El Gusto

A small, somewhat eccentric restaurant close to Kelvingrove Park, with an authentically Spanish welcome.

The 2018 edition of The List's Eating & Drinking Guide is out now – only £7.95 (+p&p).

The noun ‘gusto’ in Spanish can mean ‘flavour’, ‘pleasure’ or ‘liking’, all of which are appropriate for this tiny, eccentric West End restaurant, takeaway and catering outfit. The domain of enthusiastic chef-patron Guillermo de la Orden, there’s a warm Spanish welcome here, together with some authentically Andalusian spontaneity (live music ‘when we feel like it’). El Gusto doesn’t stick to the tapas bar script, however – there’s chilli con carne on the menu, for example, and a blackboard special of ‘pescado frito con papas‘ turns out to be fish and chips, made with a (gluten-free) tapioca crust. A rabbit dish is cooked with copious amounts of onions and potatoes rather than the advertised almonds, but is no less delicious for it, the meat tender, juicy and delicately spiced with cinnamon. A selection of the usual tapas and paellas are on the menu, but it’s dishes like the rabbit, or a cod dish cooked with cumin and paprika, that hold most interest. Currently unlicensed and cheerfully basic in décor, El Gusto offers remarkably good value for money, with most mains under a tenner and the corkage for BYOB set at a fiver.