Roots & Fruits

What better way to advertise how great your stock is as a deli, greengrocers and wholefoods store than by cooking with it fresh every day and serving it up in-house at fantastic prices?

All kinds of highly respected cafés and restaurants around Glasgow have been using Roots & Fruits as a supplier since it first opened just past Kelvin Bridge on Great Western Road more than 30 years ago (they also have a florist a few doors along, and a sister grocers/deli on Argyll Street). Since expanding their café operation in recent years, they’ve made it possible for you to learn first-hand in store the many delicious and health-conscious ways in which their produce can be prepared – giving you all the inspiration you should need for a spot of shopping before you leave.

There’s usually a curry, two soups, a hotpot (maybe a meaty stew or suchlike), salmon and dill fishcakes and Spanish tortilla to choose from, each of which can be complemented with a whole range of sides, from pasta and Greek salad to rosemary and thyme roasted potatoes. Freshly baked sweets can include coffee and walnut cake, fruit tarts and crunchy cranachan.

The downside is that there are only a handful of seats inside the shop – a few along counters in the windows, a few at tables in the middle of the store (don’t sit there if you’d rather people weren’t browsing the shelves around you while you eat), plus a few tables outside. Also, because the shop and café both use the same counter, and even the same till, service can be a bit slow and scatty. But it’s all part of the informal, boho charm here. And when you consider the prices – you can leave feeling very full indeed for a tenner – it’s well worth the compromise.