Babu Bombay Street Kitchen

At the beginning of this month, I was very excited to be travelling up to Glasgow for the first time. I'd heard great reports about the food, the culture, the museums, the bars, and I couldn't wait to finally get to experience it all for myself. Plus, I'd only been to Scotland once before as a wee lass - I'd been itching to return ever since!

Our trip had to begin with a day of work first; luckily our accommodation was in a prime location, so it was fairly easy to find our way around and successfully get through a day packed full of meet and greets.

At last it was five o'clock, and I eagerly tracked down Mr Maggie May so we could start to plan our evening together. Having scoured the internet, our guidebook, as well as recommendations from our friends at People Make Glasgow, we decided to pay Babu Bombay Street Kitchen a visit for dinner. I sent a text to my friend to tell her to meet us there, and off we went!

Situated just off Blythswood Square on West Regent Street, it's hard to spot Babu at first, but once you've got it you can take in the cute fairy lights, the signs for proper chai tea, and the winding steps down to the front door.

It's not a large place; with just a few tables, the setting is intimate, casual but extremely welcoming. We found our friend sipping on what she described as a simply gorgeous cup of chai, and one of the friendly waitresses was quickly over to our table with menus. It's a BYOB establishment, with a small fee for corkage, and in our haste to get there we had neglected to pick something up - but the cups of thick, fragrant mango lassi we chose were amazing, and a perfect accompaniment to our meal.

We decided to order a selection of hot and cold plates to share; the menu is fairly small, but all of the options sounded delicious, and there are daily specials to entice you as well. After lots of indecisiveness from us, we finally settled on four dishes with some rice to share.

The bhel puri arrived first; this was Mr MM and my friend's favourite. The textures were really exciting and very different to Indian food I'd had before - but this was street food, a whole other kettle of fish!

Our other dishes were beetroot patties, pau bhaji, keema pau, and a plate of traditional Glaswegian toasted Morton rolls. (They went surprisingly well with the street food!)

I think my favourite dish was the keema pau; even though I'm not the biggest fan of lamb (as I alluded to here), this plate of lamb mince in a garam masala sauce with peas, red onion, lime juice and coriander was just beautiful - so flavoursome, and the mince was so tender it practically melted on your tongue.

We all went very quiet as we tucked in.

Next time you're in Glasgow, I would definitely recommend coming here for a bite to eat - you can find Babu Bombay Street Kitchen at 186 West Regent Street, Glasgow, G2 4RU, and you can find their website here. If you do decide to pay them a visit (and you most certainly should), don't forget to take some pics and let me know you've been! I'd love to hear what the other dishes are like...

With full tummies and big smiles on our faces, it was time to wave goodbye to Babu, and head off in the direction of a Scottish night cap.

The Pot Still is one of the most famous whisky bars in Glasgow - in fact, in Scotland - and the three of us were very keen to squeeze our way in amongst the locals to try some of the spirits.

With between 500-600 whiskies to choose from, it wasn't an easy decision to make...

Luckily, the friendly bar staff are on hand to ask you what sort of whiskies you like, what flavours you're after, and importantly, what your price range is (seeing as we overhead some single measures going for ~£15 each, I think this is quite important to establish early on!)

After sipping on a few of our barman's suggestions, Mr MM went for a very smoky Ardbeg number, I opted for 12 year old Cardhu, and my friend chose a glass of Cadenhead's Scotch Whisky. All very yummy, and all leaving that all important warmth at the back of your throat.

Once we'd finished our whiskies, we decided to call it a night and head back towards our hotels - but the locals had other plans! A group of wonderfully friendly Glaswegians befriended us, in that welcoming manner that The Pot Still is famous for - and before we knew it, there were more whiskies on the table...