Asian Gourmet

I’m sad to have to give this place only two stars. Had I reviewed it 2 months ago it would definitely have at least 4 stars but today when I ate their the food it had gone far down in quality and taste. Since then I heard that one of Asian Gourmet’s chefs had left which unfortunately means some recipes have changed and not changed in a positive way. We had ordered the Kung pao chicken and also orange chicken. The Kung pao chicken has a sweet and sour taste and really lacks any defining taste. The orange chicken tasted incredibly artificial and overly flavoured with orange.
I called to complain but instead of any apology the lady on the other end of the phone was trying to justify it. I’m sad to take this place off my list of good eats.

Tucked around the corner from what was Asia Style (now Asiama)/Ka Ka Lok, you could easily miss Asian Gourmet. A group of us popped in for an early dinner on Saturday night and got a table easily — I think there was only one other table there, it was only around 5pm though.
This place is very casual, nothing fancy. It’s in a basement and it might not look that appealing from the front but just head in anyway. In our group, we ordered a main each to share and then some sides as well. I went for salt and chilli crab which was just lovely — nicely battered, very tasty inside and served with spring onion mixed through. That was probably my favourite dish of the night, the salt and chilli squid was pretty damn good too. Sides of rice and chips were perfectly fine, and service was helpful and never far away.
I guess I just wasn’t overly wowed by this place — I love Ka Ka Lok and don’t really think the food is of the same standard. But the bill was only £14pp and that included drinks, so I guess if you’re looking for good value for money, this is the place to head.

I must have passed Asian Gourmet about 100 times in the last few years and have never really had the compulsion to go in until a few weeks ago when I enjoyed a drunken afternoon with some buddies.
When we visited on Saturday night I was every so slightly scared, not knowing what we would find, but cheered on by AustenM’s cheeky — you go where no other food blogger is prepared to go! I marched down the stairs and straight into the restaurant.
I would be lying if I said the inside was anything other than functional… there were grey tiled walls, a few tables with red paper tablecloths and a few paper Chinese lanterns strung up on the roof. It was clean and not especially scary.
The staff were pleasant enough, although because of the way the restaurant is set up the staff couldn’t see our table and so we had to work kind of hard to get their attention to order food and drinks. It is worth mentioning that earlier in the day we tried to book a table but the person that answered the phone couldn’t speak English and hung up on us.
Here is where Asian Gourmet comes into it’s own… amazing food.
The menu is pretty extensive with a large section of more traditional Asian meals including Fish Head Pot, Duck Tongue and Stir Fried Pork Kidney??? However, please don’t let this put you off because they also have an incredible selection of western friendly dishes available for the less adventurous.
We ordered a whole host of dishes to share including — Salt & Chilli Squid, Kung Po Chicken, Twice Cooked Chinese Pork, Dumplings and some fish/​aubergine dish that I never even touched. We also ordered a couple of potions of chips and some rice.
For me the stand out was definitely the Squid, which was so good we ordered a second portion. The coating was light and crispy and the squid was tender and salty. A cracking dish!
The pork would come a very close second, it was incredibly aromatic and the dish was heaving with lots of meat.
The Chicken was okay; again there was heaps and heaps of meat in this dish. However, it was maybe just slightly on the rubbery side — but perfectly edible and I would happily order and eat it again.
I can’t even give you an opinion on the aubergine dish because I just didn’t like the look of it — it was super oily and didn’t look like my kind of thing at all, so I gave it a miss.
The entire bill came to a ridiculously cheap £72.90, which included chilli bean sprouts (which were amazing) and green tea on arrival, 7 main dishes, 5 drinks and complimentary orange and sweets with the bill.

None of us could quite wrap our heads around how cheap it was.
This is a cracking hidden little gem of a restaurant — please don’t be put off by its appearance — the food was absolutely beautiful and the price was amazing.
I will definitely be back here again, and if I want a Chinese take away from now on I will be ordering from Asian Gourmet for sure.

