooper and Dazed Dorothy

It's not just the clothing that is impressive the store itself and the presentation of the wears is impeccable. I could spend hours browsing and yes I did purchase a dress - I just couldn't help myself. Jade is very charismatic and obviously has a real passion for vintage clothing and her work in general. The Dresser's Room is very unique boutique and a great addition to Skirving Street.

Opening Hours:

Monday - Saturday 10am - 5.30pm

Thursday - 10am - 7pm

Sunday - Closed

Website

other articles about the dressers room

Urban Beauty - Pollokshaws Road

So on Saturday I tried out Urban Beauty on Pollokshaws Road, since it's been open - which is over a year - I've been meaning to drop in and check it out. Anyway I'd called on Friday and the first appoointment I could get was on Wednesday, but I was offered a place on their cancellation list. Well who ever had the 10am appointment had obviously been out the night before and had cancelled...result.

The interior of Urban beauty is really nice, it's quite small inside but well thought through and decorated. They have a large range of beauty and complementary therapy treatments including massage, skin treatment etc and all at reasonable prices,. I would recommend you try Urban Beauty the staff were lovely and really friendly and it's a nice and relaxing environment.

They are open late Wednesday to Friday.

916 Pollokshaws Road, Glasgow G41 2ET
Phone: 01416 166602

For more information click here

Candy Love

Last week a brill new shop opened in Shawlands and as you can see from the below I got a bit carried away taking photos but it all looked so tasty. I've not got a huge sweet tooth, but I find the colours, shapes and packaging of sweets very interesting and I love a good sweet shop.

The new shop is the run by Alison MacNeil, who is a very enthusiastic and friendly shop owner who is obviously very excited to be starting up this new business. This enthusiasm seemed to be rubbing off on the customers and everyone was leaving, laden with bags full of tasty treats.

On the opening day when I dropped in the whole family were in helping out, Alisons husband was putting up some more shelves and their two children were doing a tremendous young apprentice job of manning the til - spotting that I'd short changed (by accident) when I paid for my goods. It must be every kids dream, to have a mum who owns a sweet shop - they are prob the most popular kids in class now.

The shop stocks all the old school favourites, sour plumes, sherbet lemons etc plus a load of more designy up scale chocolate for giving out as gifts. There were a couple of items that I was looking for that they didn't stock but when I mentioned these to Alison she added them to a list of new products to buy in so Ann will be able to buy milky teeth soon.

With Woolworths closing, there was definitely a gap in the market for a pic n mix style shop and with the local schools nearby I think they will do well. If the new cinema at the Cell does go ahead just slightly further down the road then they could be sitting on a gold mine.

Despite me saying above that I don't have a sweet tooth, I still managed to go home with six packets of different sweets. The wee girls were also at the door of the shop, handing out a sample pack of mixed sweets to passers by. There was something very enjoyable about walking down the street and everyone you passed was chewing away with big smiles on their faces. Maybe there should be a new law about free sweets for all. Might make us all a bit happier though I suppose if there were loads of free sweets all our teeth would fall out so the smiles might be quite as nice.Opening times are initially 9 - 7 but this might change to match customer needs.

Candy Love - 1125 Pollokshaws Road, Shawlands, G41 3HY 0141 632 2700

Balbir's Saffron Lounge

After a few weeks of quite a lot of hecticness Ann and I decided to have a night off and go out for dinner. We decided to try the Saffron Lounge which is part of the Balbir's chain of restaurants. I'd been before and had found the food delicious but I had noticed the other day that they are now offering home delivery and have a banquet dining offer to allow you to try lots of different dishes.

The Saffron Lounge is pretty huge inside but is divided up into lots of different areas and spaces which mean that despite its size it still feels quite personal. In a previous life the restaurant housed the Urban Grill and quite a lot of the decor has been retained which is good as its quite modern, clean and comfy.

