This debut novel from talented young writer Emily Ilett offers children a captivating story about adventure, determination and the power of friendship amidst an uncertain world, full of change, self-doubt, depression and loss.

The story begins on Gail’s twelfth birthday where everything feels anything but celebratory. Gail’s older sister, Kay, has become withdrawn and depressed with life, likely linked to their father leaving them two months before, while mother is juggling her acute distress for her eldest daughter’s declining state while working to keep the house and family running.

Battling anger and resentment at her sister for not being the same company she was – ‘All you do is sit here feeling sorry for yourself!’ – Gail struggles to accept this seismic family shift, and the ways it hits her, such as her sister’s inability to accompany her swimming which she loves but is too scared to do alone.

The sudden disappearance of Kay’s shadow prompts a gut reaction from Gail, as she vows to her sister she will find it and bring it home. As Kay’s shadow moves out of their family home towards the wild hill of Ben Fiadhaich, Gail pursues it, moving further and further away from her comfort zone. Determined by her mission, driven by loyalty and love for her sister, she crosses paths with others where all is not as it seems, unlikely friendships are formed and there is a whole, beautiful natural world surrounding her where lessons can be learnt from every angle.

Lenny McFadyen spoke to Emily to find out more…

The Girl Who Lost Her Shadow feels like it was gathering pace in your imagination for a long time. How did it all come about? What made you decide to write a book for children?

I think it’s really nice you felt like it was gathering pace in my imagination, it definitely has been for quite a while. I started writing for children about six years ago now. Before then I’d been writing short, slightly strange and very playful fiction with young people as the main characters but I’d never really written for children.

I took a creative writing masters at the University of Glasgow and that was when I started writing specifically for this age group. I came out of that course with a series of interconnected short stories which were all set on a Scottish island and one of the stories was about a girl who lost her shadow and that was the one that came playing around my head and I felt like there was lots of questions tied up with that character that I hadn’t figured out yet. I was intrigued by why she’d lost her shadow, where it had gone and it kept buzzing around until I decided I was going to try and write something much longer. Partly for the experiment to see if I could do it. It was quite nice to have no expectation and just try and get to the end.

The protagonist, Gail, is worried about her older sister Kay’s forlorn, withdrawn state. Gail also seems very hard on herself throughout her journey, questioning her own abilities and strength of character. Do you feel depression amongst young adults is something we need to be talking about more as well as how we support it?

Yes, I do. I think it’s really awful but it’s a reality that a number of children struggling with depression and anxiety and mental health issues is increasing dramatically while support services are being cut dramatically.

For me, it was really important to write a story about depression. Kay (the sister of the protagonist, Gail) has depression and the story is also about the impact that this has on her family. Gail is trying to come to terms with the fact that she was really close to her sister – they’ve done everything together; they have the same dreams of becoming marine biologists – and suddenly Kay is just so withdrawn. She is irritable, snappy, not swimming – which she loved to do – and I was interested in exploring the idea of a young person supporting another young person with depression, because it’s not necessarily the most instinctive thing to reach out and be there for someone who seems, from their perspective, to be purposefully distancing themselves. The story is about Gail learning what it means to reach out and the courage that it takes to do that.

There’s a sense of magical realism to the setting for the story: the fictional setting of wild Ben Fiadhaich, surrounded by the deep and mysterious oceans, hosts to imposing, chaotic storms. Do you think we can all take lessons from nature? And did you grow up by the sea?

I didn’t grow up by the sea! I would have loved it! It’s funny, actually; my editors asked me if I was a swimmer and if I grew up by the sea too. When I was younger we used to go to Cornwall and I think spending time by that rolling grey ocean really got inside my subconscious and so it was really lovely to step inside that world. The island itself is fictional and based on elements of both Mull and Skye. A lot of Gail’s learning comes from the natural world and, in particular, her friend Mhirran, who talks about the way different creatures communicate with each other and that helps her think about connection. There’s a lot we can learn about the natural world, especially in terms of perspective and if we can take ourselves out of our own world that we have created.

First impressions are not always maintained; there’s lessons around kindness, patience and compassion. In a current climate of casual name calling in politics and the media, how important do you think it is for us to be more considered with how we treat each other?

