Escape to LA is Insta hit.. just not for me; FOOD & DRINK; Anna takes shine to Hollywood glam but not the So-pricey menu.

Byline: Anna Burnside

It has always struck me as deeply unfair that the festive season, with its non-stop schedule of nights out and parties, comes in the depths of a Scottish winter.

The best we can hope for is dreich.

More often it's a wet, windy and inhospitable night when we are expected to venture forth in metallic frocks and dance our way through Christmas and into the new year.

These days I barely leave the house when Uber is on surge pricing. But if I was young and groovy again, I would be straight into the gladrags, heading to So LA for dinner and drinks.

The latest venture from Rusk and Rusk, the couple behind Spanish Butcher, Hutchesons and Butchershop Bar and Grill is brilliantly designed for those who want somewhere to show off their SO LA Tel: 0141 473 Website: newest finery and photograph their dinner before they eat it.

solaglasgow.Disabled Opening 12 noon to Bill for three: PS113.

Even on a dreary Wednesday night it had the kind of Studio 54 glamour that is not normally found opposite the staff entrance to Frasers. With the dim lights, neon and lush plants, it reminded me of the legendary Glasgow nightclub Charlie Parker's.

Food: 6/10 - A bit fiddly overthought. Decor: 4/5 - PS1million and shows. Service: 3/5 - Overpowering. Toilets: 4/5 - spec and Value for - Prices are The menu is a snapshot of what is wow and now on America's west coast, with lots of veggie and vegan options, kimchi, ponzu, plenty of seafood plus a few hefty meat options for the west coast diehards. The drinks, some of which are served in cherub-shaped tankards and skull schooners, are a mix of Scottish, Asian and niche American booze.

The staff have been drilled in the details of the menu and do their best to bring some Hollywood sparkle to the ordering process. The waitress was very keen that we start with some Cost it -High Korean fried cauliflower to get our palates zinging. But the Millennial and BFF had not seen each other for 18 months and were zinging perfectly well on their own.

money: 2/5 ouchy.

They were so busy gossiping that I chose three starters for sharing. Short rib is hard to ignore and this was dark and sticky with star anise and molasses. Nashi pear slices and radish discs provided the crunch while some orange fragments were the light relief.

I'm always pleased to see octopus on a menu and try it prepared a new way. This soy-dressed barbecued version followed a similar formula to the short rib - big, muscular chunks of cephalopod, with melon and avocado as a mixer. Never had watermelon and soy sauce. Tastes better than it looks.

Fat lumps of chilli-soused feta with roast beetroot and seasonal slices of mandarin was prettier than the two brown dishes. Beetroot and feta is a well-worn combination but the citrus and chilli gave it a new spin and this did feel like something a starlet might order when lunching with her agent at Chateau Marmont.

The price - PS7 for six cubes of cheese - also spoke of LaLa Land rather than a potholed lane near a lapdancing bar.

We decided not to share the 1kg steak - PS80 - figuring it was on the menu to reassure vegetable-averse Glaswegian men who were worried that a restaurant called So LA would be wall-to-wall egg white omelettes.

My square of hake had been grilled on a Japanese Konro grill, giving it a very pleasingly charred skin. In the dark it was hard to figure out what was going on underneath. Sweetcorn puree was close to babyfood while a black linseed cracker might go down well in California but I didn't find it added anything to the dish.

The Millenial's smashed lamb burger was, we reckoned, what the five-a-month fellas would order once they saw the price of the steak. As it contained goat's cheese and avocado, and came in a roll with a bucket of chips, it made her very happy.

The waitress warned BFF that her duck breast came very pink and she did not exaggerate. The dim lights, which became even lower throughout the meal, meant she couldn't see the oozing blood mixing into the broth and shitake mushrooms. I thought LA portions would be triple zero size but, by this point, we were quite full. The cheeseboard - unfortunately called So Cheesy - was all we could manage.

It arrived containing a slab of gjetost, the weird Norwegian fudge cheese that has not been seen in polite company since the 1970s. BFF and I looked at it with alarm. Millennial, who had never seen it before, tasted a fragment and agreed that it was evil and wrong. The waitress took pity and brought us a second piece of the tongue-tingling blue instead.

As we left, a party of women in Santa hats and black dresses were getting stuck into the cocktail list. So LA is for them. It's about making an entrance, taking lots of pictures and tagging them on Insta.

It's not really for me.

