It was summer 2016 that we first heard about ‘BABS restaurant and the opened later in the year but neither my husband or I had a chance to visit Glasgow, even though we were dying to visit. Quite simply both of us were too busy with work, family and studying (at least in Chris’ case) so we didn’t have a chance to visit Glasgow for a good few months.
Ever since the news about ‘BABS restaurant’s opening my husband and I have been dying to try it. But we never got the chance to go to Glasgow to try it. Simply because work, family was very busy so we haven’t got the chance to visit Glasgow for a very long time. So when Ylli, the manager of Bread Meats Bread and ‘BABS restaurant contact me. I was really happy and excited because this meeting gave us perfect excuse to visit Glasgow and finally to try the food there. Chris did a lot of work for both Tripadvisor and Deliveroo in Glasgow over different periods of time where he really learnt about the local food scene and we both fell in love with the food in Glasgow.
So Ylli who runs the whole operation contacted me again and asked if I could illustrate ‘BABS children’s menu which of course I would. I met him on a Sunday and while I had my meeting with him Chris and Amelia went shopping but Ylli invited all of us to have dinner later that day and said he would “look after us”. I imagined we would get a single starter or side order free or get 10% off the final bill but in the end our whole meal was free! How awesome!
There are a lot of perks that come with working as an illustrator (and in the creative industries for that matter) but this has to be one, if not one of the best perks ever. Ylli wasn’t joking about looking after us!
The food was absolutely beautiful. The ingredients were amazing and fresh, presentation was beautiful and the service was really friendly and professional. We ordered three kebabs (they’re big portions btw!) a couple sides, a couple drinks and Amelia had a burger, which she absolutely loved. One of the kebabs had a pork chop with pork belly, another was a lamb kebab and Chris just had to order the scallop wrapped in bacon kebab which he said was divine (he’d eat scallops and bacon by the bucket load if he could). Also the service was really friendly and lovely and both Ylli and his staff were more than happy to describe everything and make recommendations.
I noticed service was perfect with all of the the other diners and I have to say ‘BABS is one of the most enjoyable dining experiences I’ve had anywhere and definitely one of the best in Glasgow.
The dishes that we ordered to be exact (and we ordered them for research (of course!)) were bacon and scallop kebabs lamb speidini, pork spiedini. There were also two side dishes; garlic and parmesan chips (which were divine!) and spicy chicken and nduja sausage arancini. Amelia had a plain cheeseburger but because this is virtually identical to Bread Meats Bread burgers and because Amelia said she was starving we didn’t photograph it).
You can see photos of the food below.
There are five dishes for their children’s menu which are a cheese burger, a bacon and cheese burger, supreme chicken cubes and Che babe. We decided to use the cheese burger illustrations I created for Bread Meats Bread as they’ve virtually the same but the rest of the illustrations, including the hand lettering, I created from scratch and exclusively just for ‘BABS restaurant.
I also illustrated a “‘BABS chef” character to accompany the illustrations and to make the menu look more fun. I took a photo of one of their chefs in the same blue apron and stripy top for reference. He had a full sleeve tattoo so I decided to fun him up even more and use him as a character for my menu.
If you’re going to visit Scotland and thinking about some where to dine, ‘BABS restaurant Glasgow is definitely one of the restaurant on your list.
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