Cottiers is a wonderful Glasgow venue – I absolutely love sitting in their bar and beer garden when I’m in the area as it’s just so beautiful and has such character! The old church building with a rugged garden, fairy lights and lanterns! It’s beautiful. I only learned last year that they had a restaurant upstairs: Leiper’s Attic. Since my first visit, it is a restaurant I hold in high regard. You can see my original review here.
I just LOVE the ambience here. Candles, fairy lights and lanterns everywhere. It’s a gorgeous setting for a cosy meal! It’s very romantic!
Shout out to the homemade bread served with sun-dried tomato butter – it’s unbelievable. I just love it!
The menu has a concise range of dish categories, but they have a great range of dishes – a mixture of steaks, seafood, game and roasts. If you clicked my above link, you’ll see that I ate a very hearty menu on my first visit – steak, duck, venison and pigeon! This time around I tried out some seafood options and desserts rather than sides!
Our amuse-bouche was a Potato & Parmesan Espuma with crispy Pancetta. The flavour was very rich with a hearty cheese flavour, yet it was lighter than air! As a cheese lover I could’ve eaten it indefinitely!
Langoustine Ravioli
This was absolutely to die for! The definite highlight of my meal! The ravioli parcel was absolutely stuffed with beautiful langoustine meat and was served in a shallow bowl surrounded by cubes of cured mackerel. The bold orange langoustine bisque flavoured with lemongrass was amazing – I couldn’t resist mopping it up with bread. This is an absolute must-try!
Rabbit Terrine
I can be very hit and miss with rabbit, and also hit and miss with terrine. The chefs absolutely nailed it. The chunks of meat were cooked so perfectly that the meat was delicately flaked. The terrine was sprinkled with a pistachio crumb and served with pickled wild mushrooms which I didn’t actually take a taste of! This is another must-try – it was moreish in its deliciousness!
Wild Halibut
This fillet perfectly cooked and was served with creamed leeks, roast salsify (very similar to parsnip), bone barrow gnocchi, and lardo (a flavoured meat fat). I enjoyed this dish well enough, but truthfully, it was pretty bland – even to look at. When it was placed in front of me I didn’t think ‘Ooh!’ like I did with my ravioli. The gnocchi were probably a bit too big and doughy, so they were pretty dry and tasteless – in general the dish was a bit bland and had an oily flavour and mouthfeel. It’s a dish with so much potential but it lacks in colour which is directly linked to the flavour profile feeling incomplete. A few tweaks and it would be gorgeous.
Wild Sea Bass
This dish was definitely better than the halibut. The gorgeously cooked sea bass was served with chestnut purée, roast chestnut, crispy potato terrine and salsa verde. The dish ran the risk of being similarly mild flavoured but the kick of salsa verde was well placed.
This was a pre-dessert of a pistachio biscuit, lemon curd and strawberry ice cream. It was mouth-wateringly tart yet soft and sweet. I really loved the strawberry ice cream as you could taste that it was homemade with real strawberries. Gorgeous.
Dark Chocolate & Salted Caramel Delice
This was very – dangerously – easy to eat! A beautiful flavour which was just rich enough but not too rich or sickly! The milk ice cream was really lovely and mild, and matched the dish perfectly. I felt that the texture of the chocolate layer on top was a little too much on the chewy side and was hard to break with the spoon, and the mousse was a bit gritty – it wasn’t horrible, but noticeable. Not that it stopped me over-eating it! I love the use of the pistachio crumb again for a pinch of colour.
Plum & Vanilla Sponge
This is a gorgeous dessert. And I mean gorgeous. The plum and vanilla sponge was beautifully sweet and delicate and was topped with roasted plums. Some slices of plum were either not ripe enough or not roasted enough so I left them which was annoying. It was served with some sort of sorbet which I didn’t like – it just wasn’t to my taste so if I order it again (which I totally would) I’d perhaps ask for ice cream or a different sorbet to suit me. The dish was also served with creme patisserie which worked gorgeously – the dish needed that creamy element.
My first review was a rave review and I definitely notice that this review is much more mixed. In terms of meat and game, Leiper’s Attic are up there *points*, and the rest of the dishes just need a tweak to match that high standard. I still absolutely love the restaurant – such a beautiful setting with a very calm pace and ambience, in addition to very well prepared food. I’ll definitely go back!… and not just for that tomato butter which I love so dearly!
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Cottiers, 93-95 Hyndland St, Glasgow, G11 5PU
@LeipersAttic
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