Cutler

1 Fenwick Road, Glasgow

I FORGET when I book this that the Glasgow Covid dining restrictions are kinda over. I also, more alarmingly, forget to change the default box online from two diners to four.

Unfortunately, nobody realises I am an idiot, not even me, until we amble up to the restaurant door slap bang at 6.30pm, the end of a fairly busy pre-theatre time. And Cutler, understandably perhaps, are not for moving diners, nor even suggesting we come back in an hour, say.

Hmm. It’s D’s birthday dinner so can’t push her off the gang-plank, I’m paying so I gotta stay onboard. Home for a pizza for the young uns then. Aw.

This obviously puts a bit of a dampener on things, until I scan the menu and realise, crikey I’ve probably just saved about £100. Hurrah, I mean, er, boo.

Cutler, unsurprisingly given it’s Scotland and it’s steak and seafood, is at the spicier end of the pricing market. Being nestled in a corner unit in what’s locally called the Merrylee Shops on Glasgow’s south side doesn’t dent their ambition either. They’ve given it a glam salty sea-dog makeover and, most significantly since I was last here in one of the unit’s many previous restaurant lives, an extension floods light and cheer throughout the place. It all looks very good.

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Generally? I’m not a fan of steak restaurants unless they have something original to say, but then this was not my choice of birthday food.

And truthfully? The 300g rib-eye at, phew, £31, will turn out to be one of the best steaks either of us have tasted for a very long time and, here’s the genuinely unusual bit in the endless seas of steak joints, better than anything we could have cooked at home.

It’s seared, carmelised, super-tender throughout and bonus points for this: seasoned absolutely perfectly. It’s not every day that a single dish can change the whole impression of a restaurant but that’s exactly what happens here.

Okay, the truffle and parmesan fries (£4.50) that come with it are not that great. They look fine, slim, goldenish but they’re kind of like McDonald’s fries after you’ve taken them home: weirdly limp. They need to work on their garlic butter too. They serve loads of it but it has separated and tastes only faintly.

I started my meal with a Maine lobster roll at £18, not a starter really as the chirpy young waitress warns, but curiosity gets the better of me. It’s a roll, kinda briochey, think hot-dogs style, quite heavily toasted, stuffed with lobster chunks, light salad and mayonnaise. It’s fresh, refreshing even, the seafood chunky enough to have a sweet impact on the flavour. The only thing that makes me pause is that the ladies at the next table are having exactly the same thing but from the pre-theatre menu, though it is a £6 supplement on their three courses for £20 menu.

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Moving on? Three smallish langoustine split length-ways, seared on that grill, served up at £19 with more of that garlic butter. It’s fine but the problem with weirdos like me nowadays is it takes only a moment to Google the cost of whole fresh Scottish langoustine delivered by the dozen and this momentarily puts me off my food.

There’s also Cutler fish and chips at £15. Incidentally, I think they probably need to say a wee bit more than the cheesy “sourced from our Scottish shores” when it comes to asking to be taken seriously as a seafood restaurant. But the fish comes as two battered batons, fresh, cleanly made, absolutely fine, there are potato wedges alongside and a large bowl of mushy peas which don’t hide their freshness.

Now, what else did we have? A from-the-oven ciabatta section with whipped herb butter at £3.50 (pleasant). Then a light, comforting poached vanilla peach (£7) also on the pre-theatre and also pleasant.

Overall, great steak, otherwise not bad food, defined a bit by pricing.

Cutler

1 Fenwick Road

Glasgow

0141 328 8461

Menu: Neighbourhood restaurant billing themselves as steak and seafood specialists, Maine lobster roll interesting, otherwise much as expected: cod and chips, steaks from grill, lobster mac ’n’ cheese. 3/5

Service: Not really interested in rescheduling or shuffling after I mucked up booking but that was entirely my fault, friendly otherwise. 4/5

Atmosphere: They’ve created a good vibe space, with salty seadog cues, that’s comfortable, light and pretty airy with a semi-open kitchen. 4/5

Price: The correct price is always what people will pay. Steak was £31, three split langoustine £19, cod and chips £15. Soup aside, starters range from £7 to £14.50. There is a cheaper pre-theatre menu. 3/5

Food: They served up a good steak, well-charred, seasoned and clearly a very nice piece of meat. It was the stick out in a meal in which most everything else was competently cooked if not setting any heather on fire. 6/10

20/30