When the weather is rotten, the hangover is in full swing and the back to work fear starts to set in, there's nothing more comforting than a good old Sunday lunch (or dinner, depending on how bad that hangover really is...)
That's exactly what me and Uncle Greig did a couple of weekends ago at The Hope bar and eatery. Situated just behind Glasgow Central Station on Waterloo Street, it was a super handy location to hop off the train and not venture too far in the Scottish drizzle. Greig moved to Edinburgh last year and we've both got super busy jobs which means we don't get to see each other as much as we'd like to! So some food, drink and a catch up in the cosiest wee setting was just what the doctor ordered for a miserable Sunday.
You're pretty spoiled for choice with The Hope's food menu, and it was a mighty hard decision to choose between doing a starter and main, or main and dessert. We chose the latter (fuelled my my sugar tooth as usual) and actually ended up sharing a dessert as the main meals were so filling! No way we could have done 3 courses, but next time I've got my eye on their grazing platters (because I'm one of these people who like having a lil' bit of everything) Greig went for the Baked Goats Cheese Salad with toasted walnuts, caramelised apple and a balsamic glaze, with a side of sweet potato fries, which he really enjoyed. I always worry about choosing salads at restaurants for the fear that they'll be mostly leaf with very little of everything else, but this one looked absolutely loaded with nuts, apple and cheese in every forkful.
Needing the ultimate comfort food, I HAD to go for the Steak Pie. It usually comes with baby potatoes but I had a craving for good old skinny fries and The Hope were more than happy to deliver. The whole thing was just so damn good. Golden puff pastry, crispy on the top and all soft underneath with tender steak and a bangin' gravy (which I did pour over my chips at the end) It came in a cute little dish and I quite liked having a personal mini steak pie rather than a slice of a bigger one which normally ends up sliding across the whole plate. It was extremely filling as I mentioned before, so we ended up having coffee and just sharing a dessert. We went for the Daim Bar Tart with warm chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream, which was essentially the exact same one as I've had before from Ikea and Tesco. I did feel like £5 for a slice was a little steep, as you can buy the whole cake for £3! But that's literally my only 'hmm' about our visit and it's not even a bad one. You can end up thinking that about anything and everything when it comes to a restaurant and you're eating/drinking something which is shop bought rather than home made (the price of a bottle of wine or a cup of coffee too compared to what you could buy for at home, I know there's always going to be a mark up on these things!) £5 is totally reasonable for a dessert in a nice city centre location, but perhaps it would have been nice if The Hope had done their own home-made spin on the daim cake.
So all in all, I'd definitely go back to The Hope! The food was lovely, the staff were really pleasant and it was such a convenient location to just hop on the train afterwards. If you're meeting a pal in town and want somewhere really handy with good food, nibbles, drinks and coffee, then you won't be disappointed with The Hope.
Now my dears, it's time for a wee Sunday night bath and bed before another busy day at work lined up tomorrow. I've only got two weeks left on The Wife, and think I'll actually be quite sad when filming is over. It's been an incredible project to work on and the time has flown by so quickly. Admittedly I am looking forward to a bit of time up and catching up with my nearest and dearest. Bring on the Christmas shopping and festivities! Thanks for all your kind messages too about my wee Mum being in hospital, she's finally home now and it's definitely reinforced for me that we can't take our health (or this life in general) for granted ♥
Have a great week everyone, you got this!
