Juiceling

This review appears in the The List's Eating & Drinking Guide 2008 – in the shops now or buy online.

Eager to keep queues moving, the funky Juiceling girls lean across the counter as customers shout orders above rasping blenders. The shop in the heart of Glasgow is dominated by bright menu boards, offering smoothies and juices in many freshly squeezed combinations. Even the simple 'carrot top' – orange, carrot and ginger – has an intensity of taste that only comes with instant extraction. For the Acai smoothie, Acai berries (from the rain forest) join strawberries, bananas and frozen yoghurt in a satisfying purple smush, beneath a lid like a spaceman's helmet. To the educated palate, there's no way back down to 'made from concentrate'. The inexact science of words such as detox or booster is easily excused, for Juiceling's pro-health fare is more cheerful than patronising. Beyond juices, flavoured porridges bring in breakfast regulars, while brunch/lunchers can choose from hand-made sandwiches, such as poppy seed bagels with pesto chicken, cucumber and sun-dried tomato (buy before 10am and a small juice is free). With an application for outdoor tables in summer 2008 presumably just needing a rubber stamp, Juiceling can be a great central spot to people-watch and savour the art of the smoothie, at a pace that does it justice.

• High point: Antioxidants aplenty
• Low point: Only a couple of seats inside