Red Onion

Here at restaurant-guide.com we have a list of cuisines under which to define the restaurants about which we write. But when it came to Red Onion the list offered no inspiration to us whatsoever, so taking the easy way out we resorted to International, a definition with which the owner John Quigley, I suspect, might not entirely agree. In fact, he didn't and suggested that we add Modern British and Brasserie, widening the field somewhat.

But how do you describe the cuisine of somebody who is capitalising on years of international travel as chef to, as they say, stars of stage and screen, combining them into one glorious self-indulgent presentation of ingredients, recipes, whimsies and inspired concoctions?

However, underlying it all is a menu that gives the general picture, with starters of, say, French onion soup, hot and sour seafood broth, and toasted cheese, seared squid with rocket, chilli and lime, or tiger prawn salad with mango. Main courses include coq au vin, five spiced duck with sweet potatoes, pak choi and shitake mushrooms, finnan haddie with poached egg and mornay sauce (go on, use your imagination), steak frites, or shepherd's pie and peas. What might be described as a signature dish is the red onion and mulled cheddar tart. For a salad try the aptly named tears of the tiger, hot spicy beef with mixed leaves.

Because they do these sort of things rather well in Scotland I would linger over the organic burger with tomato pickle and fresh cut fries rounded off with egg, bacon or cheese. Then there's the Cobb Salad - a boiled egg, Mull cheddar, red onion (of course), chicken, avocado, Ayrshire gammon, tomato and ranch dressing, a dish fit for a welcome from the Pipes

Puddings seem to fall back on more familiar sources. Perhaps stars of stage and screen did not survive that far into the meal, so it's familiar dishes such as sticky toffee pudding and custard, apple tarte tatin and vanilla ice cream, or lemon cheesecake with strawberries. Red Onion should go far, what with John Quigley's inventiveness and the average Glaswegian's appreciation for a no-nonsense, robust meal with more than a hint of Mum's genius playing around it. For full details, including the menu, do visit the Website.