Tucked in off the main road of St George’s Cross this dungy restaurant exists! Looking to book ahead, when calling the guy on the other end did not speak English but we to the gamble and turned up anyway.
Nice little touches like free bean sprouts and a little pot of tea make this restaurant very welcoming.
A back to front menu, traditional to western we decided to order off the traditional menu starting worth Dumplings and plenty of them. Next up was a range of dishes that we decided to share. We had Kung Po chicken, double cooked pork, salt and chili quid which was pretty epic in fact we ordered an extra portion! We also had an Aubergine with salt fish but it was really disgusting and I actually couldn’t chew it it tasted that bad. I wouldn’t let that one dish put me off as the food is really good. We also went for a side of chips and loads of rice
All this with drinks came to something like £16 quid per head! Cheap as chips. Don’t be put off by the look of it from the outside is friendly and good inside.

Is a dive restaurant a thing? If it is then this is certainly one. It’s pretty run down looking from the outside and for years I thought it was a place I would never venture to, but on Saturday I did and I came away very happy.
I was intrigued before, but the moment I phoned to book a table and the voice on the other end said I do not speak English and hung up, I knew I had to go! On arrival the outside is a bit off putting and the inside is very basic, more Chinese restaurant in Asia than what we expect from a Chinese restaurant in Glasgow. Still the staff were very welcoming and friendly from the moment we arrived.
So on to the food and drinks. Free bean sprouts to start and free jasmine tea. All lovely. We then shared several dishes between the group of 5 of us. Stand out for me was the salt and chilli squid. It was so good we ordered another portion. I also loved the double cooked pork. The Kung po chicken was tasty, but the chicken was chopped a bit small for me. The only dish I was not sure about was the aubergine with salted fish. It was just a little to oily and fishy for me, but I reckon that’s just a taste thing. On the side we had rice and chips and by the end I was stuffed!
At the finish with the bill they brought us out loads of free chewy sweets and oranges. Then came the best bit. I felt we had had a banquet and it only came to 16 quid per person. It looked like the rice was only a quid a bowl! The value for money here is phenomenal. This place deserves a strong four stars. I think it’s got a couple of competitors perhaps doing a wee bit higher quality food and in a better setting that stops me going with five stars, but that should in no way put you off coming here. Fantastic food, great value and a really interesting dining experience. I will return!

This is my secret little place in Glasgow and I honestly do not want to share it with anyone because I like it being «my place» however, I cannot do this in good conscience as I know for every little independent to thrive, they must have custom. So here I am about to (begrudgingly) expose one of Glasgow’s best kept secrets.
Firstly, Asian Gourmet is a humble place. No fancy décor (although, bless their little metal woks, they have tried…), no leather bound menus and no fancy presentation. The place looks more like an amateur converted basement but I kinda like that. Not all Chinese places are red and covered in lanterns, folks. So, you go down the steps from the pavement and wind your way under the arch to enter the restaurant. Everything seems to be written in Chinese — a good sign of a decent place! You are then greeted by usually friendly servers — never unfriendly but sometimes when they are so busy, it can be a bit hasty, but that is ok when you know of the mighty delicious food that is awaiting you. And they do speak English, too which is a bonus for anyone who doesn’t speak Mandarin or other Chinese languages. The menu comes in the form of a rather homemade booklet that has seen better days, written in both Chinese and English. Don’t be put off by the «Duck Tongue» or «Intestine» dishes — I have actually tried the intestine dish and I tell you, it is the most delicious ever! Don’t be squeamish with your sensibilities and just go for it! 1.3 billion people cant be wrong! So, what are my usual dishes? I ordered «chong bao yeung newk» aka stir-​fried lamb and spring onion — and BOOM! Your eyes pop and your mouth is the happiest it has ever been — this dish is SO delicious yet so humble, it takes you right back to the land! It sparks in you something basic, something natural and from the ground, far away from the factories of the processed food that we shove down our gullets everyday. What I am saying is folks, this dish is something Mrs Wong from somewhere in China would be serving her children knowing that it is as nutritious as it is delicious. The next dish is «fo yui hong sum choi» — a vegetarian dish that is a Chinese leafy veg with a hollow stem and long tapering leaves, sautéed in preserved tofu and chillies. Delightful! This is followed by «mong go knaw yeuk» — Mongolian Beef — the type of dish that you shake your head at in awe as you chew the delectable spicy strips of battered beef that has been wok fried with a heady mix of spices. Last but by no means least, the «jah tai cheung» fried salt and chilli intestine. This is the most delicious version I have ever tasted — the intestine is sliced and fried in a very light batter then stir-​fried with chillies, spring onion and celery. It is delicate, crispy, light and full of what I suppose some chefs might call «umami» flavour. I have made many a convert on this dish, just so you know. Food is food. They also do an amazing curry sauce (try the king prawn curry — yum!). Traditionally in Chinese (and many Asian countries), dinner is served banquet style for a family feel ie, you order several dishes to be shared in the middle of the table but you can order Western style, too if you prefer, by ordering individually. All this is served with a fluffy Thai jasmine rice. The menu prices are fair — ranging from around £5-£15 per dish. Everything is made in house. Ok, the plates along with the menus might have seen better days, too, with their little chipped sides and faded patterns, but the portion sizes are handsome and plentiful and that’s enough for me. You get Chinese tea and free pickles to kick start the journey, so sit back, enjoy and know that this is the closest you’ll get to dining in China without actually going to China. And let me tell you, that flight to the other side of the world is a killer, so to have Asian Gourmet on our door step with its mighty flavours and fierce authenticity even with its faded menus and chipped plates, this place is a real nugget of gold in an increasingly homogenised society. I say «gong bui» (cheers!) to Asian Gourmet and may they continue to serve many more bowls of rice for years to come! Enjoy, folks!