Children and young people are growing up in a world where there are anti-bullying campaigns and they are taught that bullying is wrong and yet they see bullying all over the newspapers and in the media and proliferated by people in power, so I think it’s really important we hold up and celebrate compassion and kindness. Especially in relation to climate change. We are in a climate crisis and it’s such a divisive time of politics, yet we should be coming together. In order to do that you need so much patience and compassion and kindness. Children’s books are a beacon to the future. I read a lot of children’s books and they never fail to move me, I think they’re so fiercely empathetic and hopeful – mainly because children are all those things themselves – but I always wish that the people in power were reading these stories.

The message of friendship and collaboration is very evident throughout.

This is definitely a book about friendship. Friendships can be like relationships: bumpy with ups and downs. In her friendship with the character Mhirran, Gail learns she is bigger than she thought and braver than she thought. We can grow into our own potential through friendship and collaborations. Also, because this story is about mental health I didn’t want Gail to be isolated; the support network element is so important.

Grief is carefully and respectfully tackled in the story. How challenging was it to get the tone right for this age group?

It didn’t necessarily occur to me that I needed to think really carefully or consciously of how I wrote about grief for this age group and that might be because children’s worlds are full of difficult emotions and turbulent times – and often grief and loss is part of it.

Maybe you were normalising that emotion because it’s now so prevalent amongst younger adults.

I think that’s it. It’s really important to write about emotional and difficult times because young people are experiencing this and being able to see it and read it and empathise is almost preparation and companionship through those hard times.

Can you tell us a bit more about your inclusion of climate change in the story and what that means to you.

In my mind there was a parallel between the sense of helplessness that Gail feels in relation to her sister’s depression and the sense of helplessness around climate change. Climate change is more of an undercurrent in the book and I wanted to focus on bringing the issues home. In writing it, I was thinking about Scottish readers and I wanted to focus on and draw attention to threats to the natural world that are very close to home. So we talk in the story about the poaching of freshwater pearl mussels and also the Scottish wildcat. When something like the subject of climate change can seem so terrifying and wide reaching, it’s important to bring it back down to a smaller moment or a fight that’s much closer to home. Gail and Mhirran are on a mission to stop the pearl hunters fishing for freshwater pearls and, in that way, they are doing something to support their local, natural world.

Do you have any advice for other aspiring young writers out there.

I’ve been thinking about this since the book came out and I started to do school visits. There so much writing advice and I’m weary of adding to it. The thing that’s been most helpful to me, though, is how important it is to become your own friend, to learn about yourself, build up a friendship with yourself and be your own friend through your writing. Learn what makes you feel good. When you write, challenge yourself and remind yourself that you’re braving new things. It can be hard to believe in your story but think what would a friend tell you if you’re feeling down and unsure.

Website: emilyilett.com
Instagram: @pinecone_fish
Twitter: @EmilyrIlett

Joanna Moorhead meets wine expert Tom Cannavan, who’s been a lover of West End life since the early 80s. In 2018 he became the first Scot to be named as International Wine Communicator of the Year, and he’s also the frontman of Glasgow post-punk band Restricted Code, which recently reformed after a 27-year hiatus.

Wine expert Tom Cannavan has various claims to fame, but Westender readers of a certain age may remember him best as the vocalist in the Glaswegian post-punk band Restricted Code, which toured Europe supporting the Human League in the late seventies, and recorded with John Peel.

It was when the group disbanded in 1981 that Cannavan first came to live in the West End, having been raised in the east of the city: and it didn’t take long for him to realise that this was the place he truly belonged. He’s been based in the area ever since, apart from a brief spell when he tried living in London. ‘My partner and I attempted to recreate what we have here in the West End, realised we couldn’t do it, and moved back again,’ he says.

So what is it that makes the area so appealing? In many ways, says Cannavan, it’s exactly as it was when he first moved in. ‘The vibe is exactly the same now as it was then,’ he tells me over coffee at Oran Mor, a stone’s throw from his home near the Botanics. ‘The area has always taken a lot of its character from the university, the teaching hospitals, and until it moved out to Pacific Quay, the BBC’s presence here. It’s got a slightly alternative, bohemian feel: there are lots of young people, lots of artistic people, and it’s more liberal than other areas.’

Despite being fairly middle class – ‘Waitrose and all that kind of thing’ – he loves the diversity of the area. And its vibrancy, too. ‘You don’t get many high streets like Byres Road, with so many thriving businesses – so many streets in this city and other cities have boarded-up shops, but not round here.’

