What the critics say about …

RAMEN DAYO

Gordon Lane, Gordon Street, Glasgow (now in Queen Street) I have eaten noodles in Kyoto and Tokyo, and I have never tasted stock as brilliant as Ramen Dayo’s thick, mouth-filling, 20-hour tonkotsu pork broth. Forget Day Nurse or Rescue Remedy, if you’re coming down with something, you need to get a bowl of this down you. Off an old covered lane on Glasgow’s Gordon Street, the Ramen Dayo pop up is a dead ringer for one of those semi-permanent street food spots in Japan. Steaming stock, strings of paper lanterns, slatted wood, flapping red banners printed with black Japanese script, the glint of the pavement cobbles, the flimsy split cane screening that acts as a ceiling, an oriental shadowiness, a majority of Asian diners – it all rings true. JOANNA BLYTHMAN, SUNDAY HERALD

NORTH PORT

North Port, Perth This has a comforting feel to it; the dark wood panelling and exposed floorboards give a rustic vibe and the candles in the fireplaces add to the old-world cosiness. The lunch menu is limited to four choices per course; they were all interesting with home-baked bread and major on traditional dishes such as soup, haggis, neeps and tatties. The hake fillet was meaty and dense and was complimented by the buttery leeks, chive oil and earthy roasted Jerusalem artichokes. DUNDEE COURIER

ROCPOOL RESERVE

Culduthel Road, Inverness The Chez Roux Restaurant in the Rocpool Reserve Hotel has Albert Roux and his team at the helm. A three-course express lunch can cost just £15.50 or there’s a fixed-price vegetarian and set menus at £35 a head rather than the a la carte. The cooking is of a high class with interesting dishes such as Roux’s classic souffle Suissesse and roast butternut squash with blue stilton and leek pie, sweet pickled radish, salt-baked celeriac and pumpkin seed oil. While the set menus are good value for money, bear in mind a 10 per cent service charge is automatically added to your bill, but the friendly, professional attitude of the staff made this seem a very good deal. PRESS & JOURNAL

Ramen Dayo’s tonkotsu pork broth found favour with Sunday Herald food critic Joanna Blythman