Brel (Ashton Lane)

What: Bar/Restaurant
For: Dinner
With: Friend
Site: Here

I must have wandered past Brel a hundred times, and I've probably thought "I should try that place some time" at least 20 of those times. As usual, I'm drawn by the cheap lunch offers I've seen them advertising, on this occasion though, I actually went for dinner.

We'd decided that we wanted to eat out, but not dress up, so the West End seemed like a good plan, and Ashton Lane was probably the best choice, since we're students, and as such looked student-y. In Ashton Lane, this means you look like you belong there.

My student-y tendencies meant that I was uninterested in the concept of parting with more of my cash than I had to. We had not at this point decided where to go, and it was getting a little late, so I looked on 5pm.co.uk for places in the West End that had offers. Brel had a set "5pm Special Menu." It was inexpensive, and they still had tables available, so we went for it.

We were seated at a small table in the corner, but felt in no way that we had been pushed to one side. The staff were friendly and attentive, and the clientele were clearly enjoying themselves. This is another place with an extensive beer list, we were handed the 5pm menu and a beer menu (note no wine, the website tells me they do serve wine, but I couldn't find it. Soft drinks and the odd cider were available, though).

Since the offer was for a two courses for a set price, we agreed to share a starter and a desert, and get a main each. It's a system that works well for me. After ordering our interesting beers (I think mine was called Barbar or something, it was good; sweet and orange-y) we ordered some mussels to start.

I like mussels, though they might be something of an acquired taste, and I have to say, if you'd like to acquire it, there are worse places than Brel to try. It turns out that they're quite proud of them, and rightly so. Ours were served in a garlic and white wine sauce, and were very moreish. I would happily have ordered the main-size portion on another occasion.

For main I chose the pork loin, and Euan chose the sausages. To me his dish looked like glorified bangers and mash, which he confirmed that it was, but that didn't seem to put him off. I suspect that it was in fact one of the lesser options on the menu. The pork loin was delightful though, tender enough that I almost felt sorry for it. I don't order pork often, but I can't criticise it here at all.

Finally we shared the Belgian waffle, and I finally realised that it was a Belgian restaurant. The beers had not been enough of a clue for me, it seems. The portion sizes had been huge, and we were both, technically, quite full. However, as you know, desert goes in a different space in the human stomach (basic anatomy) so we struggled on.

Euan felt it was the best dish, I am forced to disagree - it was good, and in fact ideal to follow what I'd already eaten, but I'm not much of a sweet tooth, and I felt it paled a little when compared to both the pork and the mussels. I don't regret ordering it, but it wasn't quite that spectacular.

I've heard bad things about their lunch options, which is a shame, because I've now looked at the menus on the website, and have found that it's actually a little pricey there. I know that I didn't pay anywhere near that much, and while it was excellent, unless it was a special occasion my student budget would make a revisit prohibitive.

My suggestion if you'd like to go would be to look on 5pm.co.uk, like I did, and try to find an offer. Do go though, because the usually high prices of the food are high for a good reason, there's no question that the quality of the food is quite excellent.

Oh, and if you were there for the rum tasting night that they were doing the evening I left Glasgow (18th August) tell me all about it, and I'll do my best not to murder you out of jealousy. I hope they do another.