Gamba

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• What are these?

• Average price 2 courses:
   £15.95 (set lunch)
   £30 (evening meal)
• House wine: £17.95 per bottle

• Hitlisted
• High point: Fabulous food
• Low point: Less-than-fabulous décor
• Food served: Mon-Sat noon-2.30pm, 5-10.30pm. Closed Sun
• Open since: 1998
• Also offers: Pre-theatre menu, Post-theatre menu

The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 is now in the shops.

This review is from the 2007 edition.

Over the years, this guide has twice named Gamba as Glasgow's best restaurant. It's satisfying to report that the standards are as high as ever. Chef/owner Derek Marshall's team still manages to bag the best seabass, halibut and scallops the market has to offer; the cooking is consistently precise and imaginative; and the service is among the most polished in town. Of course, Gamba is not cheap, and, surrounded by law firms and architectural practices, it does rather tend to fill up with suits on expenses. But for around £20 for a main course, the restaurant delivers exceptional quality (and there's a bargain lunch deal at under £16). A strong east Asian influence is evident in dishes such as sashimi of salmon and swordfish or a sea bream cooked en papillote with pak-choi. Even Gamba's signature fish soup is flavoured with stem ginger. Alternatively, the menu offers plenty of European hints, too - grilled sole with lemon butter being a good example. A dish of roast cod with prawns, artichokes and an extraordinary bitter orange gravy is a complex, memorable and delicious combination. The wine list has four whites, two reds and two sparklers by the glass, including a lovely oak-free Chablis. Décor doesn't quite live up to the quality of food, wine and service, but with dishes as good as the roast cod, who cares?