Banh Mi & Tea
340 Dumbarton Road
Vietnamese cooking’s best-known exports in a chirpy space. Shreds of carrot, crumbs of peanut, coriander tumbling out of baguettes. Pho and homemade spring rolls arrive at your table within a couple of minutes of ordering. Delicious, cheap and cheerful. 

Kimchi Cult
14 Chancellor Street
One of the first places in town to really celebrate Korea’s national dish and its versatility, this spot has settled into its neighborhood fast-food, guilty-treat personality, where sesame and gochujang, fried chicken and bulgogi beef all play their part alongside its namesake fermented veg.

Salandini’s
49 Hyndland Street
An artisan pasta shop with a mere seven sit-in spaces is the sort of place foodies get excited about. Options like wafer-thin pappardelle or beautiful little parcels of butternut squash and chilli can be paired with lamb ragù or pistachio pesto. Fills up fast.

Songbird Speciality Coffee
476 Dumbarton Road
The mandatory scaffold board window ledge-cum-table at Songbird is ever so slightly lower than elsewhere, and it makes standing, leaning and people watching that bit more enjoyable here. In an area with many a coffee shop, it also sets itself apart with Beans from Argyll Roasters and Oddy Knocky Coffee, and pastries from Wheat Berry. 

Thunderdog
71–77 Byres Road
Thunderdog does Chicago-style hotdogs and is the sibling and counterpoint to ThunderCAT’s Chicago deep dish pizza (though you can get them here, too). Eating beneath its neon red thunderbolts is fun: think hotdog topped with haggis, or tater tots loaded with macaroni cheese and black pudding. Food mashups you only dared dream would become reality. 

Also try... The University Café on Byres Road for fried food and Italian ice-cream in a historic art deco space that Anthony Bourdain famously checked out. Also on Byres Road is Ting Thai Caravan’s take on unfussy, snackable Thai food, while both Suissi Vegan Kitchen and the Dumbarton Road branch of Non Viet should be on the radar of plant-based dieters, and Epicures is an ever-present for the Hyndland brunch and casual dinner set.

This TipList is taken from Eat & Drink 365 Glasgow, our sister mag recommending the best in restaurants, bars, cafés and more. Want a copy? It’s available online or across all good stockists in Glasgow.