Another big plus for Cannavan is the easy access to the motorway, and the airport: he travels a lot, running masterclasses on wine around the world, and organising his hugely successful Festivals of Wine, which get booked up months in advance. ‘They’re consumer wine festivals, held across a day, with more than 400 quality wines on offer for tasting, and the chance to meet sommeliers and producers,’ he explains. He runs three festivals each year, in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London; this year’s Glasgow event is in June, with the others in November and October respectively. As well as organising the festivals and running masterclasses, he writes on wine for Decanter magazine and others, and regularly judges wine prizes.

So what are his top tips for Westender readers when it comes to choosing wine? ‘When you’re eating out, I always say you want to find a place where you can trust the sommelier. And then you trust them: they know their list, and they’re your best guide.’ When it comes to buying wine for home, he cautions against buying wine that’s too cheap, pointing out that the duty is the same on a cheap as an expensive bottle. ‘The sweet spot is for wine that’s around £8-12 in price,’ he says. That means you’re spending enough to give you quality; he’d rather have two bottles at £10 than three at £7.

Wine experts, he tells me, generally come to their trade by one of two routes: either they’re journalists who like wine, or they’re food and wine enthusiasts who start to write about it. He’s the latter: and it was during his early days in the West End that he developed the passion that he would eventually turn into a career. ‘I was studying at the Glasgow School of Art when I first moved here, staying initially in a flat on Dumbarton Road. At around the age of 19 I started to get very interested in food, along with a group of friends. There were five of us, a good little group and we decided we wanted to learn to cook. So every second Saturday would revolve around a meal at one of our homes, and we’d teach ourselves to cook properly – bechamel sauce, curry, and so on.
‘
With good food goes good wine, and I gradually became the one of us who was most interested in the wine choice – so each time we met for a meal, I’d choose what we were going to drink with whatever we were making that week.’

After graduating he became a teacher, and then he switched to work in the new MOD centre that opened in Kentigern House in Glasgow in 1986. ‘It meant I got a new training in computers, and in the 1990s I moved to Glasgow University where I lectured in computing until 2000,’ he says.

Alongside his day job, he had started to write about wine; he landed a wine column in the Sunday Post, and then a gig on the Home Show on STV. And then, in the mid 1990s, he had a breakthrough idea. ‘There was this new thing called the internet, and it made sense while I was finding my way around it to start something there around wine. So I started what was possibly the first wine website in the world – wine-pages.com – and it really took off. Wine retailers started coming to find me, and suddenly I realised I could make this my entire career, so I quit the day job.’

He’s never looked back; and in 2018, he was named International Wine Communicator of the Year, the first Scot to ever net the title. Turning his passion into his work has, he agrees, been one of his finest achievements; though there are many others, not least his long relationship. He and his partner, Alan, have been together for 34 years, and married for the last two. ‘We wanted to be absolutely sure first,’ he jokes.

The couple have another home in St Andrews, which is another reason why the West End’s proximity to the motorway works so well for them. But it’s Glasgow he feels he’ll never leave, especially after an attempt some years back to recreate the life they have here in the south east. ‘We moved to live in South Kensington, but being in London didn’t give us any of the advantages of the West End of Glasgow,’ he remembers.

The other major news in his life is that Restricted Code got back together in 2018. All four original members are on board: as well as Cannavan there’s his songwriting partner Frank Quadrelli, who was his friend at school in Easterhouse, Kenny Blythe on bass and Robert Mccormick on keyboards, and old friend Les Gaft joins them on drums.

The band recently finished recording a new CD, out last January, on Spotify. Cannavan gave me a sneak preview of one of the tracks, Lost, and it’s tremendous – and though I’m the right sort of vintage for the band, my 21-year-old daughter thought it was ace as well. All those years ago, NME (New Musical Express) called their output ‘a fluid collision of the trite, the enigmatic, the familiar and the unclassified’, and said Cannavan’s voice ‘implores with an unscientific elegance’. The band, said NME, had ‘packs of possibility’: three decades on, that possibility is back, and I’m raising my glass of Chardonnay to what I hope will be their new-found success.

