One of the best restaurants in Glasgow: Grill on the Corner steakhouse rocks them all

Of all the restaurants in Glasgow
Grill on the Corner Glasgow steakhouse
is an absolute must!

The Lowdown | Kobe Steak | Typical Menu | Getting There | Booking

Miss out Grill on the Corner & you'll be making a mis-steak!

Yeah OK, sorry about that. It ain't rare for folks to give me a grilling because of my tendency to use puns when talking about my favourite restaurants in Glasgow.
They just camembert it!

But to be honest, given that when I'm writing restaurant reviews the steaks are so high & there's little margerine for error, there's more to my punnery than meats the eye. It's because restaurants in Glasgow like this get me so blooming excited about food I just can't help it!

However, I'll try and keep a lid on it as much as I can - I wouldn't want you to think I just loaf around all day thinking up word-plays for the halibut.

STOP!!!

OK, so I'm pretty sure I've shaken it all off now. Where was I?

That's right, now, the Grill on the Corner Glasgow steakhouse - it's just so outstanding, I'm about one meal there away from wiping clean this entire site, and replacing it completely with poems, sonnets and fanmail only on this one restaurant, and that's taking into account all the other restaurants in Glasgow!

I love food. I'm a lover of food. It's what I do. Serve me a curry, Indian or Oriental, and I'll beam back at you with thankful delight. Plop an Italian dish on my table and it'll be gone in seconds. My love of food extends all around world cuisine, from the tang of haggis to the many distinct wonders of piri piri, and with the exception of liver (yeuch!), if it's put in front of me in any of the restaurants in Glasgow or elsewhere, you'll just watch open-mouthed in petrified silence as I tuck it all away without hesitation, as would, for example, a horse munching oats.

Quite the picture, I'm sure...

...However, when it comes to steak or barbeques, well, I'm nothing less than like a child at Christmas!

Grill on the Corner - one of the
top restaurants in Glasgow

My first choice in dining will always be at a BBQ. I mean, when the sun comes out I'm drawn like a helpless moth to the flame of a grill, more than likely because there's this trenchant Neanderthal man rooted deep inside me, crouching eternally in my hungry soul, kindling forever that primal urge to cook meat & fish over a naked flame.

So when the weather ain't pretty or Tracey's locked me away from the BBQ, if I get the chance I'll normally hot-foot it instead to a good steakhouse, the morerefined brother of the barbie, and more often than not to the Grill on the Corner.

The reason for that is that this place knows steak like an old friend. Its menu is packed with reasonably-priced top quality cuisine you'd expect in only the very best restaurants in Glasgow, but for me, it stands well out from the crowd simply because of the love and expertise that's clearly been injected into every steak on offer here, including of course the mighty Kobe fillet I drool about below.

Unsurprisingly, this place features in my Wee Glesca guide to the City, which you can download or pick up today.

The truly shiny design of the restaurant, the dressed-down staff who've all sampled the menu and are more than happy to rave about it to you until you make a great choice, the attention to detail in the presentation of the food & everything around it, the jovial atmosphere, I'm constantly amazed by just how happy this place can make me be.

It's what every steakhouse should be, in my humble opinion nothing short of a masterpiece, and I thank my lucky, beef-filled stars that it's in Glasgow!

Me & my Kobe - I've never been happier!

神戸ビーフ - What's a Kobe Steak & is it worth the price?

What can I say about Kobe beef? Well, here's a wee line for starters - once you go Kobe, you'll never look back!

It really is the Daddy of all Steaks, and you'll be glad to know that the Grill on the Corner was the first of the restaurants in Glasgow (and I'm pretty sure in Scotland as well) to be brave enough to place it on the menu.

The cost. So, let's talk about price first. As I write this, for a Kobe steak here it'll cost you 55 smackers. Yes, that's £55 for a bit of meat. Now if, having read what I have to say here, you're not totally convinced that paying £55 for a steak is the greatest of ideas, then that's OK - not everyone likes the same thing, not everyone loves steak as much as I do, not everyone is happy to part with that much cash simply for a main course.

But if I tell you that in Vegas you'd expect to pay around $200 for it, and that in Japan where the whole Kobe legend began you'd be out over $300, then you might form the impression at least that this type of beef must be even just a little bit more special than the rest, and therefore maybe worth splashing out on one just for the sake of curiosity.

To be fair though, as with all restaurants in Glasgow, a City (wrongly) alleged to be packed with working class Scrooges, you'd still be laughed out of town if you charged anyone more than 50 quid for a steak, so given just how premium the Kobe fillet is, in my opinion it's a very reasonable price to pay for what you get.

And after tasting it, you'll likely end up adding a huge tip anyway!

The legend. If you've never heard of it, Kobe beef is thought to have originated from the black-haired Tajima-ushi breed of Kuroge Wagyu cattle, raised according to ancient traditional methods in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and specifically on Mount Rokko in its exotic capital city Kōbe-shi. The myth behind the legend is that the Wagyu cattle were raised on a daily diet of saké & beer, with regular massages to relieve muscle stiffness and even a little soothing music in the background. Not bad eh?