We were given a little two seater booth near the front of the restaurant and the waitress brought over some drinks and the menus. We asked about the banquet and the waitress said she would get one of the head waiters to come over and discuss our tastes. We were a bit worried about that but we needn't have worried. The extremely friendly waiter was full of information and asked us all about what kinda of food we liked and what had we tried before. When he heard that Ann was a vegetarian he listed off a load of different options he could make and then suggested would she like to try a little fish which is something she has been trying small amounts of since our trip to Japan. In the end we agreed to go for Bhel Poori, Bhatura Chana and Salmon Tandooi for starters with Mixed veg pakora, Chicken Tikka Chasni, Veg Tava, Palak Paneer, Peshwari nan and rice for the main course. (Not bad for £14.50 each)

Just before leaving the waiter asked, "Is there anything you really like or dislike Sir?" and I replied that I really wasn't a fan of fresh coriander. Doh I should have kept quiet.

I think the waiter must have missed heard me - because every single dish came garnished with huge amounts of coriander. I kept laughing every time a new dish came out, as the levels of coriander kept growing. I'm not sure why I don't like fresh coriander - but for some reason it tastes like soap to me. Thankfully it was just a garnish and I was able to move it to the side and it didn't effect the delicious food. I've never had fish in an Indian before but the Salmon Tandoori which is one of the speciality dishes at Balbirs is very tasty and a perfect light starter before getting tucked into some of the heavier main course dishes.

We opted to mainly have veggie dishes so that we could both share but I did get one meat dish all to my self and I was very glad too. The Chicken Chasni sauce was amazing and to be honest I'd quite happily just eat a massive bowl of that with a large sweet peshwari nan.

Despite the fact we were both pretty stuffed from just the starters we forced ourselves on. I almost did my self an injury, I was so determined to make my way through the whole bowl of chicken. It was just too tasty - not too would have been an insult.

It would have been nice to get a try of some of the deserts but sadly that was a bridge too far.

They do a pre-theatre menu for £9.95 but the banquet deal is brills and is £14.50 during the week and £17.50 at the weekends. We suggest getting along and having a good chat with the waiters and allow them to draw up a tasty sounding meal based on your own tastes.

All in all an excellent meal in a very relaxing and spacious restaurant and highly recommended.

(PS - anyone notice that nearly all our food reviews are for Indian food? Where else is good we should try.)

La Roche Rumba - 6th June 2009

So today is the first Sunday of the Month...yes it's Farmers Market day...

but also it's La Roche Rumba night. The Southside's premier metalelectrofunkcountryhiphopdiscopunkrock club.

It's held on the first Saturday night of the month at Pollock ex service and social club, on Titwood Road [near Crossmyloof station]. We've not been before, but we did catch Rumba in the Park during the Festival and it was a great night. I've never been in the social club but I can imagine cheap drinks and carpet. We can't make it tonight but hopefully we'll make it along in July. Anyway I'll leave it to La Roche Rumba to describe tonights line up.

So this month we have a very special guest in the form of former Bluebells man, Ken McCluskey who, armed with nothing more than a harmonica, will be squaring off against the formidable figure of Mr Bruce Morton manning the decks. And as if that wasn't enough we have a Rumba début in the shape of Dignitas. They're sick, they're funny and they're probably rummaging through your dirty underwear or torturing some household pets at this very minute. However, they'll curb their more base and troubling predilections on Saturday and perform a range of songs that touch on such light-hearted topics as suicide, cannibalism and scatology. We're lucky to be catching them just before they set off on their tour of schools and children's homes. Try to get in early as they'll be on around 9/9.30. La Roche Rumba Facebook

La Roche Rumba - Facebook Page

Have your say

When I was up at the Glasshouses earlier I found a pile of survey forms calling for the people of Shawlands to provide feedback on the production of a Town Centre Action Plan for Shawlands. This is a great oppertunity to help set the agenda for the further regeneration of the area and hopefully there will be a big responce. There are two versions of the form - a quick style version and a fuller Customer Survey. Both shouldn't take too long to complete and can be done online at the below links. Take a look.

Shawlands Town Centre Action Plan

This survey has been developed by Glasgow City Council to help prepare an Action Plan for Shawlands. The aim is to find out how you feel about Shawlands Town Centre, how often you use it, and how you think it can be improved.

The survey boundary encompasses all of the retail units from the Pollokshaws East Station railway bridge, (270 Kilmarnock Road to Queens Park at 970 Pollokshaws Road). It also includes all businesses contained in Shawlands Arcade, Minard Road and Skirving Street the new Tesco Metro block at the southern end of Kilmarnock Road and also Newlandsfield, Morrison’s.

