Tron Bar, The

To describe the Tron Bar as a bistro might well ruffle a few haggis feathers in Scotland, for the simple reason that it's really more of a café - a neighbourhood café I would call it. All sorts and conditions of people are welcome, in true Scots style. As a result the food is pretty eclectic in type. You can drink in the front bar or the Victorian Bar or you can join the children in the non-smoking area, and you can eat in all of them. The doors open 10 am and close when someone remembers to shut them. There is a brisk pre-theatre supper business, and Sunday lunch is an ongoing feast at prices that should allow you to increase your contribution to the kirk collection plate significantly.

The bar menu has such cherished dishes as cullen skink, Stornoway black pudding, leek and Dunsyre blue cheese tartlet, vegetarian sausages, Moroccan root vegetable stew with spiced orange and raisin couscous, smoked haddock, estate reared beef and a whole host of other delicacies, with a strong Scottish influence.

You can't help liking the Tron Bar - in the words of a certain Sunday newspaper "all human life is there" and it embodies so much of what I know and love about Scotland. Given the Tron or some of Glasgow's flashier establishments, I'd be at the Tron every time.