As a result of leading such relaxing lives, the Wagyu beef's long been recognised as being one of the most tender in the world, marbled so exquisitely with unsaturated fat it just melts like heaven in your mouth.

However, before you picture in your mind a whole herd of underage cows completely sloshed on Asahi beer, wolf-whistling the attractive tourists as they meander past & getting into boozy fights with each other before getting kicked out their favourite nightclub, quite disappointingly the truth about the Wagyu ain't that close to the legend!

Top quality Glasgow Steakhouse

In fact, no-one really knows the truth behind the legend. It's one of the most guarded secrets in global cuisine which every cattle-breeder & chef outside Kōbe-shi will lie and say they've worked out, so the Kobe beef you'll tuck into all around the world will vary a little in quality, but at the very least given how carefully the cattle will have been bred no matter the method used, anything even close to true Kobe beef will usually trump any other type of steak you've ever chewed into.

The closest understanding of the ancient method however, is that for a restaurant to be able to say that the beef on the menu is properly Kobe, you'll likely have to use the finest breed of cattle genetically predisposed to intense marbling (so for example, in Scotland you'd be talking about Angus cattle), allow them only the purest superior feed, a little Asahi or beer if their appetite comes and goes, and simply groom them with saké or something similar rather than feed them with it. Even if that's not the case, either way it's clear that the cattle will have to lead a fairly relaxed, less mechanical life, a life I wouldn't mind leading myself were it not for the Big Chop at the end of the day!

The Blackhouse Kobe. It's safe to say therefore, that even though the meat you'll have in the Grill on the Corner could be more accurately described as Kobe-style beef, having been reared in Scotland (one of the most-respected exporters of beef on the planet) as close to the legend as possible, you can rest assured that it'll still smack your usual steak into touch, and that it's definitely worth every penny.

The Grill on the Corner, one of the top restaurants in Glasgow, is run by Blackhouse Restaurants (don't let the fact it's a chain put you off!). On the menu it's stated that Blackhouse cattle are grass-fed, hormone-free British beasts sourced from local farms, and that they use traditional husbandry methods allowing the animals to mature naturally under stress-free conditions. Their beef's aged for 28 days to guarantee tenderness and a perfectly-matured flavour, so it's about as close you'll get to the quality of Kobe without travelling all the way to Japan yourself.

The traditional method of cooking a Kobe steak is by doing it teppan-yaki style, in other words seared in front of your dazzling eyes within a blurry matter of seconds, retaining the delicious fat in the beef as much as possible, and that's exactly how they cook it in this Glasgow steakhouse, even though instead of hearing 'hai shefu' when you pass the open kitchen you'll be more likely to hear Aye Chef, Naw Chef!

So before I drool onto my keyboard here, I'll stop rambling on and simply tell you that if you're feeling kind of free with your cash, and fancy celebrating the best of life with a good steak, just ignore all the other steak restaurants in Glasgow, come to the Grill on the Corner, order the Kobe & a good glass of red wine, and enjoy one of the most mouth-watering steaks you'll ever taste - even though I dream about food whether I'm asleep or awake and tend to enthuse about it more than most folks out there, I can guarantee that tucking into a Kobe will be an experience you'll never forget.

(it's too late, my keyboard's been drenched!)

Don't worry - it fills up quickly!

Don't you worry - it isn't all about the Kobe in this place. As with all the restaurants in Glasgow I rave about, you'll be faced with a brilliant selection on the menu and the Grill on the Corner isn't an exception to that.

What I will say however, is that when it comes to creating a desirable restaurant package, many other restaurants in Glasgow would struggle to present their food quite as impressively as they do here, and you might catch some of their expertise in a few of my dodgy photos.

The reason I mention presentation is that for me, it's not just about what's on the menu - my gut feeling for restaurants in Glasgow or anywhere else will depend also on how it's served, if it's served with a smile, and if the menu's big enough to cope with my wild tendency to change my mind at a minute's notice (boy Docherty, are you high maintenance?!!).

For example, for a starter you could order the garlic rub bread. Now, I know normally the thought of that won't exactly be overly-stimulating, but unlike any other restaurants in Glasgow, if you order it at the Grill on the Corner you'll be given two pieces of thick, perfectly char-grilled bread, a clove of garlic, a cute wee jug filled with olive oil, and a spreading knife, all presented old-style on a sturdy block of wood. The idea is that you drizzle your olive oil on the bread and spread as much garlic as you like on it (or if you like, the other way round), the result being bespoke garlic bread that's to die for!

If I'm headed for the steak as a main course, I usually opt for a surf & turf approach, so will order something fishy for a starter. This might be the carlingford irish rock oysters with chopped shallots in sherry vinegar, lemon & tabasco. Or it might be thesmoked haddock chowder, the king scallop in hazelnut butter, or if I'm not feeling fishy that day, the chicken skewered on lemongrass sopped with thai red curry paste, or beef carpaccio with rocket & lemon. So as I say, it's a pretty extensive selection so you should find something you like for a starter.

