CITATION
40 WILSON Street, Glasgow
Lunch £10-£15
Dinner £25-£30
Food rating 8/10
FACED with the same menu, we
all make different choices. I can bet one friend
will always choose the same things; smoked salmon
to begin, then either steak or fish and chips.
He is a creature of habit and convention who seeks
familiarity. Another regular dining out partner
has a thing about truffle oil; if there's anything
with this pungent ingredient then he has to have
it. My niece, on the other hand, avoids it like
the plague. It's too overwhelming a flavour, she
says. Then there are the people who avoid whole
categories of food, such as fish, based on some
childhood prejudice and never reconsider their
decision. One mate says she likes eating out with
me because I encourage her to go for dishes that
are a bit more adventurous. Being an infrequent
eater-out, she tends to play safe. Leave her to
choose in a Chinese restaurant and she'll come
out having eaten the lemon chicken, still curious
about how the rice congee might have tasted.
At the risk of sounding like
a spoiled, decadent restaurant critic, the thing
I strive to avoid is boredom. Believe me, 99%
of restaurant menus are samey and derivative,
just like a class where everyone has used the
same crib notes. You don't notice it when you
eat out occasionally, but when you scan as many
menus as I do, you can't help thinking that most
chefs and restaurateurs live in a little goldfish
bowl, copying each other's dishes. You get weird
little self-referential foodie sub-cultures. Aberdeen's
restaurateurs, for instance, seem obsessed with
Caesar salad. Then there are nationwide trends.
Currently it's wall-to-wall sea bass. Desserts
generally represent the lamest, least imaginative,
portfolio of choice. Just think of all the desserts
in the world, and wonder why we get fixated on
sticky toffee pudding, lemon tart (with almost
invariably soggy pastry) and crème brulée.
At Citation in Glasgow, an extremely comfortable
restaurant in a handsome former court building
in the Merchant City, there are signs of a slightly
more independent mind in the kitchen, somebody
who reads classic cook books rather than apeing
the menu of the guy across the road. I can't remember
when I last saw that US classic, oysters Rockefeller,
on a Scottish menu, but it makes great sense here,
especially in winter when we crave warmth. Mine
were absolutely luscious, the slippery bivalve
still gloriously juicy under its grilled crust
of spinach, parmesan, breadcrumbs and Pernod.
Across the table, some lateral thinking had been
applied to the pleasing - but by now quite familiar
- combo of ham hock and lentils, with these two
harmonious ingredients stuffed into a robust fritter
batter, its potential heaviness foiled by a salad
of sweet roasted beetroot, flat parsley and caper
berries, alongside a nicely fondant red onion
chutney.
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For a main course, I was drawn
to the ubiquitous sea bass because it came with
chermoula, that enlivening north African marinade/sauce
- a great recipe for anyone who finds fish dull
or who is unsure about how to cook it. Citation
made a good job of it, producing a fresh, green,
invigorating rough emulsion with all the right
ingredients: lemon, coriander and other leafy
herbs, spring onions and cumin. The kitchen here
also knows how to season things up correctly,
as both the fish and the crunchy golden fried
potatoes beneath it testified.
Our other main course was less
sure-footed, as though someone had strayed from
the menu description of "chargrilled calf's
liver with celeriac purée, watercress and
salsa verde". The latter is, of course, another
of the world's great accompaniments: a finely
chopped blend of herbs, anchovies, olive oil and
lemon, generally served in Italy with "bollito
misto" (boiled meats). Here, though, the
green elements that would have lightened the dish
seemed to have got lost in a thick, rich brown
sauce and the distinctive celeriac had lost out
to the starchy potato. It was still reasonable,
but didn't live up to its billing.
To end, the inevitable crème
brulée had been given a successful makeover.
The top was covered in shattered peanut brittle
and the toasted peanut taste infused the custard.
A dark horse, but a winner. A better-than-average
lemon tart was elevated from ubiquity by a delightful
spiced sultana and pine nut compote.
Citation isn't exactly radical
in its thinking, but at least it's fresh.
Book
your table now!
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