Collectif Spring 2017

Gin 71 , Glasgow

dinner and cocktails at Gin 71, Glasgow

Edinburgh Cannonball at Gin71

dining at Gin71, Glasgow

Gin71, Glasgow

dining at Gin71, Glasgow
01. GIN 71

Actually, there was quite a lot of gin, because last Thursday, Terry and I headed to Glasgow for dinner and drinks at Gin 71 in the Merchant City. If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen some of my Instagram Stories of this place, but if not, the restaurant is located in the prettiest little courtyard, all fairy lights and tubs of flowers – so it’s like arriving in Blogger Nirvana, basically. Inside, it’s all rustic charm, cute little private booths, and, of course, GIN. As the name suggests, gin is kinda this restaurant’s thing, and as well as a huge selection of gin-based cocktails (The one in the photo above is the ‘Edinburgh Cannonball’ and it was HOT.), the menu itself is also very gin-centric: so, for instance, my Botanical Mac & Cheese came with a selection of botanicals like juniper, thyme, rosemary, etc, which are all used in gin-making. (Oh, and it was amazing, by the way!)

dining at Gin71, Glasgow

dining at Gin71, Glasgow

dining at Gin71, Glasgow

Terry, meanwhile, had the d-cut Orkney rump steak (Which, again, was flavoured with juniper and thyme), before tucking into the dark chocolate salted caramel, while I had the cheeseboard:

dining at Gin71, Glasgow

dining at Gin71, Glasgow

Everything was absolutely delicious (Especially the gin, needless to say: I’d reeaally have liked to have stayed longer and worked my way through that list!), but it was the knowledge and obvious passion of the staff that really impressed us at Gin71. Our waiter, Sam, was an absolute wealth of knowledge about gin and how it’s made, and it was so interesting to speak to him about it, and get his recommendations from the menu: you can really tell when people love what they do, and everyone we met at Gin71 seemed to fall into that category, so if you’re a gin enthusiast (or just enjoy a good mac n’ cheese), it comes highly recommended – and we will be back for some more of those cocktails!

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COMMENTS
  • Lily

    REPLY

    Jonathan-the-delivery-man sounds like, well, a jerk. UGH. Kudos to you for not slamming the door in his face, Amber.

    I’m still amazed people like him exist. My friend who is a surgeon went to buy a car where the salesman assumed that her boyfriend was buying her a new car and would be along to pay for it at any second. When informed that she would be paying for it he asked how she could afford that, and *then* on hearing she was a surgeon, asked this little gem: “do the NHS let women be surgeons?”

    You couldn’t make this stuff up.

    As usual, the new collectif collection looks dangerous to my bank account. 🙂

    March 17, 2017
  • You can sure cheat the system if it means listing positive things! I see a lot of mint greens in your spring hauls and I NEED A ROUND MIRROR IN MY LIFE TOO!

    Charmaine Ng
    Architecture & Lifestyle Blog

    March 17, 2017
  • Emily

    REPLY

    Your account of Jonathan-the-delivery-man made me giggle, but I’m with Lily. He is an antiquated jerk.

    March 17, 2017
  • Hi, just stumbled upon your blog and really love it already. Those shoes are dreamy. Looking forward to delving back into your archives. Glad to have found you!

    March 17, 2017
  • Myra Boyle

    REPLY

    Poor Jonathan – tell him you’re sorry he’s got such an envious job and doesn’t have much money. Ask what his girlfriend/wife does when you’re at it lol.
    The gin restaurant looks amazing and the spring clothes from Collective look lovely.
    Have a good weekend and good luck with the kitchen

    March 17, 2017
  • Glad you had a great time at Gin 71. I love Gin! Although I have to admit I’m very picky about what gin I drink and only like a few (so far.) Can’t wait to see your new outfit. Very you!

    Dana Lynch
    Elements of Image Style Blog

    March 17, 2017
  • Veronica

    REPLY

    I love the turquoise & pink combination right now!

    March 17, 2017
  • Miss Kitty

    REPLY

    Looking forward to your kitchen updates! Not sure if this will help you make a flooring decision, but I have tiles in my kitchen. They were there when I moved in, and at first I loved them, and now I hate them. If I ever redo the kitchen I will be putting down vinyl plank flooring! Every darn thing you drop on tiles will smash into a million pieces. This might not be a problem if you are not as clumsy as me, but I have lost count of how many jars of mayonnaise and pickles I have wasted by dropping them on the tiles, grr. The other thing I find with tiles, is if I am working a full day in the kitchen, or even just an hour or so, I get REALLY sore feet and back. I think vinyl flooring will have a bit more give and make it more comfortable to stand on. Again, if you don’t work long hours in the kitchen this won’t be a problem for you!

    And really, I can’t believe guys like Jonathan still exist. I think I would have slapped him.

    March 18, 2017
      • Erin

        REPLY

        My husband is a floor-covering installer and I too would love universal flooring in our downstairs, but I don’t want wood in the kitchen and we would destroy laminate in our kitchen (most of it is ruined if you get it wet once). I kind of like the wood-look tiles but it’s been trendy for so long that in 3-4 years I’m assuming it will be dated. We already did a new kitchen floor once (12 x 24 subway tiles – which I still like but he hates). He wants to put in linoleum, which I’m fine with but it’s difficult to find real linoleum (NOT to be confused with sheet vinyl – or as he calls it shit vinyl). Basically, what I’m trying to say here is, flooring is a nightmare!

        March 29, 2017
  • Donna

    REPLY

    Yes, I do enjoy a good man and cheese! Not usually at the same time though! (sorry to tease about the typo, but I enjoyed it tremendously)
    Have you seen the tiles that look like wood flooring? Some of them are beautiful.

    March 18, 2017
  • That gin place looks incredible. I’m a big fan of gin, and of gin flavours like juniper anyway. If I ever make it up to Scotland I’ll put it on my list of places to visit. x

    March 19, 2017
  • Oh, I LOVED Gin 71! You’ve made me want to return ASAP. 🙂

    March 21, 2017
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