The survey will take around 10 minutes to complete but the information you provide will be extremely helpful to us in taking the centre forward.

Links:
Quick Survey: Shawlands Town Centre Action Plan
Customer Survey: Shawlands Town Centre Action Plan

Further information can be obtained by contacting:

David Dunlop
Glasgow City Council Development & Regeneration Services
Exchange House 229 George Street Glasgow G1 1QU

Phone: 0141 287 6097
Email: Shawlands@drs.glasgow.gov.uk

Southside Festival

Well the forecast is for a wee bit of sunshine come the weekend. Lets all keep fingers crossed that stays true.

We are pleased to post the maps we've been making for the Festival - so you can all get a better idea of what you will find when you along to Queens Park on Saturday. Click on a map for a bigger image and check out http://www.southsidefestival.co.uk/ for all the event times etc.

Ketchup - Shawlands

So on Saturday I went for lunch with the MacDonald Bros and Nikitta Agnes. I had been helping out at the Festival Stars Auditions which were being held at Destiny and the MacDonald Bros and Nikitta were judging the heats.

We went to Ketchup , the newish posh burger bar on Pollokshaws Road. It's owned by the G1 group and it's everything you expect from one of their establishments.

It has quite a vast menu of different burgers, beef, Chicken, Lamb, vension and a few veggie burgers. They all have a different combinations of different toppings. I had the veggie goats cheese burger which was pretty good, large chunky chips and a side of coldslaw. It's not that cheap but you can go onto ketchups website and get a secret password, which gives you a two for one deal.

The boys Brian and Craig and also Nikitta all enjoyed their burgers. Our only complaint was that it was a bit messy. Would I go back probably yes...but next time, I won't have a queue of people asking my companions for autographs.

* Ketchup are taking part in the Southside Flavours event at this years Festival. It might be a good time to try a few different burgers...

World Famous Pies

In the second of today's posts about things on other peoples blogs - I thought I should mention a post on the very enjoyable blog Getting Worse about something I had noticed myself but forgotten about. I really enjoy the Getting Worse blog as it combines one of my own favourite past times, moaning about things, with some really valid points and catches all kinds of stupid behaviour in a humourous way. Well worth a read.

"DOES THE TRADES DESCRIPTION ACT COVER THIS LOCAL SHOP SIGN?
It says:
“HOWARD’S QUALITY BUTCHERS
WORLD FAMOUS STEAK PIES AND SAUSAGES”
Can Howard really get away with this? World famous sausages? Seriously?
If I travelled to France or Australia and asked a random person on the street if they had heard of Howard’s of Shawlands and his world famous pies, what do you think the answer would be?
Yep. Things are getting worse when bizarre claims are made on shop signs! Come on; we can do better than that, surely!"

I have had pies and sausages from Howard's and they were rather tasty but I'm pretty sure I'd have struggled to remember the name of the butcher and I wonder how many people in Glasgow let alone France or Australia know the famous meat products - though I could be wrong.

If I had a hammer

About a month ago I set out to decorate my flat and while I admit I ordered my main wall paint from Tesco (boo - but it was £15.99 a tin cheaper than anywhere else) I did decide to buy all my other bits of equipment, brushes, white spirit, masking tape, dust sheets etc from the local shops.

I think that a decent local hardware store is a must have for an area. Its one of those shops that every area needs to make it feel complete - the other main ones being a butchers, a green grocers, a chemists and a news agents with a large old school sweetie selection.

Unfortunately with the increase in giant DIY stores around Glasgow a lot of the smaller independent stores have struggled as it is harder for them to match the cheap prices of the massive bulk buying superstores. With even Tesco now getting in on the DIY act, how do the smaller stores compete?
Well the main thing that the smaller stores have to their advantage is their staff. While in the big stores the staff are decently trained - they don't often have the same in depth knowledge and experience that the owners of these independent stores have. The staff in the larger stores also don't have the same time or inclination to have a good chat about what you are doing or advise about the best way to approach it.

The staff in the great wee DIY store Pearson Brothers on Minard Road support my claims. When I went into the store there were two customers ahead of me - both were older ladies who I suspect were partly in for some tools, partly in for some advice and partly in just for a bit of a chat.

