As the title of this post suggests, my home city of Glasgow does indeed love Christmas. Glasgow’s stores, restaurants and city council go all out for the festive season and I think it’s great.
The hub of the Glasgow Christmas action is definitely George Square. It’s decked out in lights and has a temporary Christmas carnival and ice-skating rink. At the kind invitation of Glasgow Loves Christmas, I visited George Square last week to soak up the atmosphere and have a skate on the ice rink. Glasgow On Ice is open until Thursday 31st December and a standard adult ticket to skate costs £9. There are lots of concessions available too, and it’s essential that you book online to guarantee there is room on the day you plan to visit.
After skating I headed across the road to new restaurant The Trading House for dinner with my husband. You can really make a whole night of your visit to George Square at Christmastime. They specialise in cocktails and have an extensive menu, so I opted to try one of their long cocktails- the Sangria Rose (£7.50). It was a delicious and very refreshing mix of rosé wine, elderflower liqueur, Cointreau, grenadine, fresh mint, strawberry puree and lemonade.
For our starters we had Pan-Fried Garlic Mushrooms with Truffle Butter & Crusty Bread (£4.95) and Baked Camembert with Fruit & Flatbread (£6.95). Both were lovely and just the right size so as not to fill us up before the main event.
One of the unique selling points of The Trading House is their hanging kebabs, so for my main course I had the Beef Kebab with Sweet Chilli, Ginger & Garlic Butter (£13.95). This was truly magnificent- the butter gets poured over the kebab at the top and trickles right down onto the bowl of fries that comes with it underneath. You get a great amount of lean meat on the kebab as well as some grilled mushrooms and red pepper. My husband chose the Malaysian Vegetable Curry (£9.95). I obviously had to try some for research purposes and for a restaurant that doesn’t specialise in Asian cuisine, it was very tasty and authentic.
I was the only one who had dessert (again, this was most definitely for research purposes only) and I chose to try one of the sweet versions of their hanging kebabs. The Strawberry & Marshmallow Kebab with Sailor Jerry Chocolate Sauce & Ice Cream (£4.95) was delicious, but the solitary one scoop of ice cream did look a little sad and lonely. The marshmallows were perfectly toasted and the chocolate sauce was delightfully boozy.
If you are at a loose end this festive season, there is plenty to occupy you in Glasgow and to put you in a sparkly mood. Why not copy my night with a loved one of your choice?
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