TOM CANNAVAN’S WEST END –

Cail Bruich on Great Western Road is my favourite restaurant; it’s family-run, and they’ve got an extremely good wine list as well as very good food

No. Sixteen Restaurant Byres Road’s wine list is short, but it’s very well chosen, and the food there is great

The Ubiquitous Chip still has a very good wine list

Brett, a spin-off from Cail Bruich and also on Great Western Road, has the same excellent range of wines and food: their ever-changing wine list is mostly made up of artisan-produced natural wines. Natural wines are organic but they go beyond that – there’s minimal use of sulphur, and they taste great

Ian Mellis on Great Western Road and George Mewes on Byres Road are my favourite cheesemongers

Valhalla’s Goat on Great Western Road has an amazing range of drinks

Shopping as we know it has totally transformed over the last few years. With the rise of online, and out of town retail parks, the high street really took a beating. But with many of us bored and disillusioned by soulless supermarkets and chain stores, there’s a resurgence in the realisation that we really must buy local and explore the unique offerings right on our doorstep. These changes in the landscape have given rise to more creative approaches to retail and the West End has a rich and diverse range of retailers who are changing the shape of how we define shopping. One of the key fresh approaches in the retail industry is towards collaboration amongst artists, designers and retailers. There’s such a great logic to this type of connected thinking and it benefits everyone.

Interiors and fashion offer great scope for this as they access visions, trends and moods that have multiple applications and offshoots. So, for example, if you’re having a whole new interior designed for your home, where do you go to source the accessories that the designers seem to know about? How can you find great local artists and creatives, as well as the expertise to help you put it all together?

Two great examples of stores thinking expansively and creatively can be found on Great Western Road – Amaryllis and ParkHaus Interiors. I spoke to them both to find out more.

Lynn Gilfillan of Amaryllis told me what to expect in her store. She said it is ‘a luxury design-led concept store, offering a thoughtfully curated combination of designer homewares, fashion and accessories to create a dynamic, welcoming and relaxed space for all customers.’

She explained that here you can find glam luxe pottery, artistic lighting, decorative objects and unique table top accessories. From iconic stand-out pieces from Jonathan Adler, Dutch and Danish brands Pols Potten and HK Living offer a high-quality collection of lighting, tables, chairs and accessories and striking and vibrant textiles including marbled velvet cushions and lampshades by talented designer Susi Bellamy gives a bold colourful contrast to the sleek Scandinavian furniture.

But as well as buying for your home, you can also browse for yourself with a range of fashion, from labels Baum und Pferdgarten, Gestuz both from Copenhagen, Parisian label MKT and Fabienne Chapot from Amsterdam to name a few.

Lynn is also continuously expanding her offering of home-grown Scottish talent, and Amaryllis is a proud stockist of Eribé, an award winning Scottish knitwear designer, selling an innovative, contemporary collection of jumpers, cardigans, hats, scarves and gloves.

To top it all off you will also find unique gifts and accessories including handcrafted one-of-a-kind jewellery pieces by Anna Beck, as well as hand-poured luxury candles, and artistic cards.

Lynn’s creative collaboration with her lifelong friend, interior designer Lisa Trainer at Red Door, has been a great source of inspiration for them both. After a huge success transforming Lynn’s apartment, Lisa was also able to bring Lynn’s interior vision to life in Amaryllis too, providing the ideal backdrop to express her personality and display her merchandise. Lisa’s passion for highlighting local and unique artists and creatives in her work was well aligned with Lynn’s, bringing great shared expertise and a winning team.

Lynn said, ‘Collaborations bring specialists together to create strong dynamic partnerships which enhance and combine ideas to present exclusive brands – all with an individual, interesting story to tell.’

This store is relatively new but Lynn has a wealth of experience in the business with a retail portfolio and a renowned shop in Helensburgh. She has really enjoyed getting to know her new customers and been humbled by their welcome. She describes Great Western Road as ‘fast becoming a destination “hot spot” for independent boutiques like Amaryllis.’

Just along the road, Scott at Parkhaus Interiors has been a fixture on Great Western Road for a couple of years now. He offers a one-stop-shop interiors studio that is thoughtfully designed to feel warm and welcoming. There are five room setups to showcase different room options in a relaxed way.

Scott said, ‘We’ve incorporated some really lovely pieces into the displays from some local business people including Terrariums from Becky at Little Wild Things, candles from Lorraine at Gold Hart Scotland, and fabric and wallcoverings from Iona at Iona Crawford Atelier. I feel strongly about supporting other small local businesses, giving people a platform and showcasing some of the great talent and creativity we have in this city.’

The studio also showcases the kitchen collection by Keller, a Dutch manufacturer who have been manufacturing kitchens since 1946. Scott told me, ‘There is a comprehensive collection of kitchen styles from true handle-less, sleek modern timbers to traditional shaker styles. Sitting alongside we have our home interiors and lifestyle furniture from Pianca, and a gorgeous collection of contemporary furniture for living and sleeping spaces.’

