Heart Buchanan

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The 2011/12 edition of The List's Eating & Drinking Guide is out now – only £5.95 (+p&p).

This review is taken from the current (2011) edition.

This well-loved café and delicatessen at the top of Byres Road continues to serve gourmet food, fine takeaway and cookery classes to the discerning Westender. Since changing hands last year, tweaks are afoot, but the central principles of Heart Buchanan – quality local produce, seasonal menus along with rare and unusual ingredients – are still in place. An expanded menu still offers old favourites of home-made soup, daily sandwiches, salads and croque monsieur along with more substantial mains, such as confit of Gortmorn chicken, where puy lentils in a sweet juice perfectly complement the crispness of the free-range bird. A huge selection of cakes, brownies, pecan tarts, Portuguese custard tarts, meringues, cupcakes are prepared daily, or you could just have a coffee. At busy times it can be tricky to get a table, but there is extra seating on the mezzanine in the deli, which provides a bird’s eye view of those tasty cakes.

• High point: Gourmet food in café setting
• Low point: The best sandwiches run out early