Conveniently located in Glasgow’s city centre, Red Onion provides all day casual dining courtesy of the chef owner John Quigley. Before opening Red Onion, he worked as a private chef to rock and pop stars such as Bryan Adams, Tina Turner and Guns n’ Roses. His travels with various stars took him all over the world and he has brought back to Glasgow many of the dishes which he encountered during his globe-trotting days. Despite John’s rock n’ roll credentials, the background music at Red Onion remains firmly in the background although it’s not unheard of for the odd star to pop in for a bite to eat.
Glasgow’s Red Onion highlights the best Scottish produce in a menu that stretches from classic Scots dishes to rather more exotic choices. It’s an extensive menu that ranges from pan fried haggis on toasted poilane bread served with a soft fried hen’s egg and HP sauce to a Vietnamese seared beef salad. Dainty tempura prawns nestle alongside hearty steaks and both fish lovers and vegetarians are well served. Among the fish dishes are the home-grown Finnan haddie fishcake with poached egg, parsley sauce, salad and skinny fries as well more far flung choices like the monkfish hotpot with saffron, smoked mussels, queen scallops and pancetta. Red Onion gets it right. It feels like a neighbourhood bistro but serves a well travelled menu in Glasgow’s city centre.