Anna's Hot Plate leaders' table .BABA 24/30 130 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 4JZ .Gather 23/30 66 Hyndland Street, Glasgow G11 5PT .The Grill by HW 23/30 2 Inverallan Rd, Stirling FK9 4JA .monadh kitchen 23/30 19 New Kirk Road,Glasgow, G61 3SJ .Sonder 23/30 74-78 South Clerk Street Edinburgh EH8 9PT .TEM PURA KIRO 23/30 72 Victoria Rd,Glasgow G42 7AA .The Apiary 22/30 33 Newington Rd, Edinburgh EH9 1QR .Julie's kopitiam 22/30 1109 Pollokshaws Road, Glasgow G41 3YG .Haw ksmoor Edinburgh 22/30 23 West Register Street Edinburgh EH2 2AA .The Fishmarket 22/30 23a Pier Place, Newhaven, Edinburgh EH6 4L .Mono Restau rant 22/30 85 South Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1HN .NONY A 21/30 10 Claremont Street, Glasgow G3 7HA .leiper's attic 21/30 93-95 Hyndland Street, Glasgow G1 5PU .BASTA PIZZA 21/30 561 Dumbarton Road, Glasgow G11 6HU ?RANSACKED BLACK OVEN 20/30 ? 27-29 Marshall Street, Edinburgh EH8 9BJ . Casa Ma ra 20/30 14 Eyre Place, Edinburgh EH3 5EP .NICK'S PIZZA BAR & CAFE 20/30 15 Back Wynd, Aberdeen AB10 1JN . Brodies 20/30 1-2 Altrive Place, Holm St, Moffat DG10 9EB . Bistro Deluxe 20/30 81 Holyrood Road Edinburgh EH8 8AU . the Brunch Club 20/30 67 Old Dumbarton Road,Glasgow, G3 8RF .Pizza Eas t 20/30 575 Duke Street, Glasgow, G31 3PY .Sab oteur 20/30 19-20 Teviot Place Edinburgh EH1 2QZ . ga llery 48 19/30 48 Westport, Dundee DD1 5ER . The BacH 19/30 31 Meadowside, Dundee DD1 3DE . bibimbap 19/30 3 West Nile Street, Glasgow G1 2PR . grand caf e 19/30 20 North Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1TR . The Citizen 19/30 24 St Vincent Place, Glasgow . HARMONIUM 19/30 60 Henderson Street, Leith EH6 6DE . Pie & Brew 19/30 129 Bath Street, Glasgow G2 2SZ . absu rd bird 19/30 3 Nelson Mandela Place, Glasgow G2 1QY . NANIKA18/30 72 Victoria Road, Glasgow G42 7AA . Non-Viet Ha i18/30 609 Great Western Road G12 8HX . Deans18/30 77-79 Kinnoull Street, Perth PH1 5NH . Faz enda18/30 102 George Street Edinburgh EH2 3DF . Finsba y18/30 44 Main Street, Milngavie, Glasgow . Black Iv y18/30 4 Alvanley Terrace Edinburgh EH9 1DU . The Iv y On The Squa re18/30 6-8 St Andrews Square, Edinburgh EH2 2BD . MEZZIDAKIA18/30 73 St Vincent Street, Glasgow G2 5TF . NAM TUK 18/30 2 Partickbridge Street, Glasgow, G11 6PL . Stack & Still 18/30 100 West George Street, Glasgow G2 1PJ . El PERRO NEGRO 17/30 966 Argyle Street, Glasgow G3 9LU . Five Ma rch 17/30 140 Elderslie Street, Glasgow G3 7AW . Te seba 17/30 393/395 Great Western Rd,Glasgow G4 9HY .TATHA BAR & KITCHEN 16/30 V&A Dundee, DDA 4EZ .Ross ini 16/30 39-41 Hyndland Street, Glasgow G11 5QF .The Botany15/30 795 Maryhill Road, Glasgow G20 7TL . Misus hi 14/30 119 Main Street, Uddingston, G71 7EW . VAPIANO 14/30 235 Buchanan Street Glasgow G1 2NG . romans 13/30 26 Candleriggs, Glasgow G1 1LD . MHARSANTA 13/30 26 Bell Street Glasgow TOTAL 19/30

CAPTION(S):

SO LA 43 Mitchell Street Glasgow G1 3LA www.solaglasgow.com

LA LA LAND Spice duck breast and above left, spiced feta salad and, right, BBQ octopus

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Title Annotation:	Features
Publication:	Daily Record (Glasgow, Scotland)
Geographic Code:	4EUUK
Date:	Dec 15, 2018
Words:	1397
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