Day oot in Weegie-land

Torta Toscanella
Originally uploaded by framboise.

Spent the afternoon in sunny Glasgow in a most pleasant manner with my brother. As is traditional with his short visits to Scotland, we had a leisurely lunch at the Glasgow institution that is Fratelli Sarti. We tried not to order too much, so we could have some dessert. We shared a starter of fresh Loch Fyne mussels in a tomato-chilli sauce, and while he had the infamous Sarti spaghetti (with langoustines, tiger prawns, mussels and clams), I had what I thought would be a reasonable portion of veal in Marsala. But the chef had other ideas, and provided not just one cut of veal, but three! My carefully crafted plans of having dessert were undone!

We had to go on a two hour wander to clear enough space to fit dessert in. This gave me an excellent opportunity to try one of their newer outlets on Renfield St, which is clad in marble and wood; a far cry from the down-to-earth nature of the Bath St restaurant. I was too embarrassed to take a photo of the place, so we used his smartphone to get a couple of surreptitious shots (which I will upload when he sends them to me).

The upshot of all this is that I finally got to try one of their cold-cupboard concoctions. In this case, the Torta Toscanella. It's a delightfully light arrangement of orange-flavoured Chantilly cream on a bed of puff pastry, flanked by custard-filled choux pastry, and topped with light shavings of chocolate. This is something I must try the next time we make profiteroles (if we ever stop ourselves from scoffing the lot in one go).

Torta Toscanella close-up	End-on	Gratuitous shot of Glasgow

The four branches of Fratelli Sarti:

• 133 Wellington St (Used to be a deli/cafe, is now a romantic candle-lit outfit.)
• 121 Bath St (Basement dining just round the corner from Wellington St, linked by an underground passage.)
• 42 Renfield St (Marble, marble, marble.)
• 404 Sauchiehall St (Not tried it yet, but may do so next weekend if we visit the Glasgow Art Fair.)