'New Ox and Finch' Margo will be a huge hit - but I have issues

It’ll be veering thrillingly towards 11pm on a Wednesday night in downtown Glasgow and high on this mezzanine in Miller Street people will still be eating and even - hot-damn - still ordering food: from our so-so table at the top of the stairs (boo) I can see those smoked haddock churros, chic, puffy and delicious tentacles oozing cheese; these crisp clean batons like hash browns they call Chipsticks with Red Pepper and Seaweed.

And we’ll be forking up Bare Bones Chocolate Nemesis, a dessert that looks like a cake that tastes like a fondant, with, er, maybe a bit of Bovril.

This is Margo, a restaurant so buzzy and brand-spanking new that poor old flatfooted Mr Google Maps thinks it’s a hairdressers on Shettleston Road. D’uh.

Sirloin steak at Margo (Image: NAOMI VANCE) So new that the wait staff, straight outta training will ask us, like folks on a mission, “what dish did you like best”. And will seem genuinely startled when your fat mate here suggests there were some things I maybe didn’t like.

Margo then. Spawn of that non-stop money-maker with so-much class Ox and Finch, cousin of that superstar sprinkled with Asian-vibe-fairy-dust Ka Pao is in that touchy feely period just after the Friends and Family, plus freeloaders, weekend and firmly in the soft launch - everything, to anyone, is half price - phase.

The duck , Cal and I will both instantly agree, is the best thing we’ve eaten tonight. In fact Cal will add that if Mum had served up those Roast Ratte Potatoes with Garlic too on a Sunday (Mrs Mackenna being oustanding at roasters) we would not be complaining.

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Half Creedy Carver Duck, Liver Parfait, Toast (£42 on a full-fat prices night), is not only spectacular to look at - the breast seared, the skin bubbled, cross-sliced, not too pink, loads of it - but well seasoned and juicy. There’s a little meaty pile of duck meat, a leg that could be confit’d it’s so dang delicious and with it too: a parfait (think pate) and toasted bread with that sticky Soreen schtick and a sharp orange marmalade. Frankly? Brilliant.

And also a sign that Margo while being slap-bang-wallop up to its oxsters in Ox and Finch type food (you’ll know if you’ve been), is breaking free from the small plates chains that bind the culinary world.

There are small plates, of course. We rattle through Ham Hough, Smoked Paprika and Guindilla Croquettes (£4) which, gulp, I don’t like. That oozy burny hot, gooey filling, eek. There’s, obviously hand-made, Red Prawn and Fennel Agnollotti (£12), nice textures but prawn in pasta and butter? Too, too rich, not enough punch.

The chef team at Margo are undeniably talented (Image: NAOMI VANCE PHOTOGRAPHY)Yet, the slices of cold roast lamb (£9.50), swinging dangerously close to looking like they came from a supermarket packet? Oofter, so finely sliced, so tender (from the sous-vide), so righteously squirted with sweet black garlic and spinach, that we’re soon mming away and racing to try (they literally tear at the lightest touch) and pick up the last slices from the platter.

Hands up? I think they need to tweak some of the vegetable dishes - the true test of a chef - the Stuffed Swiss Chard, Inverloch Goats Cheese and pistachio being a bit wet, clunky and bland for me; the Grilled Celeriac, Remoulade and Hazaelnuts is almost brilliant, but then, sigh, some celeriac slices are just too thick. Again. Buh, buh, bland.

Oh yeah, the Waldorf Salad (£7.50), I forgot. We would want that with the duck if we were to come again and only eat three dishes (the duck and spuds and this being the only three we would need), at first I’m like, m’eh, it’s deconstructed, but then leaves are so fresh, the contents so sharp, that it improves significantly with the eating.

Finally? I think their dessert selection is weak. Maybe they’re still working on this and there’s sweet shock and awe in the pipeline. But tonight they would be disappointed themselves, I suspect, at the dryness of the Brown Butter Tart. And the Nemesis, different and entertaining texture aside, is so rich, so crammed with dark choc tastes that it is almost meaty. But maybe that’s you’re thing.

Saying all that? Given it’s let’s-try-a-few things week? I predict Margo is surely going to be yet another smash hit.

Margo

68 Miller Street

Glasgow

Menu: Lengthy but from the Ox and Finch folk and full of shock and awe dishes including wacky churros, chopsticks cod in squid ink rice, half duck, hand-made pastas, sirloins on the bone plus fun stuff. 4/5

Service: Switched on, full of enthusiasm, no complaints except - and despite booking - we’re sent to the rear of the mezzanine when there are clearly empty tables on the more interesting ground floor. 4/5

The food has real style (Image: NAOMI VANCE) Atmosphere: Downstairs it looks like there’s a real vibe, boothorama city, bustling open kitchen, flames flying, upstairs - not so much. Try and sit on the ground floor. 3/5

Price: They’re running a soft launch half-pricer which makes it a giveaway, but even when it switches to full fat I suspect most people will be happy to pay what they charge. And return. 3/5

Food: The duck dish knocked it out the park for us, the Roast Ratte Spuds too, loved the haddock Churros and no denying they can cook, and maintain standard in a pretty large restaurant, some things need rethink. 8/10

22/30