• 17 hours ago
Ubiquitous Chip is a much-loved cornerstone of Ashton Lane, with a reputation for the best of Scottish produce, award-winning wine service and idiosyncratic, artist-led interiors.

Ubiquitous Chip has welcomed guests including Michael Keaton, Billy Connolly, Kylie Minogue, Keira Knightley, Lewis Capaldi, Kelly Macdonald and Craig Ferguson - the latter two are both former employees.

We visited The Chip to try the tasting menu devised by head chef Doug Lindsay. Join us for lunch.
Transcript
00:00Hello and welcome to the Abictus Chip. It's Saturday afternoon, we're out for lunch.
00:05Today we're going to have the tasting menu. Abictus Chip has become a bit of a
00:10byword for hospitality in Glasgow. It's been around since 1971. It started off on the
00:15other side of Byers Road then moved here to Ashton Lane. At the time this was a
00:19collection of coach houses, workshops. It certainly wasn't the destination that it
00:26has become over the last decades. Now Ashton Lane is full of bars and restaurants and cafes
00:32and is a bustling hub, especially for students from the University of Glasgow and also West End
00:39residents. This restaurant itself over the last 20 years when Doug Lindsay has been in the kitchen
00:46has really solidified its reputation as putting together the best Scottish
00:52produce, raiding the larder of the country. Whether it's the best seafood or the best game
00:57or the best meat from local suppliers and they turn it into something really quite special.
01:03Upstairs there's the bar area. Some people just know it from popping into the chip for a pint.
01:10There's also the brasserie upstairs and the mezzanine where you have a slightly more relaxed
01:14kind of, it's where families will pop into or people will just pop into for a bite to eat.
01:18The restaurant down here has always been the main hub of the restaurant. There's a taste menu
01:25that we're trying today but also there's an a la carte menu that's on through all the time. It's
01:29where people come for dates, it's where people come to celebrate their graduation, people be
01:33married here. It's really an important room, an important dining room for the city. Today we're
01:40just going to find out what's on the menu for the tasty menu. We're starting off with sea trout
01:45pastrami, celeriac remoulade and apple. So I'm going to try that and we can see what happens next.
01:52The story so far, so sea trout pastrami, great way to start, really just a nice bit of fish.
01:59After that there's a bit of a wild card course. We had a, it was like an onion soup with seaweed
02:06dashi. You see I'm still thinking about the seaweed dashi, it was really interesting.
02:10On the side there was like a cheese crumpet. I think someone in the kitchen thought about that
02:14a lot and probably tried a fair bit to get it right. It was a really interesting dish
02:19and came alive when it was paired with the wine that was served alongside it.
02:25Then came Shetland cods which was just fantastic, served with fennel, vermouth cream, cockles and
02:30salmon flair. It's a beautiful dish, it pretty much sums up everything that is good about the
02:36chip and Scottish cooking. Fantastic ingredients, served with flair, cooked with precision.
02:44Enjoyed that and it's onwards now to the next part of the tasting menu.
02:50We've now had a steamed ox bun, quite like a bao bun, served with teriyaki and cashew nuts.
02:59Now on to a little more venison, this is when things get serious.
03:03Now I've got some highland venison serving gnocchi and wild garlic which has just come into season.
03:09Here we go, let's bring you up to date now. The venison was, it's just a really solid Scottish
03:20brilliant dish. This great Scottish produce cooked really well, it's what you kind of expect from here
03:25and one of the reasons that people have been coming back for the last 40 odd years.
03:30Then there was a bit of a wild card course again, it was like a cheese course but it was
03:35Tet Des Moines swift cheese on taffy bread. Unexpected, the cheese was amazing, served with a
03:43really nice sherry. After that the sea buckthorn meringue tart which was a wee tiny little
03:50sweet thing that was amazing. After that dessert, sesame and caramelised white chocolate gâteau with
03:57banana ice cream. After that, that's us done. It's a reminder of why this is one of my favourite
04:03places to eat in Glasgow. It's a place that really showcases great Glasgow hospitality.
04:11There's a lot going on, I mean in the background there's been people coming and going in the
04:14restaurant, there's people sitting outside, there's people upstairs in the bar. There's a lot
04:19going on at the Abictus Chip and yeah, I've certainly enjoyed my taste of menu. Cheers!

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