I’m aware that my (recently quite frequent) visits to Glasgow tend to take me to some of the smarter spots, so today I made a conscious effort to focus on grabbing a quick takeaway soup and sandwich, to see how this city copes with my more routine requirements. Based on today’s visit to Crumbs, the jury is still out.
Exterior
I’ve walked past the place lots of times on my way to and from our Glasgow offices, so knew it was a simple, straightforward place, with no frills. Service is prompt and focused, with little emphasis on banter or chit-chat. The name of the game is to attend to folks’ needs, and get them on their way with the minimum of fuss.
I chose a large pea and ham soup from a board with three options. I matched this with a chicken tikka wrap. This came to the princely sum of £4.
Transaction completed, I toddled along the few steps to central station, and boarded my onward train.
Soup
I examined the soup first, and found it very hot, so quickly switched emphasis to the wrap. Cut into two pieces, it was extremely generously filled with chicken. It was heavy on the ginger, to the exclusion of most other flavours, but the pieces of chicken were soft and moist, so it really wasn’t too bad at all.
The soup was less pleasing. It combined a slightly burnt taste, either from the ham having been too eagerly cooked at the start, or the soup having stuck during cooking, with a grainy rawness from the yellow split peas, which hadn’t been soaked and/or cooked for long enough. Once the burntness was reconciled to an “intense smokiness” by my forgiving palette, it tasted OK, with a nice rustic texture, if you forgave the graininess.
Wrap
So Crumbs didn’t really hit the mark. The wrap was better than the soup, but neither were particularly outstanding. Compared with yesterday at the French Press, I got twice the amount of food for half the money, but at half the quality and in half as good surroundings. In some way, the equation between the two balances almost perfectly, but I think the middle ground in between is where the really satisfying lunchtime experiences truly lie.
Scores
Blythe scores French Press:
2.5/5 for food
3/5 for presentation
3/5 for service
2.5/5 for setting
giving an overall 11/20
Today’s quester was: Blythe
I ate: chicken tikka wrap, pea and ham soup
I drank: nowt
I wore: beautifully textured trousers
Total bill: £4
