14 hours ago
I tried Glasgow's newest food and drink tour
Gillian says she was inspired to start the business as the loves 'doing food tours everywhere I go' and wanted to combine the city's food scene with its history.
She told the Glasgow Times: 'I did my first ever food tour in New York in 2008 and I just got hooked and thought this would be a great idea to set up in Glasgow.'
She continued: 'I thought it would be great to combine the two [food and history] because Scotland's produce is amazing, and it's not always recognised, and Glasgow's history is really interesting. We love sharing stories of Glasgow's past.
'I also wanted to support local and independent businesses. You don't get many about these days so it's great to support them as well as the local community and economy.'
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Mercat Cross (Image: David Dixon via The Merchant City Stroll, which launched in April, was developed alongside Visit Glasgow with Gillian using sources such as Slow Food Glasgow's Sustainable Food Directory to develop a route around the oldest part of the city.
She explained: 'I looked at the route and how it would not only cover local and sustainable produce but also logistics, looking at how I would incorporate the city's history into the tour.
'This tour is all about great food and drink, trying traditional and multicultural tastings - it's a city of many cultures. The businesses I work with focus on sustainable produce.'
She added: 'We not only want locals to come and enjoy their city, but also want visitors to come and explore the city the way I see it. Glasgow's got so much to offer.'
Saint Mungo mural (Image: Newsquest) The Merchant City Stroll starts at the Mercat Cross where I met our tour guide Rae, who was a fountain of knowledge on Glasgow's history. I was on the tour alongside a family of four visiting from the USA.
Our first stop was a short walk around the corner to coffee shop and bakery Outlier on London Road.
Outlier, which opened in 2022, makes all of their baked goods on site. Here we were each given a coconut macaroon which gives a nod to multicultural influences in Scottish cuisine.
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Macaroons at Outlier (Image: Newsquest) This is not my favourite sweet treat but on taking a bit I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one.
It was nice and moist with the perfect amount of coconut flavour for me.
On leaving Outlier, we headed into the historic Barras and to Crossbill Distilling, who have been producing their range of award-winning Scottish gins in the city since 2017and are the only distillery in the country to source their own juniper berries in Scotland.
A sample of Crossbill Green Dry Gin at Crossbill Distilling (Image: Newsquest) I didn't plan on sipping on straight gin before 12pm - specifically their Green Dry which takes on the flavours of blue and red juniper berries and juniper needles - but it was surprisingly smooth, and you could pick up the fresh flavour from the needles.
Our next stop was at the award-winning Bare Bones chocolate which came at the perfect time as it gave us an escape from a heavy dump of rain which started suddenly (but thankfully stopped just as quickly).
At this stop, we were able to sample their chocolate and we each got a hot chocolate with a homemade marshmallow and were told a little about the process.
Hot chocolate at Bare Bones Chocolate (Image: Newsquest) The hot chocolate was really rich and was a nice size, and I liked having the freedom to choose what chocolate we sampled.
The second half of the tour was a much more food heavy as we made our way to Merchant Square for stop number three Table Twenty Eight.
We were served a small portion of Barra scallops with asparagus and squid ink risotto, which gives a nod to the city's Italian population and influence. The scallops were perfectly cooked, and the risotto and asparagus were delicious.
Scallops, asparagus at risotto at Table Twenty Eight (Image: Newsquest) We then made a quick dash across the road to Mharsanta where we each got a taste of Stobcross Lowland Single malt whiskey, a small bowl of Cullen skink and shared some plates of haggis, neeps and tatties with a whisky cream sauce.
The Cullen skink in particular stood out to me here, it was creamy and full of flavour with a lot of smoked haddock flakes in the portion.
Haggis, neeps & tatties and Cullen skink (Image: Newsquest) For our final food stop, we headed out east again to Drygate brewery where we had a small portion of fish and chips (well, skinny fries) with a glass of their Seven Peaks IPA which is also in the batter.
The batter was nice and crisp with delicious flaky fish, and by the end of this last stop I was officially stuffed.
Fish and chips at Drygate (Image: Newsquest) Throughout the tour we also stopped at sites such as The Barras, Glasgow Cathedral, the Necropolis, and St Andrews in the Square, as well as seeing several of the city's murals including the Big Yin, Saint Mungo and Fellow Glasgow Residents.
I really enjoyed the balance of history and food and learnt a lot of interesting facts about Glasgow I didn't know thanks to Rae and I found there to be a good mix of dishes on the tour.
Although the tour was four hours, with the stops spaced out how they were it was about 5000 steps in total so it wasn't a tiring walk.
Both the Merchant City and West End tours are limited to a maximum of 10 people on each tour, and think being on a small tour better for being able to hear Rae, as well as for being able to chat with other guests.
Archive image of Glasgow Cathedral (Image: Supplied) My tour-mates have done several food and drink tours in different cities, with them saying the Boston Food Tour would be hard to beat.
So, what did they think of the Merchant City Stroll?
'This is our favourite one we've ever done,' they said, also praising the mix of food and history.
Next time I have friends visiting from outside Glasgow and I'm not sure where to take them, I think this would be the perfect option.
The Merchant City Stroll takes place Monday to Thursday and Saturday and costs £95 per person.
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