The Wild Bergamot Restaurant

Mussel Inn !

First, compare: Mussel Inn Rick Stein's Cafe

Staff Little knowledge Knowledgeable

Wine Cold Perfect Temperature

Food Bland Exciting to the pallet

Farmed Fresh from the sea

Two drinks Two drinks

Main course Main course

Bottle of wine Two coffee's

Price £37.50 £37.50

Unfortunately, our expectations of this establishment had been over-rated and when we complained as to the above the reply was: 'Well, we usually don't get complaints' . When asked who own's the Mussel Inn the reply was 'A Swedish man and a fish farmer', Ah said I, hence the reason we were eating underdeveloped scallops no bigger than the nail on my middle finger. As to rendering the faults, what's the point, people will pay as usual and say nothing, things must change.
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Kenny MacIntyre
Thursday, November 08, 2007

Having eaten at the wild bergamot a number of times both as the wild bergamot and gingerhill I have always thouroughly enjoyed the food/ service etc and I just felt I had to write in this review after seeing the one dated 06/02 my partner & I were in the restaurant on saturday 4th february and had a lovely evening, food was firt class, service was a bit tight but they only had one waiter on saturday which is not the norm, so alan was also helping out front as well as the kitchen, he had stubble that night too but I don`t think we have been in at anytime that he hasn`t had stubble, thats just him and it definatly doesn`t scare us away. We have had the Temptations menu on a number of occasions along with the wine flight and it has always been a well thought out interesting choice, wines are correct matches most of the time. We spoke to alan about the "new look" on saturday and he told us there is a little bit still to get done, but he has just got to work through it. I feel the last review was "Overly" critical even nasty and maybe written under the influence... the one critisism I have of the restaurant is it can be slow on occasion but that is a small complaint we can certainly live with
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Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Having read a 'raving review' of The Wild Bergamot restaurant, I couldn't wait to get there to sample the culinary delights ... so we invited friends to join us for the evening. And perhaps that's were I should have left it - at the anticipatory stage!

Let's start with first impressions ... we climbed up the stairs to the very unimposing restaurant entrance - nothing wrong with that, you might say. However, going directly passed the empty bottle and jar cluttered kitchen window - with the obligatory metal bars on it - was more akin to passing the rear entrance of a takeaway on Paisley Road West than of a potential ‘Michelin Starred’ restaurant. But on we went.

We were greeted at the door by Alan Burns, the owner/manager/chef and invited in ... and then told that we would have to go straight to our table because there wasn't room for us in the lounge/bar area. Oh well...

Our host for evening must have been in a rush to get open - he'd forgotten to have a shave. We gave him the benefit of the doubt and presumed that it was a 'designer stubble' look he was trying to acquire. Unfortunately, our chap was more akin to Rab C than George Michael - and I couldn't help but feel that he, and his restaurant image, would have benefited from a really good wash and brush up.

And then there's the decor ... who would seriously put a sheet of stained ply wood half way up the wall and call it a finish?? It just didn't do it for me. It wasn't chic; it wasn't 'natural' - it looked just like stained ply [and it could have delivered a nasty skelf to the uninformed].

Our table was right next to the hatch into the kitchen. Which was interesting. Not particularly pleasant, but interesting. I felt as though I should have been in there doing the washing up, or better still, pulling a blind down.

But now to the food. We opted for the 'Temptations Menu' - billed as a taste of everything, with specially chosen wines to accompany each of the courses. Set price - £70 per head. Yep ... £70! Oh, were we looking forward to this – it had to be good!!!

And then it arrived. Nouvelle Cuisine In Extremis. Yes, there were 8 or 9 courses - but 3 of these were tiny tequila shot glasses of vegetable sorbet or mascarpone cheese. They reminded me of the ‘unusual’ pureed vegetables that I used to prepare for my daughter when she was being weaned. I think that one of our other courses was lamb - although from the 3 tiny 'fillet' arranged on a teaspoonful of chopped lettuce, it looked more as though it was a prime cut of hamster. Delicious – and it didn’t taste like chicken either.

The food generally was pleasant - although with only 2 mouthfuls of anything, it was pretty hard to tell. Granted, it was nicely presented - but then so is my food.

The wines were good, albeit the glasses few and far between. So much so, that we had to order an extra bottle to sip at whilst we waited - and waited - for our next course. And that course was spectacular!! Our waiter apologised profusely for the delay, and explained that the preparation had taken longer than expected. "Mmmm", we thought, "this is when they'll bring out the real food. Maybe some lovely fresh scallops - or a delicately cooked lemon sole?"

But no - 4 tiny raw anchovies on another teaspoon of shredded lettuce - but this time garnished with a minute slice of spring onion and a drop of soy sauce. I'm afraid that the 'preparation' comment was just too much for one of our guests who enquired politely whether chef had spent the previously 30 minutes trying to catch the little blighters out of the tank with a shrimp net. Oh, how we laughed ... until we realised that only two of us had a hardy enough constitution to swallow our wee finned friends. I couldn't help but think of that classic sketch in A Fish Called Wanda when Kevin Klein is tormenting the poor hapless Michael Palin …

And the night went on. We all smiled bravely and cheerily claimed that it was ‘an interesting experience’. Our guests out of politeness, and us out of sheer embarrassment.

I have to say that the dark chocolate mini-tart dessert was lovely – but I’m not quite sure why it was served with yet another tequila shot glass of cold watery drinking chocolate. Yuk. The coffee duly arrived – only one cup, mind you, and no offer of a refill or a brandy.

Our host seemed keen to hurry us out of the door at the end of the evening. I suspect that he was waiting to have a laugh, having given us a bill for £500 for a meal for 6, and having received payment!! We perhaps should have said something at the time – but how can you when you have guests with you??

All in all, a lesson learned. I remember when I first moved to Milngavie, one of my more down to earth colleagues had said that there was an element [and only an element] of Milngavie that was a bit superficial. In his words “All fur coat and nae knickers”. I can’t help but think that Mr Burns has put his restaurant into this category. Far too ambitious, with too little substance behind it. But at the end of the day, who’s the bigger fool?? A case of the Emperor’s New Clothes??
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Monday, February 06, 2006