Go Slow Cafe - Victoria Road

As soon as you enter Go Slow Cafe, on Victoria Road, you realise it's not your run of the mill cafe,  a large art mural runs down one of the walls, an ecletic mix of tables, chairs and lamps are distributed through the space. Down the length of the right hand wall hangs this months exhibition (featuring two local artists working out of the Chalet Art Studios) Specials are written up on several black boards and the menus are hand written on A4 pieces of paper.

We ordered a coffee, hot Chocolate and two apple juices, they were very accommodating when I asked if I could have mine hot - they added cinnamon and cloves to make it extra warming. The apple juice was freshly made and was really good. We browsed through the menu and noticed it has a great selection of vegetarian food as well as plenty for the meat eaters. They also have  a great selection of smoothies and cakes. When we were there they were busy making their own truffles and had just finished baking their own banana bread.

The day we were in was a really cold and wet day and The Go Slow Cafe was just what we needed.

Tues - Sat 11am - 6pm

Closed Sunday and Monday

Big Licks @ 384 Victoria Road

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I'm a big fan of ice-cream, everything from the extravagantly expensive miniature Haagen-Dazs for sale at the cinema, the classic tubs of vanilla from a Glasgow cafe, to a double nugget drowned in raspberry sauce from an ice-cream van. I was therefore quite excited by the idea of an ice-cream parlour opening up in the Southside and had been looking for an excuse to wander down and take a look.

Inside the shop we got chatting with the owner, a very happy young man who smiled and agreed that the midst of the coldest winter for 20+ years was an odd time to open an Ice-cream shop. We were given a quick tour and shown the 26 different flavours on display, though he was quick to point out that he has dozens and dozens of other flavours in the freezers out the back but only has room to display 26 at a time. The flavours contain the usual suspects, Chocolate Mint, Raspberry Ripple etc but there are also loads of more unusual and interesting flavours like Curly-Wurly, Kinder Surprise and Ferrero Rocher.

Ordering in the shop takes a long while, as trying to reach a decision is pretty much impossible. First you have to decide if you want a cone or a tub. If you choose a tub you have to choose from 5 different sizes. If you want a cone, you again have to decide on the size and then on the type - waffle/ chocolate waffle/ choco-sprinkles waffle. You then have to choose the flavours you want (free samples are available to assist decision making) then you have to choose from a multitude of sauces and then about a dozen different toppings – then choose the colour of your spoon. We settled on - a2 scoop tub with Ferrero Rocher, Cookie Dough + Honecomb pieces/ 1 scoop tub with Curly Wurly/ 2 scoop cone with Super Cookie and Chocolate Chip Orange. The total was £6.40 which we thought was pretty decent, considering that the Chocolate Chip Orange had almost been finished so he gave us a normal cones worth plus the last couple of scoops for free.

One thing that I think we’ll definitely have to try one day is the Big Dipper – a massive cone that holds up to 7 scoops of ice-cream. Its £8 but imagine the looks of jealousy on kids faces as you walk up the road eating a cone that requires two hands!!!

I'll admit that when I first saw it I had been slightly confused by Big Lick's branding, with its jet blacks, strong pinks and shocking reds it had more of the look of a trendy chain bar than the kind of place that the words "ice-cream parlour" conjured in my head. I was a bit worried that it would turn out to be a disappointment. But after having been to the shop and chatted to the owner and tasted the wares I think that once it makes a name for itself then the branding will work well to distinguish it from the normal Glasgow Cafe’s. We can also definitely say that it is not a disappointment and highly recommend it as a good way to finish off a trip to the farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings.

Big Licks
384 Victoria Road

Everything must go

This sounds like a lot of fun - Nadia of Now Now Projects has been in touch to invite everyone to an exhibition at a flat on Victoria Road. The exhibitons theme will be cheap and cheerful art brought by you the guests. Works will be on sale from 9pm and anything not sold by 4am will be destroyed so be prepared to lose the things you brought or at the very least buy them back yourself. Have a look at their site for the full scoop on the night or email nownow@email.com for more details.

I'm going to go draw a face on an egg and take it along.

Final Reductions: Sat 25 April - 5pm onwards - 456 Victoria Road

Super bad design

We got an email from James Brown at the weekend. (Not the godfather of soul one RIP but another one who also it seems has his brushes with fame) James was alerting us to the fact that Somerfield on Victoria Road is to close its doors on the 28 February and reopen as a Lidl at the beginning of March.

James has a great post on his site about his experiences and thoughts on Somerfield here.

Got to admit I agree with him on Somerfield - it is the scafiest looking of all the supers closely followed by Morrisons - all that black and yellow, its like the shop is run by bees.

[For the same reasons that that yellow and black color scheme works for the cheap as chips discount DVD shop posted below I don't want the same feeling when I go into my supermarket - makes me feel like all the food is second hand or tainted in some way.]