Awesome, amazing and truly traditional, don’t be put off with the way the place looks as the food is worth it.

First of all, I was too busy devouring my meal to take a photo, so I apologise for that. Secondly, I have searched high and low across Glasgow for a Chinese takeaway that I actually like, and I think Asian Gourmet is the closest I have come to finding one.
I’d been recommended Asian Gourmet by a colleague, and considering it is surviving alongside two extremely popular Chinese restaurants, I figured it was worth a try! We called up to place an order for collection, seeing as I pretty much live across the street from it, and it was a very straightforward call, we told them what we wanted, the call ended. There was no indication of how long it would take and they didn’t ask for our names, so we waited about 10 minutes and then walked down.
Between two of us we ordered a half Crispy Aromatic Duck, Pork and Chinese Cabbage Dumplings and Prawn Toast. This came to just over £20 and came with a bag of complimentary prawn crackers, which I always appreciate!
The duck came already shredded, with two packs of pancakes, a rather small amount of hoisin, and a massive tub of spring onion and cucumber, I mean, more than two people could ever hope to eat! I would have liked less veg and more hoisin sauce because Sam and I both love it so we were fighting over every drop! The duck was tasty and the hoisin had a really strong, but delicious flavour.
The dumplings were steamed, the pastry lovely & silky, and the filling was, although quite salty, very tasty — the dip that came with us however, was not! It tasted like pure rice wine vinegar! The only problem was, the dumplings went cold quite quickly.
The prawn toasts were incredible — crispy and loaded with plenty of prawns. They were meant to be just for Sam but I kept stealing them from him!
I would definitely order from Asian Gourmet again. I haven’t been to Asia Style or Kaka Lok yet, so I can’t honestly say how they compare, but I hope people don’t overlook Asian Gourmet round the corner!

Truly the best Chinese food I’ve had in Glasgow. Better than the highly coveted Asia style, which is round the corner. With so many garbage Chinese take aways in Glasgow (and the UK for that matter), Asian Gourmet is really a gem of a restaurant. Their menu is BIG, and it can be a bit daunting so I would suggest going with someone who has been before. You won’t regret it!

It’s a toss up for me! I didn’t think the food was just as good as it was on Monday/​Tuesday at 1am when I was there for the first time. Certainly will try again but it’s a toss up between Asia Gourmet and Asia Style (just round the corner)
Both have extensive authentic Asian home cooking menu. I had frogs legs in salt and pepper. They were lovely. I asked for more frogs legs. Said they had «just ran out. » :)
SweetP had Stir Fry lamb with noodles. Couldn’t eat it all so there was no bother getting it packed up and ready to eat at home.
Give it a go yourself. You are your own best critic. Prices won’t leave you short of change either :)
Let me know if you go…