Billiant Beaujolais

Every now and again along comes a wine that's what wine's all about. Wine for which there's never a good enough reason not to open another bottle. This is such a wine.

It's a screaming Roman orgy of fruity lushness and on offer in Waitrose for £6.99. I've 'sipped' a third of a bottle writing this far {*} and I'm cursing myself for not buying more.

Pour into a goldfish bowl size glass, or a goldfish bowl, and inhale intoxicating perfume as sweet red velvety fruit caresses the palette. Togas optional.

Louis Jadot Beaujolais-Villages 2009: On offer just now: Waitrose £6.99

Probably the only Oddbins store The Clash ever played

This was the first Oddbins to open in Glasgow. Way back in 1971. So I'm really glad it's one of the few that survived the chain's recent meltdown and subsequent sale. The sign inside was painted in 1982 and saved from the skip of another store that didn't make it.

It's been a weird few months for the staff. And the customers. For ages there was no new wine, then, not very much wine at all, then, briefly, some old, knackered and shockingly over priced stuff the new owners were clearing from a warehouse. Then, finally, after months of popping in, this weekend... there was wine. New wine too. With the promise of more to come on a weekly basis.

This being Woodlands you can choose your own vinyl soundtrack for browsing.

Although, if you'd been here on a certain evening in 1982, there'd have been no need. Apparently, after drinking in The Halt and popping into Oddbins for a carry out, The Clash delivered an impromptu performance right outside the door. On this very spot.

Aside from The Clash, a lot of other 'characters' shop here...

A bag of Cuban tobacco. Perhaps left over from an over ambitious 'roll your own' scheme?

Manager Ross recommended one of the new arrivals. A Spanish Verdejo for £6. Lovely stuff. A bit like that moment when a sherbet lemon release the first burst of sherbet.

I drank far too much of it while cooking porcini I'd picked earlier in the day. It's a great thirst quencher.

I'd like to pretend I was listening to this while cooking. But I wasn't. A friend and his friend playing a Clash tune on a ukulele made from a Cuban cigar box. How apt.

Barbecued Bison

There I am, on an Italian hillside in the middle of no-where, sipping wine and contemplating tomorrow's lunch, when up pops this. An emergency situation had arisen. So, within 12 hours of being back in Glasgow, I'm offering assistance while sitting in the epitome of a Glasgow West End tenement garden.

The only downside of these marvellous old tenements is if you happen to stay on the top floor and forget something for the BBQ.

Claire's mother farms bison along the coast near Aberdeen. Bison are the animals I always thought were buffalo. Anyway, we had some steak and sausages.

Truly delicious. Like a cross between beef and venison.

The Saumur's on offer in Waitrose just now. Suits chilling and is a slurpy, fruity refresher. Well worth it's offer price of just over a fiver. Click here for the offer online where it's even cheaper.

Cannoli

Here's a brace of cannoli. Served up by an apron clad woman in Ventimiglia. A lethargically shady border town that's forgotten the borders gone.

The shop made and sold a lot of good looking pastries and some bizarre but tasty biscuits.

CLICK HERE FOR THEIR WEBSITE

Sea Trout for Dinner

Before industrialisation you couldn't walk through a puddle without standing on a salmon. Service staff had it written into contracts that they wouldn't get fed it more than twice a week. Pollution put an end to that when scarcity made it expensive. Then came salmon farming. In some of the country's most beautiful locations they mastered the intensive rearing of fatty fish whose flesh was only pink because of the dye in the food. The price plummeted and at one point the cheapest fish you could buy in Billingsgate Market was farmed salmon.

The wild fish is a different beast and a hell of a lot more expensive.

Wild Scottish salmon fillet was going for £34 a kilo in MacCallums yesterday. Luckily for me, wild Scottish sea trout fillet, which this is, was just £24 a kilo. I much prefer it's subtler flavour.

Impulse led me to pick up a few embellishments... samphire grass and squat lobsters.

