Tapa Bakehouse

21 Whitehill Street, Dennistoun, Glasgow, G31 2LH

Telephone 0141 554 9981
Food served Mon–Sat 8am–6pm; Sun 9am–5pm.
Average price £6.95 (set lunch)
Typical order £4
Email
Website www.tapabakehouse.com

The 2013 edition of The List's Eating & Drinking Guide is out now – only £5.95 (+p&p).

This review is taken from the current (2013) edition.

There’s a good reason why people are advised to brew up some fresh coffee and put a loaf of bread in the oven when selling their house. The aroma of its on-site certified organic bakery makes this little café cosy and welcoming, now in its tenth year of trading. Unlike its sister café at Queen’s Park, Tapa Dennistoun is entirely vegetarian with many dishes vegan friendly and a seasonally led menu that changes regularly. Even when busy and bustling with queues out the door, it’s a relaxed and casual place to eat if you’re lucky enough to grab a table. Staple lunches might be a soup and sandwich combo, combining smooth sweet potato and mixed bean soup with a crunchy toasted pesto, mozzarella and spinach sandwich – even the pesto is freshly made on the premises. You can’t go wrong by finishing with a cup of freshly roasted house blend coffee and one of their delicious brownies.

High point: Wholesome, fresh and healthy
Low point: Too few staff suffer at peak times

Listed in The Larder – in the shops now or buy online.

Tapa boasts not only a bakery, but a café and coffee roastery where they roast 100% Arabica beans in small batches every day to ensure freshness. They bake bread and cakes the old-fashioned way using basic, quality organic ingredients; wheat and gluten free varieties are a specialty. The range of breads produced is staggering, from rye and caraway to sourdough, brioche and an ancient Scottish harvest loaf called struan. The sweet of tooth make a pilgrimage for their wheat-free chocolate and cherry brownies, whether at the original Dennistoun café/bakery or the newer Strathbungo coffeehouse.

Provides: Vegetarian options (at least ¼ main courses), Gluten-free options, Children's portions, Children's high chairs, Wheelchair access, Outdoor tables, Free wi-fi
Music on stereo: Alternative easy listening
Capacity: 16
Largest group: 7
Open since: 2002

Reviews & features

Special Award for Tapa among The List Eating & Drinking Guide Awards for 2013

25 Apr 2013

Glasgow bakery and coffeehouse given Judges Special Award in The List's annual restaurant round-up

Each year The List Eating & Drinking Guide presents a Judges' Special Award, recognising the outstanding contribution of an establishment, enterprise, individual or family to the food and drink world in Scotland. In 2013 the winner has been announced as…

The List Eating & Drinking Guide Awards for 2013 announced

18 Apr 2013

Winners of the annual Best Newcomer Awards in Glasgow and Edinburgh

With the publication of its Eating & Drinking Guide for 2013, The List announced the winners of its annual Best Newcomer Awards. Selected from restaurants opening in Edinburgh and Glasgow since April 2012, the winners are chosen by the guide's…

The best breakfasts in Glasgow

29 Mar 2012

The best all-rounders in the west, plus a few specific breakfast-item highlights

Café Gandolfi 64 Albion Street, 552 6813, cafegondolfi.com Breakfast served: Mon-Sat 8am-noon; Sun 9am-noon. The long-standing, Scottish cuisine-focused eatery has beefed up its breakfasts in recent years, resulting in a menu with eight different egg…

Hidden Glasgow

17 Aug 2011

Undercover activities, city secrets and grassroots organisations

Parks, gardens and tours So, you think you’d like to get to know the city a little better? Glasgow City Council’s website offers a number of downloadable heritage trail guide packs. We particularly recommend following the Bridgeton Tour, which takes…

The best breadmakers (and sellers) in Edinburgh and Glasgow

7 Mar 2011

Au Gourmand, Patisserie Dujardin and McGhee's Family Bakers

The appearance of more small artisan bakeries points to an increasing awareness of and demand for proper bread, both from the public and the operations serving them. Around the sandwich shops of the capital Au Gourmand, the Gorgie-based but…

Comments & ratings

2. fgashgtfahtga – 5 May 2012, 12:43pm Tapa Bakehouse Report

I'd like to balance out the negativity of the previous review, as I live nearby the cafe and have always been satisfied on the number of occasions I've popped in, and the coffee is superb.

It sounds like the poster above had an unfortunate experience but I really don't think that is the norm.

1. Unknown – 4 Nov 2009, 1:45pm Tapa Bakehouse Report

I ventured out of my cosy culinary west end comfort zone on the merit of Tapa Bake house’s reputation for lunch yesterday.
It wasn't worth it.
The food was average at best, but most disappointing was the attitude of the staff. To be greeted by being told that the menus on the tables were summer menus and that they weren't serving anything on them, by a waitress whose disinterest in customers was thinly veiled while leaning heavily on our table. The staff also had a strange habit of carrying Tupperware boxes of ingredients in and out through the front door to some other premises.
The food: I had vegetable stew which was under seasoned and tasted only of cumin, accompanied by organic rye bread which had been pre sliced and was dry around the edges.
I carried on with a second course to sample what we really came for, the cakes and coffee on which the reputation is based. The sign outside apparently quotes the Guardian saying it’s the best around.
I had organic carrot cake which was moist to the extent of being soggy and some how fizzed when you put it in your mouth (too much baking powder??). My expectation of the coffee was greeted with a run of the mill distinctly (again that word again) "average" cappuccino not the brilliant quality product I had been expecting from the sign.

Overall two things: One, the attitude of staff was most disappointing. Staff did not have the passion or interest for their product which made me search out and travel to a specialist supplier.
Two, had we not been treated with contempt, the food would have been average, but average food combined with poor service does not make it somewhere I will be returning to.
Thank goodness staff's disinterest ran to missing several items when it came to the bill.

Average rating 3/5 from 2 reviews of Tapa Bakehouse.

RSS feed of these comments