THERE are many ways to judge success, but few offer a more reliable guide than longevity. On that basis alone, Gamba must be doing something right. The restaurant that styles itself as 'Glasgow's seafood restaurant' is ten years young this year and,
after an award-strewn decade, it is clearly here for the long haul. It has even produced a guide to simple seafood cooking, yours for a tenner.
Self-promotion doesn't always come naturally to restaurateurs, but Gamba is part of a nine-strong group of Glasgow bars and restaurants that includes Vroni's and Blue Dog, and it is a slick operation. There's no question of hiding its light under a bushel, its website proclaiming that it "has a strong reputation as the best seafood restaurant in Glasgow". It is, however, having to withstand the arrival of a raft of upwardly mobile challengers, not least Two Fat Ladies at the Buttery, five minutes up the road.
Yet judging by our midweek sortie, its popularity is showing few signs of waning. On a wet Tuesday evening, the place was a hubbub of activity. At least two-thirds of the tables were full, mainly with suits at play, and there was a noisy joie de vivre about the customers that was instantly noticeable. There was none of your sotto voce fine-dining restraint here.
The space Gamba occupies is self-consciously Mediterranean-styled, simply furnished with terracotta tiles that bounce sound back at you and walls painted in earthy tones. It's an environment that is instantly relaxing and reminds me of the sort of upscale Catalan restaurants you'll find on every street in Barcelona.
You'd have to go a long way to find better sashimi than that on offer at Gamba. Mari had watched as other tables ordered and received their starters, and her eagle-eye paid off. The thick slices of tuna were astonishingly, melt-in-your-mouth succulent. She works for a Japanese-owned company and has had to eat more than her fair share of sashimi, and she reckoned this as good as any she's had. Her only caveat was the wasabi sauce, which Gamba makes itself and which was stroke-inducingly strong. Thankfully, we had been warned.
As for me, I was sorely tempted by the lobster and spiced tomato tart, but instead opted for the dressed Cornish crab with curry, flaked almonds and pitta bread and regretted it almost immediately. There was nothing wrong with the dish, but there was little that grabbed me about it either. I spent a good portion of my youth living next to the sea and crab was a weekly feature in our house; this super-chilled version was unremarkable, verging on bland, with the tinge of curry so subtle it was almost impossible to discern.
I was also at a loss to understand why the menu trumpeted the fact that it was Cornish crab. There's not, as far as I know, a shortage of Scottish crab and, as a general rule, I like to see the food I eat sourced as locally as possible. Perhaps the long journey explained the breathtakingly hefty £14 price tag.
If I was a bit nonplussed by my starter, my main course was far nearer the mark. The marinated halibut with garlic, lemon and chive oil with crayfish tails and soy sauce was a sparky combination in which the moist halibut was perfectly complemented by the jus, with the big chunks of crayfish tail providing a change in texture that worked perfectly.
Unfortunately, Mari's roasted monkfish on creamed wild mushrooms with puy lentils and herbs failed to live up to the standard of her starter or my main course.
This was a dish that failed in its execution because, while the mix of the lentils with chanterelles and herbs was inspired, the whole edifice crumbled on the back of a piece of significantly over-cooked monkfish. Were it not for that, it would have been outstanding.
More surprising, however, was the fact that, while the barely eaten piece of fish was taken back to the kitchen after Mari explained why she hadn't eaten it, it still appeared on the bill.
We finished on a high, though, with two excellent puddings. My surprisingly light raspberry and hazelnut pavlova was the pick of the pair, but there wasn't much in it, with the rich chocolate and Nutella tart with rum and raisin ice-cream getting an enthusiastic thumbs-up from across the table.
Whether the overall Gamba experience wins quite the same plaudits is open to question. It is a lively evening and when the food is good, it is very good. But there was more inconsistency there than you would expect from a restaurant that charges like a wild rhino.
When a meal for two with house wine and service costs the best part of £150, simply good simply isn't good enough.
VITAL STATISTICSGamba 225a West George Street, Glasgow
(0141 572 0899;
www.gamba.co.uk)
Out of pocket Starters £7.95–£13.95;
mains £11.95–£24.95 (sides £3.95–£6.50);
puddings £5.95–£6.50
Rating 6/10
The full article contains 884 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
