It’ll be a new era on Glasgow’s Argyle Street this month when award-winning restaurant The Gannet reopens as Eleven Fifty Five.
The Gannet, which opened its doors in 2013, picked up numerous accolades during its tenure in the city’s Finnieston area, including being named SLTN Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year in both 2019 and 2021.
The Gannet closed its doors for the last time on Hogmanay, with chef-owner Peter McKenna and Maître D’ Kevin Dow getting to work gutting the unit on 2nd January.
Since then, a team of craftspeople have been hard at work transforming the space into its new incarnation.
It will reopen as Eleven Fifty Five (the restaurant’s number on Argyle Street) in the coming weeks.
With the refurbishment project well underway, SLTN caught up with McKenna and Dow to hear about the next chapter for the restaurant formerly known as The Gannet.
“Everything’s going to be a bit more playful, a lot more warm,” explained McKenna, whose pre-Gannet career included time served in a raft of Michelin Star restaurants, as well as stints working as personal chef to a Saudi prince and a Russian oligarch.
“With The Gannet we leaned into that refined, little bit Nordic, Scandi style. Stripped back. And that was our thing. And the food kind of complemented that as well. The service, the décor, the food, it should all work together.
“So putting our heads together we asked what do we want
from this? What do we like? What do we gravitate towards? And when you spend so much time in a building, in an industry and doing a certain thing, it really has to be an extension of your personality. Otherwise you’re swimming against a current, in a way.
“So we just had to take a step back and ask what we are gravitating towards? And for me it was a more relaxed, a more comfy style of eating. I wasn’t really going for multi-course tasting menus or places where you had to be a little bit quiet. Not that you had to be quiet at The Gannet, but it was more of a refined environment. You wouldn’t be boisterous because you didn’t want to interfere with the person sitting next to you. So you’re always thinking about what’s happening in the room.
“So with this… I like something with a bit of energy. A bit more fun.”
The duo explained that the new concept is very much inspired by the ‘bistronomy’ style of venue that originated in Paris, and which saw Michelin-calibre chefs adapt their cooking to warmer, more casual and accessible venues.
McKenna insisted that the standards of food and service won’t drop from The Gannet to Eleven Fifty Five, but the look and feel of the space will be very different from its former incarnation.
On the food side, the menu – a la carte, with daily specials – will continue to draw on the best seasonal Scottish produce, but will now also take in some products from further afield, including McKenna’s native Ireland, while on the wine side Dow’s list will lean heavily into old world wines.
“It won’t be as structured as offering set wine pairings, but the whole point is getting the staff on board and trained up on the wine list and being able to recommend things that will go with everything; maybe having some suggestions for each dish,” Dow – who has worked in hospitality for nearly four decades – told SLTN.
“I’ve found over the last year going back to a la carte style in the restaurant, we had more people asking for paired wines with a la carte, which had never really happened before. So being able to recommend stuff is what it’s all about.”
Dow was in the process of recruiting more front of house staff when SLTN spoke to the pair, with the team due to increase in size from around 20 to around 26 staff members.
“It’s about getting the right people that balance with your team and work the way you work,” said Dow.
“It’s a kind of harmony, especially front of house, I think, that buy into what you’re doing and have a bit of positivity and excitement. That want to be part of your team, not just going through the motions.”
In terms of food, McKenna said there will be ‘something for everyone’ on the menu, and the aim is to offer a selection of dishes that, while not being at the budget end of the price list, will be affordable for a broad section of customers.
“We’ll never be a budget restaurant,” he said.
“We buy premium products. We buy premium drinks and premium food and we deal with, mainly, small, independent producers. We pay them a good price because we like to see that community flourish. We pay our staff well. So it’s not going to be a cheap restaurant, but it’s not going to be the most expensive restaurant in the city either.
“You can come in and have a very good seasonal lunch or special of the day. I want people to be able to come in and have a main course, a garnish and a glass of wine and not break the bank. Or they can come in and have a celebration and go whole-hog. So I want to appeal to a wider variety than what we’ve appealed to to-date.
“So we will be watching very keenly the pricing of the dishes and there will definitely be something on there for every wallet. But it’s never going to be the cheapest restaurant in the world.”
Meanwhile, the beloved Gannet name will be kept alive through a new project McKenna has been working on with friends and film producers Scott Givens and Tony McKee.
The Gannet Channel, created with Givens’ 14 Floor Productions, will feature professionally-made videos looking at the full spectrum of quality produce available across Scotland, as well as cooking demonstrations from Peter and his team, interviews with other chefs, drinks masterclasses with Dow and a dedicated series on Scotch whisky.
“There’s a lot of people doing this but there’s nobody doing it to such a scale, using the highest production values from TV and putting that online,” said McKenna.
