Lobo
Lobo took over the old Gnom site on Pollokshaws Road in late 2021, and by the following August the Herald's critic had reduced its cooking to
short, sharp flavour bombs exploding all over the palate1.
Why go
Harden's files it as a Southside newcomer
serving Mediterranean small plates
with a dedicated vegan menu,
and puts a three-course dinner with wine at about GBP 261. The menu is plainly seasonal: wild garlic risotto with asparagus and peas, crispy new season potatoes, blackened leeks under ajo blanco (venue menus). The one dish that shows where the kitchen is thinking is the smoked haddock, served with potatoes in an Arbroath smokie sauce, which turns a Scottish cured fish into the sauce base of a Mediterranean plate. Wine runs across sparkling, white, orange, rose and red, and groups of seven or more can take a set menu at GBP 40 a head.
Order this / avoid
- Order: blackened leeks with ajo blanco at GBP 11, roasted carrots with labneh and salsa macha at GBP 14, and the crispy new season potatoes with herb vinaigrette and aioli at GBP 7. From the larger dishes, the smoked haddock with Arbroath smokie sauce at GBP 17 or the crab and fermented chilli linguine at GBP 18 (venue menus).
- Avoid: a Wednesday lunch plan. The kitchen opens at 5pm that day, and Monday and Tuesday it does not open at all.
What locals & experts say
- The Herald (Mackenna, August 2022): the small plates are
short, sharp flavour bombs exploding all over the palate.
1 - Harden's:
This Southside newcomer serves up Mediterranean small plates and has a dedicated vegan menu.
1 - Local rec: Jeff's own save, and his frame is a comparison to Five March, the Finnieston sharing-plates room that has its own entry here.
Good to know
- Timing: closed Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday 5pm to 10pm, Thursday through Sunday noon to 10pm.
- Booking: recommended through SevenRooms or on 0141 423 5828; the room is small.
- Groups: a set menu at GBP 40 per head for parties of seven or more, which is the practical answer for a table of colleagues.
- Hygiene: Food Hygiene Information Scheme Pass, Glasgow City Council, inspected 21 September 2022 (FHRSID 1412541).4
- Where: 758 Pollokshaws Road on the Strathbungo stretch, a few doors from the old Marchtown site, five minutes from Queen's Park.
Jeff's take (his words)
- The verdict: "A top pick, five march of the south side."
Verdict
should-visit — Jeff calls it the Five March of the south side and the menu supports him: seasonal sharing plates with technique visible in the pairings, blackened leeks under ajo blanco, roasted carrots with salsa macha, smoked haddock in an Arbroath smokie sauce that turns a local cured fish into the sauce base. The Herald's critic reduced it to short, sharp flavour bombs, which is the right description of a kitchen working at GBP 7 to GBP 16 a plate. It opened in late 2021 in the old Gnom site and has held the Strathbungo block since without national hardware, so the case rests on cooking and value rather than awards. Should-visit for a group, especially with the GBP 40 set menu for seven or more.