All shook up

Partick West is an area most familiar to students living in and around the Hyndland, Jordanhill, Anniesland and Crow Road areas of Glasgow. A little outside the expensive and hugely popular Byres Road area, a wide range of excellent – and equally not so excellent – restaurants and bars offer prices way below what you would expect from upmarket bistros in the direct vicinity of the University of Glasgow.

Near Thornwood roundabout, Bibi’s Mexican cuisine and the St Louis Café are both excellent examples of restaurants proving you don’t need to venture through Ashton Lane to find exceptional-quality dining. Arguably the biggest influence on this area’s resurgence has been the growth of tapas bar Pintxo, sister restaurant Criterion and of course the latest addition to the family, Velvet Elvis.

Situated on Dumbarton Road near to the Partick Harbour development, Velvet Elvis is a well-designed bar set in the old James Burrow’s Butcher shop. The bar area still maintains a host of original features, including the white tiled walls adorned with original artwork and butcher’s paraphernalia.

Unlike The Butchershop Bar, previously reviewed here in The Journal, the feel is much more authentic – it is plainly obvious that a lot of thought and consideration has gone into the design and creation of Velvet Elvis as the old phone next to the reservations book testifies.

The staff are attentive and genuinely friendly, giving rise to the impression they enjoy working at Velvet Elvis, which isn’t surprising considering the excellent 70s and 80s indie tunes the old-school jukebox had to offer. Punters are free to dine in the bar area, although reservations must be made for the cosy, bare-brick restaurant to the rear of the bar.

Menus are served on the back of old 12” vinyl LPs – disappointingly, the good lady got Velvet Underground while I had to settle with a 70s complication album from the hit parade. Similarly, the toilets have no signs indicating male or female – you’re either a Mother Theresa or a Gandhi.

Thankfully, as much thought and effort has gone into the food, which features a wide variety of locally-sourced meat and fish, including Scottish salmon in the fishcake starter.

Often, fishcakes are padded out with huge amounts of mashed potato but these were superb – large flakes of salmon fillet with fresh crab meat mingled with fluffy herb mash. The crust was crispy but not greasy and just the right texture.

Opposite was a starter that could be described only as a mini cooked breakfast – Stornoway black pudding with chunks of cooked ham and a quail’s egg, the delicately cooked gooey centre an excellent complement to the crisp black pudding.

For main course, the cottage pie is a certainty while my better half enjoyed her chicken burger with cheese and bacon. The marinade on the chicken breast was absolutely perfect – just blackening the edges whilst keeping the meat soft and juicy, and the portion of hand-cut potato wedges was enormous.

The cottage pie, accompanied by cabbage smothered in melted butter, was laced through with crispy pieces of ham. Even if not a cabbage fan by any means, this was pure vegetable indulgence. The mashed potato topping on the pie was browned perfectly, sitting on top of a sea of sweet mince and super-rich gravy. Perhaps a little on the sticky side for some, though that shouldn't stop visitors devouring it in quick-fire fashion.