Glasgow’s best restaurants: Five March in the West End specialises in small and sharing plates

National World - LocalTV

Five March has built up a strong reputation since it opened in Glasgow’s West End five years ago.

Transcript

00:00 So we are a wee restaurant.

00:02 Generally it's kind of small plates and sharing,

00:05 which I think probably the entire world is now, but that's fine.

00:09 Me and my old business partner sat down and talked about if four people were going to go for dinner,

00:16 how do you cater for everyone without having to write a check

00:20 longer than my arm's length in the kitchen?

00:22 Because if you've got four people, you've got one person that's probably vegetarian or vegan,

00:25 you've got one person that might be a celiac,

00:27 you've got one person that's secretly totally skint and can't really afford to go out for dinner.

00:31 So how do you cater for everybody?

00:33 So we wrote a menu based on basically making sure that every kind of subsection of dietary requirement

00:39 or whatever is catered to quite significantly within the menu itself.

00:43 So it means the chefs don't kill front of house and everyone can kind of come in and

00:48 you can come in and spend a lot if you would like to, that's always great,

00:50 but you can also come in and just have a dish and more enjoy the experience of being here with your friends,

00:54 which we think is quite important.

00:56 We try and work with as many local producers as we can.

00:59 We try and keep things coming from as close to here as possible.

01:03 That extends also to our wine list as well.

01:04 We try not to look to any kind of new world wines, just carbon footprint.

01:09 It's just always a case of also the kind of head to toe mentality,

01:12 you know, if you're getting something in instead of wasting what would be considered waste products,

01:16 there's normally something you can do with them, whether it's a stock or, you know, there's some way to use it.

01:20 So we just try and make sure that we're really not throwing things out,

01:24 which is good for us as well because you pay for less waste, you know.

01:27 It's like, it's funny because when you really implement kind of greener practices,

01:31 it actually saves you money as well, which is kind of like a double bonus on the whole thing.

01:35 So seasonality, the menu changes quite a lot.

01:37 It is interesting right now because you just really can't guarantee anything.

01:41 I mean, as from, you know, last summer when the whole of Europe was either droughts or it was totally soaking.

01:46 So, you know, products were coming in that you were normally, you could rely on,

01:49 and instead they were half the size and twice the price.

01:51 So you're kept on your toes at the moment, I think it's fair to say.

01:55 Honestly, I honestly think it's as much good luck as good judgment.

01:59 I think that we were in the right place at the right time.

02:02 Our proximity to Finiston whilst being just outside of it, I think was incredibly advantageous when we first opened.

02:08 Having said that, there's not really any passing trade here,

02:10 so it's actually a unit that you really have to try and keep a destination,

02:14 which sometimes on a really cold, rubbish Tuesday, it's hard to coax people up here.

02:18 It's a bit of a walk, you know.

02:21 We're just happy that we're still here.

02:24 It's incredible to have the reputation we have.

02:26 We're still very nervous about it.

02:29 It comes down to the staff more than anything else in the world.

02:33 We've been really fortunate with, you know, the chefs that have come through the doors,

02:37 the front of house guys.

02:38 I mean, we really are a wee team, which is quite nice.

02:41 So everyone, I think, is pride, you know, everyone wants to do well and everyone...

02:44 No chef wants to put out bad foods.

02:46 And in here, we do try and give the guys quite a lot of freedom,

02:49 and I think that's why we get good chefs through the door,

02:51 because they get to do... they get to try.

02:53 You know, it's always the kind of conversation of, like,

02:56 get things in, try a new dish, let's always be, like, creating and making.

02:59 It's great for me because I get to try things all the time,

03:02 but it's good for them, you know, chefs are... they're creative people.

03:05 They want to be working on something or trying to redefine something.

03:09 They've got as much ego as the rest of us,

03:11 so if you give them a situation that they are allowed to kind of play in a little bit,

03:16 You just end up with better results I think.

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