What better time to re explore my dear Glasgae, than Christmas time.
I first heard of The trading house through my friend and fellow blogger Esther. Strong brasserie classics meet modern cocktails, I was intrigued.
I was about to leave town to visit my relatives in France, so the Scot boyfriend and I decided to go on a pre Christmas date.
Walking into The trading house put us right in the mood. Giant christmas tree, long wooden bar with well dressed bartenders at work, live music. The place feels classy, without being intimidating.
We were served by Alistair, whose smile never faded, regardless of the ridiculous amount of questions I had for him.
We both went for the Christmas menu. For starters, Derek chose the chichen liver pâté, radish and pickled veg. Beautiful presentation. The cloche made the whole dish look like a decadant treat. The pâté was topped with ginger crumbs, which we both loved (yes, I steal from his plate. Yes, I starve my boyfriend). Although he was overall pleased with his starter, Derek did not approve of the bread, which broke in his hands whenever he tried to spread the pâté.
I ordered the beetroot and roast pepper salad, walnut dressing and peppered goat's cheese crumb, the healthy option, and was not disappointed. It had a nice kick to it. I personally would have added some walnuts for a bit of crunch.
Now the main. Faithful to his "classic is best" reputation, Derek went with the Traditional roast turkey with all the trimmings, which he thorougly enjoyed. I can tell because no word was spoken for five minutes. But my main... Oh my main. It was recommended to me and I now pass on the gospel to you. All I want for christmas, is those pumpkin ravioli. Seriously. Every day, for ever. Imagine a half moon ravioli, on a bed of gorgeous red pepper oil (thank you Alistair for clearing that up) and topped with lightly fried sage leaves. It was so eye pleasing, and so tasty.
I say we start a petition and demand these become a permanent menu item.
We were almost too full for dessert but once again, our commitment to fattiness got the best of us.
I'm not the biggest fan of dark chocolate, but I was intrigued by the mint sugar in the Orange and bitter chocolate truffle torte with mint sugar. So when Derek said he would have that, a tiny voice inside my head yelled "yay!". "Sure, ok" I said, composed. "I'll have the Sliced apple and almond tart with caramel ice cream". Which was a winner. It had a nice saltiness to the frangipane, which I found really different.The torte was lovely too, but the orange was overpowering (not complaining, I love orange) so we could not taste much of the mint sugar.
Orange juice + pineapple juice+ vodka does not equal a cocktail. It's barely a boozy smoothie.I have struggled to find a decent cocktail recently since most bars do not employ trained bartenders (and get their cocktail recipes from google, I assume). But The trading house cocktail menu is a well thought, inventive, surprising and classy menu.
I am all over floral cocktails at the moment, so I was overexcited when I saw all the choices I had. I picked three (only because I want to show my face here again): the Earl grey and lavender martini, the Rose cosmo and the Lemon and jasmine martini. Three absolute triumph. Fresh, perfumed, a little strong just like I love them. Bf was driving so he had a Watermelon dew: watermelon juice, lime juice, sugar, gomme and lemonade which was served in a cute jam jar glass.
For the beer lovers, they have a whole book (seriously) of beers and they even make their own: Passionate blonde and Pacific pale ale (Alistair's favourite).
In short
The "non": The bread in Derek's starter was disapointing compared to the rest of the plate (and he isn't usually a fussy eater so I trust him)
The "oui": The amazing cocktails, the service (out of this world, thumbs up Alistair), the live piano, the Christmas lights, and, of course, the pumpkin ravioli.
