GLASGOW
Dining Tales
Dining Tales is a fascinating vibrant and entertaining lowdown on what makes good, long-lasting restaurants told by some of the leading head chefs and restaurant owners in Glasgow and Scotland’s bustling dining scene.
The book (sub-titled Savoury Stories, Tasty Tales) is a collaboration between two people. Marco Giannasi, who conducted most of the interviews, is an experienced restauranter with nearly 50 years in the trade who transformed a dilapidated former tram halt into the hugely popular and multi-award-winning Battlefield Rest restaurant in Glasgow. Marco also owns several other successful restaurants across Scotland, including one on the isle of Skye.
Alex Meikle, who edited and wrote up the interviews, loves eating out and has dined regularly in a large number of Glasgow’s best restaurants. Therefore, coming from the angle of an experienced restauranter and a veteran customer/diner, both authors believe they are the right people to write and produce this book.
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Over the past few decades, there has been a revolution in the quality and variety of restaurants in Glasgow. Dining Tales hears from those who made that revolution: their journey often from humble beginnings, the sheer hard work involved and the fascinating stories behind the scenes. Dining Tales provides an important insight into the commitment, resilience, and the skillset essential to producing successful and much-loved venues that have transformed Glasgow’s cuisine which are absent from most reviews and other accounts.
Based on interviews with twenty-seven proprietors or head chefs each chapter outlines the background to how the contributors started out, the significant episodes in their journey, including setbacks, to where they are today and how they got there.
Along the way they recall some funny, quirky, and often hair-raising stories. Finally, each chapter concludes with sage words of advice to people thinking of coming into the restaurant business and concludes with each contributor revealing their favourite dish and wine.
Dining Tales will appeal to a wide cross section of people both in Glasgow (not least the many regular diners at the numerous restaurants across Scotland operated by our participants) and much further afield who love food (including “food tourists”) and eat out regularly.
Below: a few of the many faces that have contributed to the Tales within.
