What the experts recommend

Sugo Pasta 70 Mitchell Street, Glasgow (sugopasta.co.uk)

This 200-seat pasta joint has only just opened, and is already “Glasgow’s most oversubscribed restaurant”, says Marina O’Loughlin in The Sunday Times. It is from the team behind Paesano, a pizzeria that was also a “smash hit”. It’s no secret that pasta – like pizza – is a “banker” for restaurateurs, but Sugo has entirely resisted the temptation to cut corners. From its glorious setting in the old Glasgow Herald building, to the careful pairing of pastas and sauces, everything has been meticulously thought through. The short menu is split up by region: there’s agnolotti stuffed with veal and cavolo nero (a nod to EmiliaRomagna), and tagliolini with green beans, pesto and – in “a typically Ligurian touch” – potato. One of my dining companions declares his pappardelle with slow-cooked beef ragu (Tuscany) “the best pasta he’s eaten in a restaurant, ever”. That they can do all this and still produce a “gentle” bill at the end is “little short of remarkable”.

Dinner for three, including drinks, £69.

Bistro Forty Six 46 Brentwood Avenue, Newcastle (0191-281 8081)

From the outside, this restaurant in the trendy Newcastle neighbourhood of Jesmond looks as though it’s going to be “knocking out beetroot and goat’s cheese salads”, says Jay Rayner in The Observer. But it turns out that its speciality is game, much of it personally shot by chef Max Gott in the hills of Northumberland. We start with “pheasant bonbons”: seasoned balls of “minced loveliness” served with burnt leeks and finely shredded puffball. That “Gott has a way with pheasant” is equally clear from another starter, pheasant scotch egg, its yolk “at that perfect place between set and running”. The stand-out main is “deep rosy slices” of venison served with impeccable mash. To drink, we are served cloudy cider, made from “apples scrumped from the streets of Jesmond”. But more important than the “field to fork thing” is the “completely delightful” mood. Run by a team of enthusiasts, Bistro Forty Six is a “small restaurant with heart”. Starters £6.95-£8.95; mains £15.95-£24.95.