Sebb’s, Glasgow G1: ‘A delicious bombardment of continents, cuisines and cultural trickledowns’ – restaurant review

Sebb’s is a basement restaurant on Miller Street in Glasgow with a door that’s perilously easy to miss, even though it’s bright red. The first time I tried to find it, I waltzed past and almost ended up in the pants department of TK Maxx. I was luckier the second time around, and soon found myself descending a set of stairs into a room with the distinct vibe of a beatnik diner inside a bowling alley: there’s no natural light, there are booths that are perfect for conspiring in, a DJ playing psychedelic rock and food served in brown paper bags. The 13th Floor Elevators at noon on a Thursday?! Absolutely – as well as the globally ranging delights of sobrassada and ancho honey pitta, tandoori pork belly with tamarind chutney, barbecued squid with zhoug and preserved lemon aïoli, and trout ceviche with habanero, mango and tequila. It’s as if the Big Lebowski took up cooking.

Sebb’s opened in late 2024, and just over a year later, head chef Danny Carruthers’ food had already snagged the place a Michelin bib gourmand – to my mind by far the most interesting part of the whole tyre company’s advertising hoopla. Bibs are designed to reward places just like Sebb’s: odd, informal, intriguing – the type of place where you can pop out to for lunch without needing four spare hours, a booking months in advance and a decorative Patek Philippe watch on your wrist.

Instead, I’m a solo lunchtime walk-in on a summer’s day. And they treat me beautifully, settling me at my table with an alcohol-free Crossip cooler cocktail – bitter, long and with an olive in it, this is the kind of no-alcohol build that makes you forget to miss the gin – and a round of pakoras with cheese and piccalilli. I order coronation cauliflower, aware it sounds like the sort of thing with which Mrs Dooms-Patterson might torment Jerry on The Good Life. And it turns out this cauliflower is an absolute stonking triumph: tiny, nutty florets, blackened but still sweet and crunchy, in a slick of silky, cashew-based sauce that’s fragrant with coconut and scattered with plump sultanas. As it happens, directly above Sebb’s, at street level, is Margo, a smarter, more composed restaurant that, like Sebb’s, is run by Scoop, the team also behind the city’s Ox & Finch and Ka Pao. Which basically means that Margo Leadbetter is upstairs, while downstairs is where the people who actually enjoy themselves are.

Sebb’s menu is a delicious bombardment of continents, cuisines and cultural trickledowns, and the dishes are a testament to a chef who has learned little bits of loveliness from Sauchiehall Street to the Silk Road, and who wants to deliver maximum joy. Atom dip arrives first: sweet, smoky, mashed aubergine, red pepper, earthy hazelnut dukkah and strained yoghurt, with a warm pitta served unceremoniously in a brown paper bag. The humble aubergine, elevated.

Then those pakoras: will I make friends by declaring that the best pakora in Britain is in a Glasgow basement, even though the place reminds me of nothing so much as turning up mid-soundcheck for some sort of music event? These pakoras are thoroughly crisp outside with a gloriously squidgy interior, paper-thin onion that’s properly fried through, and all dotted with creamed piccalilli and blanketed in grated sheep’s cheese.

Rump fillet comes seared yet blushing pink, sliced thinly, beautifully arranged and served with cowboy butter – a Glasgow spin on beurre maître d’hôtel that features shedloads of garlic, herbs, mustard and chilli – sweetness, sharpness and umami. For me, this dish pretty much sums up Sebb’s, because it’s a riot of unbridled tastiness with a huge nod to French gastronomical technique. You can have spiced fries with garlic and herb aïoli alongside, or Isle of Wight tomatoes with urfa pepper, capers and pine nuts, which, on a menu this far-ranging, lands like a postcard from somewhere unexpectedly close.

Mimicking just about every Maccy D’s from Land’s End upwards, Sebb’s soft-serve machine is broken the day I go, so instead they offer me chocolate sorbet, which remains one of the best things I’ve eaten all year: a culinary sleight of hand, and so without the bad stuff that it’s practically a health tonic.

I ate lunch with one of my favourite people (me, on a day off) and enjoyed myself so much that I found myself recommending Sebb’s to random people at Glasgow Central Station, and again later on my travels in Leeds, Birmingham and London. Now that is the sign of a properly good little spot.

• Sebb’s 68 Miller Street, Glasgow G1, 0141-739 9381. Open all week, noon-9.45pm (last orders). From about £30 a head à la carte, plus drinks and service