Peter McKenna on new restaurant Eleven Fifty Five: ' I was looking for something a little bit more fun'
Rebirth, reinvention, regeneration? Whatever you call it, the closure of The Gannet and subsequent reopening as Eleven Fifty Five has got tongues wagging on the Glasgow food scene. David Kirkwood finds out why Peter McKenna, the man behind both ventures, started all over again
‘We were reading about ourselves in the papers as “an institution”. And that didn’t sit well with me.’ Chef/owner Peter McKenna’s initial take on why he had to close The Gannet and come back as Eleven Fifty Five is made with a chuckle. ‘Even though I’m going grey and getting on in years, I still consider myself to be a little bit young. I still have more to give! So I suppose that was the catalyst.’
There’s a bit more to it than that but, as an opener, it’s the sort of moreish quote that made McKenna and his restaurant a cherished part of Glasgow’s food scene for more than a decade. The Gannet (alongside Crabshakk and later Ox & Finch) gave Finnieston its brand recognition as a foodie strip, so it was a big deal when he announced its last dinner service would be on 31 December last year. The decision wasn’t about the dishes leaving the pass though. ‘The last meal I had in The Gannet was in November and it was the best I ever had,’ he recalls. ‘I was blown away; the food was sublime. But I felt the energy in the room was a bit muted for my personality type.’ He refers to his parent’s pub in Ireland, how it’s an extension of them and how the best hospitality outlets have an edge. ‘I felt I was looking for something a little bit more fun, a little bit louder, a little bit more up-tempo.’
So the volume’s gone up and the formality down in Eleven Fifty Five. These are tricky things to achieve, to articulate and to indicate to customers, but they’re right there in this new-old space. The cornered-off bar feels more like a place where someone might sit for a drink and a bite, rather than just a spot where restaurant staff pour drinks. Tables are closer, voices spill over. An original Ralph Steadman (Hunter S Thompson’s illustrator) lends a bit of rock’n’roll to the room. Main courses are remarkably keenly priced: opening weekend saw a beef cheek bourguignon for £24 and Irish stew has also made a recent appearance. That, plus a glass of wine, hits a sweet spot of quality, spend and ease. Or go for the white pudding with buttermilk lion’s mane and lardo, followed by the much-vaunted Himalayan salt-aged club steak, and make it a bottle. Each feels an equally valid choice.
As McKenna points out, Hydro proximity aside, Finnieston is first and foremost a neighbourhood. Lots of people live there. And a proper neighbourhood restaurant is a great, noble thing. That isn’t to say Eleven Fifty Five feels brand new. All of The Gannet staff stayed on, including McKenna’s long-term sidekick, manager and sommelier Kevin Dow who plays a crucial role and is every bit as upfront and visible in the new operation; not least when it comes to the playlist (where McKenna cedes influence). Brooklyn’s Geese, newly anointed saviours of rock, for example, are not your typical restaurant soundtrack but you can expect to hear them and their ilk at the new gaff.
Yet they’ve retained the DNA that matters, lending smooth continuity to proceedings while going from 50 to 70 covers and extending opening from four to six days a week. In a sense, the tempo has risen but the roots of the rhythm remain. And, with that, chef has to go back downstairs to prepare two types of bread, some Café de Paris butter and a pig’s head before evening service. It’s all quietly thrilling. Just don’t call it a comeback. Or even an institution.
Eleven Fifty Five, 1155 Argyle Street, Glasgow.