Can't say I think too much of Lidl's graphics or colours scheme (see above) they tend to look like they have been made out of the cheapest material they could find and look about as attractive as a mechnao kit - why are so many supermarkets so badly designed graphically? Does that make us buy more food? Again I agree with James, the Co-op also gets my vote - its pretty nicely designed inside and the food is pretty good value and is reasonably ethical in its sourcing.

I've not really had much experience with Lidl, when they first opened in Scotland I did pop into one but through oddly displayed pricing I ended up buying an advent calender for £9 when I thought it was only 60p. It was very nice though with 3cm high 3D moulded chocolate figures each day that I felt guilty to eat - especially the little chocolate baby Jesus, he looked so sad - but was very tasty.

Bonfire Night

I think one of the most interesting bonfire nights I've ever enjoyed was when a short film I had made was shown at the Chateaux Gateaux in Bridge Street.

Before the films were shown we wandered onto the roof of the building, up a winding, derelict set of stairs which had missing handrails, missing steps and a dead pigeon. The roof itself also didn't have a protective handrail around the edge which, being a clumsy individual, did make me very uneasy. The view however was great and we also enjoyed the accompaniment of a rather odd but enthusiastic acoustic band as well.

The last two years I have again opted out of actually travelling to one of the organised events and instead have just sat on the roof of my flat which gives a great 360 degree view of the city. Last year, it was pretty freezing, but was livened up by my neighbours joining me on the roof to launch their own rockets.

Its a very uneasy feeling watching rockets explode around the city. It feels like a pretty war zone as clouds of smoke start swirling into the sky and eventually the city disappears in a cloud of dust. Not sure what I'll do this year. I've got the night class on that night so might miss the whole thing, though I'm sure I'll see some explosions over the weekend.

Its strange that once a year, everyone in the country goes crazy buying live gunpowder, setting fires all around the city and letting off controlled explosions? We are all mental.

An alternative option from going along to the big show at Glasgow Green this year is to go to the Glasgow and West of Scotland Green Party's, "alternative bonfire night" at The Pandora on Victoria Road. Its a fund raising event which will include a raffle, a quiz, seasonal food and prizes. It starts at 8pm and runs until 11pm. Entrance is £3 or £5 for couples.

Do other political parties do the same thing? Do they share out events across the year - labour get valentines day, the tories get pancake day?

What other bonfire night parties are going on? Any suggestions?

Queens Cafe

In our ever continuing trawl through Southside cafes, Gav and I went to Queens Cafe for brunch.

Queens Cafe is a classic old school cafe, located at the Victoria Road entrance to Queens Park - with shiny red plastic tables, strange decor from another time period and that wonderful organic feeling of a space that has grown into the shop it is rather than having been planned.

I'm afraid however that the breakfast was our least favourite so far - it's been cheapest so far by a fair bit but unfortunately it tasted like it too. With the farmers market just a mere 50m away I had some slight hopes of some tasty gourmet type affair but sadly no and it was the cheap and cheerful variety. Our disappointment over breakfast was short lived though, as the main reason for visiting the cafe was still to come.

The Queens Cafe, for those that don't know, is a bit of a Southside institution for one thing in particular - and that is its ice-cream. It even proudly proclaims on the outside "The best Ice-cream in Glasgow" and they take it very seriously as this extract from a Sunday Herald article about Scottish Ice-cream shows.

"QUEEN'S CAFE, Victoria Road, Glasgow "We're famous for our vanilla," says Marion, the lady behind the counter in this unchanging local legend of a cafe. "In the summer, there's queues down the street for it." She gives us a sample in a cup, and sure enough it is a pure, almost holy thing, ringing 12 bells of pleasure from tongue to belly. Manager and ice-cream maker David Ginesi, whose family has "passed this shop down from relative to relative", explains the basics. "You just heat full milk and fresh cream in the boiler, add sugar and vanilla and some ingredients that I can't really tell you, then churn it and freeze it." I had always felt that vanilla was comparable to the missionary position - enjoyable, but a little bland. I now stand corrected and ashamed."

Now I'm a big ice-cream fan, especially of vanilla and was therefore extremely looking forward to this. I opted for a double cone with vanilla on one side and fruits of the forest on the other. I wasn't a hundred percent sure about the vanilla - might have just been because I usually get a small tub and it being a sunny day the vanilla was melting fast - but the fruits of the forest scoop was fantastic and I highly recommend it if they have it in stock. I also get Ann a wee tub of half vanilla half white chocolate - but it had melted by the time it got back and after refreezing it just wasn't the same.

You can find some more photos of Queens Cafe at the wonderful I like site.

I also found this site which describes Victoria Road. Is an odd wee site - its basically set up to try and provide descriptions and directions to every public area in the UK - not sure how often it is updated.