Poached the squat lobsters in salty water, shelled them and used some of the cooking liquor in the samphire grass 'coulis'... how very retro.

The sea trout got pan fried, skin side down for a fair bit to get it nice and crispy. Oh and I scaled it first. The squat lobsters were warmed through in butter.

Went for a bottle of Gewurztraminer because I've become obsessed with trying to find unexpected things it goes with. I even put a few slices of ginger in the coulis to help marry food and wine. This Gewurz cost about £8 in Costco and was lovely.

But it didn't go with the dish. It was just too sweet and exotic, all loukoumi and lychee. Oh well, maybe I'll try powdered ginger next time.

Bargain White Soave from the Co-op

It costs four pounds and twenty five pence. A figure that seems ancient for something worthwhile. If time travel was an option, for the same money, you could splash out on the world's first car, your grandparent's house, a slap up meal in a Hovercraft (for two)... or... a drinkable wine from a decade ago.

Given the exchange rate, I have absolutely no idea how the Co-op sells this so cheap. It can't be easy 'co-operating' with grape farmers, wine makers and shippers at this price. This Soave is not sophisticated and smells of little, but it tastes of pears and grapefruit and goes down a treat. What an incredible bargain.

Soave 2010: The co-operative's own label: £4.25

Good News for Glasgow - new independent wine shop coming soon

At the risk of sounding oxymoronic, I've heard a substantial rumour that the former Oddbins store by Kelvinbridge will shortly re-open as an independent wine shop. Apparently the site belongs to the family who have the La Parmigiana restaurant next door and they'd just been leasing it to Oddbins.

Now, with Oddbins gone, they've decided to have a shot at running a wine shop themselves. So hopefully there'll be some interesting Italian wines to try. According to the rumour, they're re-employing the Oddbins staff too. Double good news.

Red Wine Bargain of the Year

This Marzemino is spectacularly good. Best drunk after 30 minutes in the fridge when pure luscious berry fruits come bursting from the glass. As the label says, plenty of cherry and violet flavours too. I bought it because I was skint, hoping for something wine like and not too nasty. What a shocker! Of course when I went back the next day there was none left.

Managing to overcome the initial suspicion of two Sainsbury's chaps in the wine aisle I put in a request for 6 bottles and left my phone number. The call came within 24 hours, just in time for the Bank Holiday.

The first bottle was consumed with a spaghetti carbonara. Another near an open window grabbing bursts of sunshine between torrential downpours. Both matches worked a treat.

This wine is normally sold for the bargainous price of £5.99. At the moment, incredibly, it's just £4.49. Fill your boots! And, if there isn't any left at your local store, risk a "Code 99" on the wine aisle and order some. Wine this good at this price is unique.

Marzemino della Venezie 2010: down from £5.99 to £4.49: Sainsbury's

Espresso: probably the best panini in Glasgow.

Not so long ago Finnieston was only good for was skaggy bags of heroin and a Gaelic education. Thankfully the economic boom lasted long enough to brush aside Glasgow City Council's endemic lack of vision and shove the few remaining entrepreneurs into areas they could still afford. Thank god. Finnieston's now hoaching with good cafes, bars and places to eat. I even spotted an antiques shop the other day. Meanwhile, Byres Road, traditional commerce hub of the West End, rots amid a sea of chains.

One of the earliest beacons of hope was Espresso. Owned and run by the ever present Ricardo. It's without doubt the best snack bar I know.

The pizzas, pastas and soups are all good but for me the real stars are the panini. Choose your bread and choose your filling. All freshly made and quickly toasted.

Prices go from £2.60 for the Caprese: tomato, mozzarella, basil, oregano up to £4 for some of the meatier concoctions like Polonia: grilled marinated chicken breast, sun dried tomatoes, mayo and lettuce.

In total there are about 40 combinations. My favourite, always on ciabatta, is the Antipasto: grilled pepper, aubergine, courgette and onion with artichoke, anchovies, black olives and capers. It's about as good as a sandwich gets. A close second comes Quattro Stagioni: ham, artichoke, sauteed mushrooms and boiled egg.

