Flushed by the success of his other two establishments – flagship 111 by Nico in Kelvindale and its younger sister Six by Nico in Finnieston – it’s with justifiable swagger that Scots-Italian restaurateur Nico Simeone takes over the former premises of The Mallard for his new, rustic-yet-refined gastropub.
The idea may have been knocking around for a while. High-end (yet still affordable) chippy food was a theme of Six by Nico, and Public House similarly plays on elevating unassuming Scottish classics. Indeed, some flourishes, such as serving one dish – smoked chicken ‘sandwich’ cock-a-leekie – under a smoke-filled transparent cloche for a theatrical reveal, are recycled from the Six repertoire.
But in terms of value for money, Public House doesn’t compete with Six. The standard of cooking is consistently high (try the fish pie with dulse seaweed butter, and the flat iron steak with chimmichuri) but you’re paying gastropub main prices for small dishes. Somewhere between the delicious, yet lonely-looking, burger, or the beer-battered haddock on mushy peas, sans chips (they’re extra), you may yearn for the comfort of tradition: filling, rib-sticking portions, bang for your buck and a few pints (not schooners as they serve here). The chestnut gnocchi diced up with sprout tops and smoked pancetta or tender lamb faggots with zingy mint sauce may leave you wanting more, but not necessarily in
a good way.