Sometimes the drudgery of the Mon-Fri 9-5 needs to be shaken up a bit so I recently decided to venture out on a Tuesday night to see what the town could offer midweek.
I love a steak dinner but like most people just now I don’t really have the income to fund this expensive taste! So I was chuffed to discover every Tuesday two steaks and a bottle of wine for £30 in the West End.
So, off we went and started the night at The Butchershop Bar & Grill on Sauchiehall Street. We had booked in advance and I’m glad we did as although it was quiet at first, it did start to fill up. The benefit of booking an earlier dinner (5pm) was that we were given what I would consider the best seat in the house, at the window with a magnificent view of the Kelvingrove Art Galleries.
The restaurant is stylish and classy without being pretentious, influenced by the owners ‘love and passion for New York City’. The staff were welcoming and friendly and happy to make recommendations about how the steaks were cooked depending on our preferences. And I have to say the steaks were to die for, one medium, one medium-rare, both cooked to perfection. The meal was accompanied by skinny fries and our necessary addition of homemade onion rings, not a huge portion but a good meal and definitely quality over quantity. To wash down the steak a bottle of their house white, none of the usual cheap vinegary house wine, it was delicious. All in all, a fantastic start to the evening and I will definitely be back.
Leaving there, we wandered along Kelvin Way to the next part of the night, Red Raw at The Stand comedy club on Woodlands Road. Up to 10 acts for a bargain price of £2! Catch… they are beginners.
The Stand website is genuine when it says get there early, and if you want to guarantee entry book in advance because it really does fill up fast. Doors open at 7.30pm (show starts 8.30pm), we arrived at 7.30pm and the queue was round the building.
Even having the tickets doesn’t mean you’ll get a seat and with it being so busy we had the option of stand or sit in the front row! Up for a laugh we opted for the latter and paid for it with the numerous jokes at our expense but to make the most of a night like this you have to be up for a laugh and luckily we were.
As you can probably guess with a beginners showcase some of the acts were questionable, ok, some of them were dire. But at five minutes a turn you can grin and bear it and you do get the occasional surprise talent. What held the whole thing together was the host, the night we were there it was Gus Lymburn and he was brilliant, getting the audience laughing and keeping the whole thing going. We were fortunate enough to have a headline act too, so all in all great value.
So Tuesdays, I no longer dislike you, I can have a fab night out in the West End without breaking the bank and I will be back to do it again!
