Joanne Munro is head chef at a Glasgow institution – Café Gandolfi, in the city’s Merchant City enclave.
She is keen to maintain the ethos on their produce being Scottish where possible.
Joannee said: ‘I know everyone now talks about seasonality, but that’s how I’ve always worked. Our menu very much depends on what produce is available that week, so it keeps our ideas fresh.
‘I work very closely with suppliers, and they always know we’re up for trying something a little bit different. I work with a great butcher.
‘We also use a great supplier in Arran who grows organic vegetables. I love a Friday morning when these massive boxes arrive and there’s the most mental-looking veg inside.
‘In fact we’re using asparagus now that’s grown out near Glasgow airport, so I don’t think we could get it any closer. I’m also in the process of smoking some nice big Portobello mushrooms – we do a lot of that sort of thing ourselves. We’re then going to bread them like a schnitzel. ‘I’m planning an asparagus risotto, but when we make risotto we like to add something with a different texture, so with these mushrooms it will be our take on a Milanese type of dish.’
There seems no doubt that more than 30 years after this much-loved establishment opened its doors having been inspired by the Gaelic proverb Deagh bhiadh, deagh bheannachd – ‘Well fed, well blessed’, Café Gandolfi looks set to bless its customers with a lot more of the same.
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