Phillies of Shawlands
The chef who won the National Burger Awards title in 2025 spends his weeks frying chicken in the kitchen of a Southside neighborhood bar.
Why go
Luke and Conor Miskimmin brought this bar to Pollokshaws Road in 2018 as the second act after Redmond's of Dennistoun, and set it up to pay staff the real living wage with a profit share from opening (Glasgowist). The room is warehouse stock, metal stools and distressed wood, and the music policy is vinyl only, with a stage kept for local players (The Skinny). Taps are handed to small Scottish brewers, with Fallen and Cromarty among the residents and a rotating guest line for Glasgow brewers. In March 2025 the kitchen changed hands. Nick Watkins, fresh off being named UK Burger Chef of the Year at the National Burger Awards 2025, moved his fried chicken project Birds in, out of the El Perro Negro stable (SLTN). Curious Liquids, the bottle shop, sits in the corner unit next door.
Order this / avoid
- Order: the tenders and the Chicken Caesar Burger off the Birds menu, with the hot honey or the confit garlic mayo. Watkins describes the approach as
top-quality ingredients, big flavours, and food that's made for sharing,
and the crumb is a house recipe1. Drink whatever is on the guest tap, which is reserved for Glasgow brewers. - Avoid: turning up hungry after 9pm. The kitchen closes at 21:00 every day while the bar runs to 1am on Friday and Saturday. Also ignore the sourdough pizza and braised octopus you will find in older listings; that was the 2018 kitchen.
What locals & experts say
- SLTN (March 2025), on the fried chicken residency, quoting co-owner Luke Miskimmin:
Phillies is built around great food, great drinks, and a great atmosphere, Birds is the perfect fit.
1 - National Burger Awards 2025, UK Burger Chef of the Year: won by Nick Watkins, whose kitchen now operates inside this bar.1
- Glasgowist (Paul Trainer, 2018), quoting Conor Miskimmin on the brief:
It's a neighbourhood bar and a place for the people of Shawlands to really feel a part of. To be honest, we just want to give folk a great place to try stuff and be social.
2 - The Skinny, on the room and the rules:
a warehouse-style interior of mostly metal stools and distressed wood tables,
vinyl only, anddogs are allowed too.
4 - Local rec: Jeff's save. He left no note on it.
Good to know
- Timing: bar Monday to Thursday 4pm to midnight, Friday from 2pm to 1am, Saturday noon to 1am, Sunday noon to midnight. Kitchen closes at 9pm every day.
- Booking: walk-in, with bookings taken by email for larger tables.
- Groups: the warehouse layout takes a group, and the shared-plates shape of the chicken menu suits one.
- Next door: Curious Liquids, the attached bottle shop, for wine and beer to take away.
- Dogs: allowed.
- Hygiene: the Food Hygiene Information Scheme rates the address a Pass, inspected 21 October 2019.6
Craft signals (beer: rotation)
Two signals, both about the taps rather than the room. Local coverage records the lines given over to small Scottish brewers, Fallen and Cromarty among them, with a bottle shop in the next unit for what is not on. Untappd's public check-in feed on 30 July 2026 logs five different beers across the last pours, an independent IPA twice plus Belgian and Czech lagers, with no house keg anchoring the list7.
Verdict
should-visit — The reigning UK Burger Chef of the Year runs the kitchen at this Southside bar. Nick Watkins took the National Burger Awards title in 2025 and put Birds, his fried chicken project off the back of El Perro Negro, into Phillies that March. Around it is a warehouse room that plays vinyl only, rotating taps given over to small Scottish brewers like Fallen and Cromarty, and a bottle shop in the next unit. The owners came from Redmond's of Dennistoun and opened this one paying staff the real living wage with a profit share, which is worth knowing about who you are handing money to.