Naked Soup

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• What are these?

• Average price 2 courses: £4.95

• High point: Set menus are good value
• Low point: A bit of a squeeze at peak times
• Food served: Mon-Fri 8.30am-5.30pm; Sat 10am-6pm; Sun 11am-6pm
• Open since: 2005
• Also offers: Vegetarian options (at least 25% of menu), Childrens high chairs, Take away

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

This review is from the 2007 edition.

Come lunch hour, this handsome West End eatery just off Great Western Road fills up with an eclectic crowd: girls on midday get-togethers, couples cuddling on barstools and businessmen and women zipping through for a takeaway. Once part of a pair of Naked Soups (the original Byres Road outlet has closed), the surviving Kersland Street operation has a swanky wood-panelled bar, displaying a range of sandwiches and cakes. They supplement an extensive array of daily specials chalked on the blackboard. The purity of ingredients (giving rise to the 'naked' in the name) is evident in a hearty casserole of chicken curry gently infused with coconut, lemon and coriander, while the tomato and basil soup is bursting with bright sweetness. All main meals come with a thick slab of wholemeal bread and fresh fruit, while the excellent value set-price lunches include a drink, too. Smoothies, such as the raspberry rapture, are thick, creamy and blended to order. Steamy cups of Lavazza coffee are served with chunks of caramel shortbread. Early risers can take pleasure in bowls of slurpy porridge topped with chunky orange marmalade.