They also showcase wall coverings from Tektura, Newmor and Designers Guild along with paint by Craig & Rose, (who have supplied the paint for the forth rail bridge since it was constructed).

Scott is also an advocate for working with fellow designers, he said, ‘Collaboration is really important, not only to support other designers but also to open up a huge range of services, knowledge and expertise to our clients. Collaboration brings new ideas to the table, inspires and adds to the creative process ultimately resulting in a cohesive scheme which is rigorously considered, well specified and reflects the client’s personality and style.’

So it really is a win-win for the designers, artists and retailers to be working together. Not only does it help showcase their products and services, but it’s also great for us consumers as we get access to a unique and diverse range of expertise and products we would likely never find ourselves, and a unique experience to boot.

Parkhaus Interiors hosts various events throughout the year, from cooking to colour, there are plenty of inspiring themes to give you food for thought. Topped off with their
Summer Soirée in July and the Winter Hygge event in December.

Scott said, ‘We invite clients old and new, colleagues and friends to join us for drinks and canapés as a way of keeping in touch and to say thank you. It’s also an opportunity for our clients to meet with the designers we work alongside, to have a chat to the person who designed their wall coverings or fabrics and it’s a nice way to let our hair down before the holidays. These events are always really busy and great fun.’

So, if you are down in that area, pop in and make sure you’re on the next invite list. If you need any more reasons, Scott encapsulates it well in saying that ‘Great Western Road is a destination. It has a great collection of design-led stores and studios, from kitchens to cushions and everything in between. This gem of a street is the perfect place to visit when thinking about a home project. Clients can spend the day visiting various design studios, stop for coffee or lunch on the way and finish with a glass of wine and a bag full of inspiration at the other end.’

Well that certainly sounds good to me!

Amaryllis West End
687 Great Western Road, 0141 387 8495
Follow on Facebook/Instagram @amaryllis_westend

Parkhaus Interiors
87 Great Western Road, 0141 332 5084 parkhausinteriors.com

When artist Norman Mathieson moved from Glasgow, calling the Japanese inland sea island of Awaji home, there echoed a shift away from the medium of printmaking as his primary method of working and a 13 year pause in exhibiting on his native soil. Something which has been wonderfully rekindled with an exhibition of paintings at Mansfield Park Gallery and a body of work that offers a beautiful reflection of this new landscape and his expressed moments in time.

As a graduate of Glasgow School of Art and the MFA at Duncan of Jordanstone in Dundee, Mathieson’s roots were at one time firmly placed in the UK – working at the Northern Print Studio in the North East of England and subsequently as the master screen printer and later, workshop manager at the Glasgow Print Studio. A time he recalls of, ‘fun days – great people with plenty of creative energy buzzing around.’

It was also around this time however that he was involved in several overseas residencies and printmaking workshops. ‘About three years before relocating I took part in a workshop on the techniques of traditional Japanese woodblock printing located in a rural mountainside village called Nagasawa on Awaji. Everything about the place including the landscape, the buildings and the way of life seemed a bit magical, like the movie, My Neighbour Totoro.’ Mathieson was also to meet his wife Kozue on this trip and after a few more visits, settled in a town close to this village.

Knowing of Awaji only for its famous Naruto Whirlpools and home to Izanagi Jingu, legendary referred to as the oldest shrine in Japan and being aware of Mathieson’s work as a printmaker, I had been intrigued by how these new experiences and the sense of place would translate and perhaps influence a new body of work. Not long after arriving and through the world of Facebook he started his page, ‘Awaji Drawing’ and it was clear from early on that the creative momentum endured. ‘I had been drawing around Awaji City and soon had completed about ten sketchbooks, mainly in watercolour pen. In the studio I was painting most days, subsequently I was amassing a body of work, however I didn’t have opportunities to exhibit the work I was making. I started ‘Awaji Drawing’ around this time principally to reconnect with friends and other artists. I post regularly and although it’s not as satisfying as exhibiting it’s a good way to share with others what it is that I am doing in Japan,’ he tells me.

