Go Gaga for rich taste of Malaysia A

Julie Lin’s new place will spice up dull winter months

“Did that used to be the Rex or the Regal?” she would ask as I disappeared out the door on my way to see something unsuitable.

I now do exactly the same thing with bars, night clubs and restaurants, as well as cinemas. I tell myself I’m keeping the history of our city alive. Although the bouncer at the now defunct O2 in Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street gave me a disbelieving look as I told her that the last time I was there was to see Grease.

There were definitely ghosts at the table when I made it to Gaga, Julie Lin’s new Asian munchery on Glasgow’s Dumbarton Road. It’s two of the three adjacent venues once owned by Allan Mawn, knocked together and stripped of the industrial fittings installed by its inbetween owner, brewery Six⁰North.

I was a big supporter of Mawn’s three venues (Velvet Elvis, Pinxto and Criterion for Partick history fans). Gaga, with its Asia-hopping dishes and exquisite cocktails, is not like any of them. But its warmth, charm and banging menu have strong Mawnsie energy.

Much of this is down to Julie, who will be familiar to Glasgow foodies from her tiny Kopitiam in Shawlands. In Gaga, she has more space to explore her Malaysian roots and beyond. Teaming up with two partners with bar backgrounds means there are serious drinks as well as intriguing things to eat.

The menu is short – three starters, five meat mains, four substantial plant-based options and sides. One of these is crinkle-cut chips, a dish that took me back to school dinners of the Grease era. Julie is reviving these as a vehicle for spices and face-puckering tamarind drizzle.

The sauce was epic but the chips can stay in the 70s. There are so many more interesting things to order here.

My ground pork with basil and peppercorns was a richly spiced

plate of Malaysian mince, mounded in a puddle of fiery chilli-spiked oil. There was heat of every kind, back of the mouth warmth from the pepper, sting on the lips from rings of chilli. It was seriously good.

Carb Boy’s fat slices of pork belly sat in a curry sauce that could stain a tablecloth just by looking at it. Rounds of carrot with the melting meat were a homely touch. Julie’s masterstroke is choosing dishes that are unfamiliar to our palates but still have the instant hug-ona-plate feel of home cooking.

Carb Boy mopped his plate with rice – order plenty – and dunked chips in what sauce remained.

I thought that two large dishes of fatty meat should be balanced with something fresh and sharp. Watermelon on a nest of rice noodles sounded like perfect January food – light and bright, full of zing. It was all those things and more. Carb Boy was grudgingly granted a small sliver.

The wok greens were more like wok off-whites, a heap of Chinese leaves and broccoli stems in a heady mix of fish sauce and garlic. There was a lot of crunch in there, not to say bits that would otherwise have landed in the compost bin.

We spaced this feast out with our “starter”, Taiwanese popcorn chicken, which arrived at the same time as everything else. It worked surprisingly well. With so many palate-punching flavours on the table, the occasional bite of unfeasibly crunchy chicken, accompanied by a fried lime leaf, was sweet relief.

We struggled bravely through two-thirds of this frankly decadent spread before admitting defeat and requesting takeaway boxes.

Then we had a rest. I finished my banana sesame sour and Carb Boy powered through some raspberry beer which earned his greatest compliment: “This does not taste much like beer.”

Could we manage a dessert? A small one, between us? Such as the kopigato, which is basically a south-east Asian coffee with condensed milk, poured over ice-cream? We gave it a go. It was indeed very sweet and highly caffeinated, with roasted peanuts on top. These were raw peanuts that had been toasted in a pan, not the nuts in salty sawdust popular as a pub snack in the 80s. Thankfully. It was not elegant. It was, however, very good.

With difficulty, we managed to shuffle out of our booth and home. On our next visit – and there will definitely be one – we will order with more caution. Or take friends, so we can try the rest of the menu.

I’m already looking forward to breakfast nasi goreng and an epic looking fried chicken sandwich.

January needs all the Julie Lin-shaped joy it can get.