Opium

Set close to Glasgow’s financial district, Opium brings sleek vibes & wide-ranging oriental food to the centre of the city. At lunchtime, local shoppers & business suits crowd in for an extensive menu of traditional dim sum including, perhaps, har gau dumplings, Shanghai siew lung bun, Szechuan won tons & pan-fried mooli cake. In the evening, the kitchen fleshes out its core regional Chinese menu with pan-Asian specialities from other corners of the Fast East – so expect to see Thai green curries, chicken satay & Assam-style squid with tamarind paste alongside steamed sea bass with soy, ginger & spring onion, roast duck with ginger & pineapple, or Hong Kong beef flank in claypot. For a trendy flourish, order one of Opium’s racy cocktails such as ‘mandarini’ (Bacardi Superior rum shaken with orange marmalade, Mandarine Napoléon liqueur, honey & smoky lapsang souchong tea).