Don't overlook the impressive and pleasingly underwrought salads and, of course, the coffee. It's sublime.

One time I happened to mention to Ricardo that the 'Young Turks' who'd set up a sandwich bar down the road also use Danesi coffee beans, but their coffee, while nice, wasn't a patch on his. After palpably bristling he said:

"Well you know Jonathan, everyday is different. When I'm heading in of a morning I'll notice the weather. If it's damp, the beans swell, if it's dry, they contract, so I'll adjust the grind accordingly. After that, I'll clean the machine and pour myself a coffee. Then I'll reasses, maybe alter the grind again, maybe adjust the water temperature, then have another coffee to check I'm happy".

At this point he paused, turned, and looked wistfully out the window in the direction of this 'other' place...

"So, I don't know, maybe these guys... maybe they don't do that".

Espresso

6 Claremont Street

Glasgow

G3 7HA

0141 248 9174

CLICK HERE FOR A MAP

Rum Chat

It happened towards the end of last year. I was in a pub talking to a woman I'd just met about something or other when she suddenly said "Do you like rum?"... "Well, I don't mind it, I keep trying to find one that'll change my mind about it"... "Well, they've got a good one in here, my second favourite". And she came back from the bar with my first taste of Angostura 1919. With a little ice, nothing more, it was delicious.

She told me to keep out for her favourite. Havana Club 7. "It's not expensive but can be hard to track down". I spoke to some friends in Oddbins. "Oh yeah, we get an allocation every now and again, but it walks through the door as soon as it arrives. We'll keep a bottle back for you".

A few weeks later I got the nod and hurried home with my booty. It is an utterly sublime drink. Much more complex than the Angostura. Smells include citrus peel, sandalwood, cocoa and it has an aftertaste that goes on forever. Best drunk camp... a frilly shirt, eye patch, and knee high boots should do the trick... but definitely no embellishments to the drink itself. Ice if you must.

If you manage to find it in the High Street great. If not CLICK HERE as the Drink Store usually have some.

Rejuvenation

It's springtime. I've had time to notice. Firstly ten days of quarantine. Then, despite protestations, another seven days off work. "Why are you arguing?" the doctor wanted to know. "I suppose it's because I'll be bored". He wasn't buying that. "I blame Calvinism. That 'work ethic'. Anyway, you're not going back to work, you need to get better"... "Can I go out for walks?"... "After tomorrow should be fine, you'll no longer be infectious. Maybe best if you go out after dark though"... "Eh?"... "Well", he said, waving a hand across my face, "Until you clear up a bit, you'll just make people anxious".

The net result is I've got time, lots of time. So today, when I decided to go for something healthy with a convalescence vibe, I also decided to make the pasta too. Actually, it's pretty easy, once you suss to do the kneading in the pasta machine itself. Just keep folding your loosely affiliated flour and egg mix over on itself and passing it through the lowest setting until it looks good.

My springtime vibe included fresh asparagus from Ross on Wye, fresh broad beans from Portugal, frozen organic peas, spring onions from Mexico and fresh basil from Israel. Eat local sounds good, but in Scotland essentially that means kale, cabbage and potatoes for ten months of the year. Some of the world's most boring vegetables. Sod that.

Make the sauce by sautéing the chopped tougher ends of the asparagus with the spring onions, then add a handful of frozen peas, a few ladles of stock or water, bring to the boil, simmer for a few minutes then blend. Pass through a sieve, add a tablespoon of good olive oil, a few torn basil leaves, taste, season and set aside. Chop the asparagus and steam above the pan the broad beans are boiling in. Cook the pasta. Drain. Mix the pasta with the sauce and drained broad beans. Top with the asparagus and some Parmesan shavings. Delicious. I felt better immediately. Helped, no doubt, by a medicinal glass of something spring-like to accompany it...

As fresh and invigorating as sticking your head under a waterfall. At the moment this is down to just over £7 in Waitrose. It would be a great drink for the park.