I really was drawn to the works Mathieson was posting. There is gift of beauty and a little bit of that magic, less abstract in composition to previous works but continued sympathy and reflection of everyday life. The balance of the elements within the paintings are measured in their composition, showing a deep respect and love for the landscape and these observations. ‘My world is a very simple place; well it seems so when I compare it to the complications felt by others. When I look at my artwork, I want to contemplate its uncomplicated simplicity but not to the point where all the elements have been paired down to the basic minimal. It’s important to retain the elements that I feel represent the episode that I want to depict. I’m searching for a way to represent the beautiful moments and memories that touch my heart when I am surrounded by my world,’ he adds.

Life may have taken Mathieson physically in a new direction, but he recalls that, ‘although printmaking may not be my main way of creating artwork now, I think its influence is strong in my method of working. I was always interested in the mark making that could be attained from the various printmaking techniques, and as a result I used to make a lot of mono prints.’

The working method for these new pictures sees him work from drawings and print outs on Photoshop, which he paints onto stretched watercolour paper with watercolour and gouache, building up layers of paint from rough broad applications of complimentary colour to more detailed painting of specific areas of significance. Adding that, ‘I am very concerned with the construction of the composition. I look at ways in which to integrate the various relevant elements. A car, flying birds, running dogs. It’s a balancing act between the volume colour and shape of the objects and the space that these objects inhabit in the painting. The use of colour and the method of painting are my other concerns. The application of paint is also very quick drying which allows me to build up layers to create depth and volume. Adding light colours to dark areas and vice versa adds volume.’

From once exhibiting regularly in the UK and around the world, it may have been some time since we have viewed a Norman Mathieson exhibition here in Scotland. For those of us that have being viewing the works online, seeing them in the gallery space, over the computer screen is pretty exciting and will be well worth the wait I am sure. For those that are new to the pictures of Mathieson, I urge you drop by the gallery. Beyond this exhibition, well the journey will of course continue through the power of the internet – until of course the next one.

Awaji Drawing showing at Mansfield Park Gallery 1st – 31st March
mansfieldparkgallery.com
facebook.com/awajidrawing

The West End has recently enriched its selection of top restaurants with a Glaswegian/Italian institution: Celino’s. The family run business since 1982 – renowned for its Italian Deli in Alexandra Parade – now has a Partick branch.

When you step into Celino’s what will immediately strike you is the stunning deli counter full of delicious delicatessen from all over Italy. A shrine offering every precious kind of cured meet, olives, artisan cheeses and handmade street food and pastries from Celino’s own Italian chefs.

Inside the Trattoria, the atmosphere is relaxed and friendly thanks to the staff’s typically Mediterranean approach, warm and stress-free. It will embrace you as if you were strolling around the streets of an Italian historical city, popping in for dinner in a typical Trattoria.

Moreish Grande Antipasto (minimum for two persons) is sure to catch your eye. This selection of cold and warm dishes titillates the senses and will have you staring longingly at the server bringing the tagliere (literally, the wood chopping board). It offers a delicious taste of the finest Italian cured meats, freshly sliced from the counter, Celino’s own homemade Porchetta and a selection of artisan cheeses and vegetables.

Warm options complete the offer with fried calamari, crispy seasoned polenta and small handmade arancini and an incredible breaded buffalo mozzarella. It’s so stretchy and warm, it will melt in your mouth – all served with their home-baked bread. This option offers an incomparable combination of great taste and food quantity. Rest assured you won’t regret it.

Afterwards, we shared a ‘della casa’ (homemade) pasta dish. Caserecce with Gorgonzola, castagne e funghi (gorgonzola cheese and chestnuts in a rich, creamy mushroom sauce) was too much of a temptation to consider any lighter option.

We refreshed ourselves with a pint of the Italian lager beer Menabrea, but surely, the vast selection of regional Italian wines will push you to become a real wine connoisseur.

From a light, zesty Pinot Bianco D.O.C. from Friuli, to a full-bodied red Barolo D.O.C.G. from Piemonte you will begin your quest for the perfect wine match for the food selected.

Ending this experience, I am caught by a deep nostalgia of my time in Florence, so my dessert of choice naturally falls onto Tuscan Vinsanto and home-baked cantucci (almond biscuits people often dip into sweet Vinsanto wine). What truly special treat!

Celino’s deli and trattoria offer a choice for everyone, as its motto ‘Tutto per tutti’ proclaims. You can either indulge yourself at the counter for the best food ‘il bel paese’ has to offer, or as an option for takeaway. For a quick breakfast or lunch, or sit in, relax and enjoy the experience of an authentic Italian trattoria in the heart of the West End.

Celino’s
235 Dumbarton Road G11 6AB
0141 341 0311
celinos.com