Each customer was given a complete service, talked to about what they wanted to do and given help to choose the products that they needed - though one lady seemed to be only after a single nail - which sadly Pearson's is no longer able to provide, their nails now come in sealed mini packs.

Pearson's throughout most of its long life has been a decorators shop - specialising in paints, papers and pastes. Check out the photos above, they have dozens and dozens of different wallpapers. It feels a bit funny walking into the shop and seeing such a big choice in such a small area.

When I first moved back to the Southside a few years ago they were still predominately a decorators but slowly over the last few years they have started to widen their range as more customers came in looking for things and now the place is jammed to the gunnels with every DIY tool and apparatus that you can think of.

Within a minute of asking for the things I needed the extremely helpful shop assistant had buzzed all around the shop picking up different bits and bobs and I was able to get everything I needed. They really do sell tons, from yacht varnish to chalkboard paint, from drain cleaner to spirit levels.

I also had a nice chat about the history of the shop and about the old ironmongers that had been on the site before it.

Sadly due to my camera memory card going missing (pinched I think) it took me quite a few weeks to get round to writing up this post. Despite the delay, I've still only managed to finish two rooms - it always takes longer than you plan.


Support your local - shop south

Free Comedy Night at the Ivory Hotel

The Ha Ha Raw Comedy night at the Ivory Hotel has become a regular event over the last year or so. We've been along a few times, but not for a while. ....so when I walked passed the Ivory hotel the other day, I was pleased to see it's still going strong and attracting quite a crowd.

I am a bit of a coward when it comes to comedy nights, I am always a little scared I am going to be picked on, but I have to say I really enjoyed it. It's a bit of a mixed bag, there are a round ten acts on the Sunday night ranging from professional comedians, to people who are just starting out.

It's on every Sunday from 8.30pm

The good news it's a free event, so if you don't like it you can just leave..

More details can be found here

Tea today, gone tomorrow

Oh no - looks like we have some terrible news. The above image looks like it shows the wonderfully relaxing and comfortable Tchai Ovna tea house as it has always been -a home from home of fantastic teas, comfy chairs and an old tattered Scrabble board. Sadly though the photo actually shows a bunch of workmen in the middle of converting it into a laundrette!! :-(

We've emailed Ken who ran the Southside Tchai Ovna to find out what the story is but I'm afraid on the evidence it looks like they have shut - when we find out more we'll let you know.

If they have closed then it again highlights the importance of us all to support our local businessess and where possible shop in the south. We previously suggest starting up some kind of campaign or list of readers top southside shopping destinations or those places that give the south its character. If anyone has any suggestions then plese post below.

Below images are of the interior of Tchai Ovna in the happy old days.

What's up - ketchup

Ketchup - Southside - 1179 Pollockshaws Road, Shawlands,Glasgow South Side, G41 3NQ (behind the granary)

A friend has alerted us to the news that the newly closed JAM on Kilmarnock Road is about to be re birthed this Friday night as The Southside Social and Ketchup Southside. They are quite excited by this as they tell us that the original Ketchup in Ashton Lane is a delicious burger bar. This sounds like an interesting new addition to the Southside - even if it is part of what is the quite homogeneous G1 group but if our friend and the following review in the Herald are anything to go by it should prove very tasty. [Herald review]

There is a launch party Friday 30th at 7pm - see the link to register for tickets.

We shall endeavour to check it out and post our review. Fingers crossed its tasty - I have visions of this greasy burger place I went to in Brooklyn a couple of years ago where you got these amazingly tasty teeny tiny mini burgers called snax. If its half as good as that I'll be well happy.

Hatha Yoga Classes

If your interested in taking up a Hatha Yoga or a Yoga for Pregnancy class, there are classes being held in both Shawlands united Reformed Church Hall and in Wood farm Pavillion in Giffnock. For more details look on Sian Pringle's website [below]

For more details http://www.sianpringleyoga.com/index.html

Also Explore Yoga are running two Yoga for pregnancy class's on Tuesday evenings in Newton Mearns.

for more details http://www.exploreyoga.co.uk/glasgow-yfp.htm

And finally a new block postnatal yoga classes starting at the tramway (The Boilerhouse)on thursday 15th JAN'09 @ 10.15am - 11.15am with qualified Iyengar instructor (bring baby and a mat)

Call or e-mail the Tramway