Wonderful garlic rub bread at
Grill on the Corner Glasgow

For the mains, you'll have pretty much everything you'd expect in a good steakhouse, and as far as I'm concerned the range of the menu is more comprehensive than in any of the other steakhouse restaurants in Glasgow.

As I say, it's not just about the Kobe here. You'll be able to choose from varying sizes of premium grade Scottish rump, ribeye, sirloin and fillet steaks, each with or without one of the six alternative sauces (not sure if I mentioned before that in my humble, primal opinion, if you're going Kobe, you should think about doing that only as the Lord intended - that is, sauceless & medium rare - for me any other way would just be sacrilege!).

All the steaks are served with home cut chips, mash or jacket potatoes, but again if you were asking me, I'd always plump for the chips here, because even though that might sound like you'd be opting for the simple, boring choice (what's so great about chips? Aren't they all the same?), it really is worth it as they're without doubt the best chips I've ever tasted. They're cooked so perfectly here in their skins that they're crispy on the outside but nowhere near dried out on the inside. Even if I'm struggling through the meat I'll always end up picking at the chips until I do literally burst (yup, quite an embarrassment when that happens I tell you!).

Other than steak however, the Grill on the Corner has a varied selection of main courses that can stand proud amongst those of all the top restaurants in Glasgow. The seafood in particular is outstanding. Having in mind the protection of our globally renowned sealife, they ignore the easy option of the deep sea trawlers & endangered species, and rely instead on sustainable supplies.

As a result, without any shadow of guilt you'll be able to choose from a delicious selection of fresh fish dishes, including whole or half grilled lobster, organic Shetland salmon with béarnaise sauce, and rope grown Scottish mussels.

Best burger in Glasgow

If you're up for sharing (yeah, good one Tracey - hands off!), then you might plump for the table-absorbing cold platters with lobster, crevites, oysters, atlantic prawns & smoked salmon or the hot platter with rope grown mussels in a white wine & cream sauce.

One final mention for the main courses however, is the burgers. You'll have the option of the 100% premium beef classic burger with either smoked bacon & emmental cheese, or caramelised onion & reduced balsamic, or alternatively just with some really nice blue cheese. However, if you'd prefer something a little more premium than 100% (if that's possible?!!), point your waiter or waitress to the kobe burger, and then loosen your clothing to make room for the most premiumest of premium burgers you're ever likely to find, whether it's in the top restaurants in Glasgow or elsewhere, and to explain exactly why that is, I'll refer you back up to my drool-filled section on Kobe beef above!

Also worth a mention though, is the chicken pot pie with a chive mash (and yes, it's actually served in a pot - unsurprisingly Tracey thinks it's so cute!), and the fajitas with all the works & trimmings that'll get everyone in the restaurant looking at you because of all the sizzling noise it makes as it nears your table!

As for desserts, there's a great choice on display but my personal favourite if I can find some room in my already satisfied stomach, is the peach melba mess, a crumbling mash of absolute delight that as far as I'm concerned, is one of the most succulent desserts you'll find in all the restaurants in Glasgow.

And you'll spend the entire evening working through the extensive book of wines, cocktails & beers, although if I'm steaking it I'll normally just plump for a good glass of red and a lynchburg lemonade.

So bearing in mind that I could go on and on and on about the menu of Grill on the Corner, I'll force myself to end this by saying that in answer to the emails I've received about how it is that I can pick out the top restaurants in Glasgow like this amongst all the myriad of other great restaurants in Glasgow that keep opening up seemingly on a weekly basis, well, I can only say that it's either because I've got absolutely nowherenear enough time, strength or cash to get around them all & keep up, or that it's maybe just because after I've eaten and been completely & utterly satisfied in a place like this, my stomach urges me like a one-track zombie to return to it again and again, to the exclusion of all the other restaurants in Glasgow.

A failing perhaps on my part as someone who loves writing about new places to dine, but hey, as long as I'm happy that's all that counts eh?

How to avoid the other steak restaurants in Glasgow and find the best!

Grill on the Corner - the best make no mis-steak!

As for how to get to Grill on the Corner Glasgow steakhouse, my current favourite of all the best restaurants in Glasgow, it's located on the junction of Bothwell Street and Wellington Street in the City Centre. Bothwell Street's the one you come onto as you come off the M8 Motorway at Junction 19, and is just around the corner from Central Station.

Here's a wee map to help you along the way, and you can use the directions tabs on the map to point you from where you're going. If that doesn't assist however, just let me know and I'll meet up with you and take you there myself, although as payment for which of course, I'd expect nothing less than a good steak or even just a few quid towards my next meal at any of the restaurants in Glasgow.

Well, I'm kidding you on of course - just a steak here'll do!

Booking the Grill on the Corner

This is real easy. Simply phone or fill out the booking form on their website at www.blackhouse.uk.com and let them know I sent you (doing that won't get you a discount but hopefully I'll get a free steak next time I'm there!

So I hope you get a table there when you want, and enjoy a superb evening of indulgence at one of the best restaurants in Glasgow while you're in town.

After all that talking about food though, you'll have to beat me to it cause I'm absolutely starving!