111 by Modou — Restaurant in Great Britain

Just had one of the most amazing food experiences at 111 by Nico. It's hard to explain because it's not like any other restaurant, where you choose exactly what you want from a detailed menu - rather, there are three options per course (five courses, or six if you want the cheese course, which you DEFINITELY do!), but you only see the main element of each option. For example, for our second course, the choices were sea trout, lamb sweetbread or apples. That's as much information as you get - you take your choice, and trust the chef to create a flavour combination based around the main ingredient. And honestly, you can trust him!

I won't spoil any surprises, but suffice to say, we were absolutely blown away. I felt that part of the pleasure was in tasting flavours that you might recognise (e.g. I chose 'popcorn' for dessert), but having that familiar flavour delivered in combinations of textures and consistencies that you've never associated with it before. It's like your brain and your taste buds are in conflict with each other - but in a good way! Turns out, popcorn definitely doesn't have to be crunchy to be delicious, even if it goes against everything you've experienced before. And I strongly recommend the wine pairing option - it's incredible how different a drink tastes immediately before and after a mouthful of an expertly-matched dish!

This was a birthday treat for my fiancé, so we did go all-out, and selected several of the available extras - the paired drinks, gin and prosecco aperitifs, coffees at the end etc. - so I wouldn't say it was a cheap night out. Do expect a table for two to well exceed £100. But for a top-quality, Glasgow west-end experience, it is absolutely not overpriced. In fact, I was more than happy to tip 20% and more on top of the bill, just for the incredible service (staff are friendly, knowledgeable and passionate about what they do, and work extremely hard to even further enhance the whole experience) and the unmatched opportunity to try unusual food combinations.

If I had to mention any slight downside (and I do so with regret, because I really think everyone should try this place), it's that it is quite crowded, with tables just that touch closer together than I would prefer, meaning that it can be a bit noisy/bustling - 9pm on a Saturday night is probably not the most conducive to a romantic dinner for two. But the fact that 111 needs to cram in so many tables just to satisfy their bookings only speaks to the quality and popularity of the whole experience, so please don't let it put you off. I'm totally sold, and I...

Do you remember when Princess Jasmine asked Aladdin "is it safe?" and he replied with an outstretched hand "do you trust me..." *I'm obviously talking about the original cartoon version, although the new one isn't as awful as I feared...

Food trust can also a leap of faith.

Now obviously there is the incredibly poisonous fugu (explained quite perfectly and simply by The Simpsons where your lives are literally in the hands of the chef, that's some amount of trust right there, and I'm not sure I could do it. Then on a more serious note there are millions of people around the world who have to trust that when a recipe says nut free or dairy free because of an allergy or intolerance it actually is. I guess then I'm quite lucky, when I have food trust it is only that the chef hasn't gone overboard with the coriander and make the whole dish taste of soap.

111 by Nico want you to trust them, not with your lives, or even that a beautifully embroidered rug is aeronautically sound (personally I'm not convinced you wouldn't get blown of the back at high speed), nope they just want you to trust them to deliver a delicious dinner. You can pick your level of trust, a diet version where you can have some say about the meat, fish or vegetables your dish will be based around, or a full fat trust where you get what you're given, including wines if you're feeling adventurous.

On the two occasions we've been we went complete trust and both times it was spectacular. The food and the service were spot on with knowledgeable staff able to introduce the dishes, talk about the paired wines and keep water glasses topped up in a friendly and unobtrusive way. It is always a sign of confidence to have an open kitchen, where interested punters like me can watch proceedings, and the chefs didn't disappoint, when you aren't concentrating on eating the food you can enjoy the spectacle of grilling, saucing, frothing and plating, like an episode of Masterchef three feet away from you.

As the menu changes all the time, you can trust you won't get the same as we did, there's little point in going through all the dishes we enjoyed. Also the first visit I had the paired wines, so about half way through I forgot to stop writing down what I was eating... So what follows is very much a picture gallery of our dishes, with if I can remember, a caption to tell what I think it was!.

But trust me when I say you can trust 111 by Nico to deliver a...

As a regular customer at 111, I was always so, so recommending about this place, many of my friends been, and enjoyed their time here. It is completely weird, how bad my experience was today, especially that I invited my partner and for the first time - her mom. The team was different than usual, Modou wasn’t in, and it’s completely understandable as everyone need their break, although the manager that “welcomed” us was just bad - unfriendly, cheeky attitude, badly organised as he couldn’t find my name and I had to pointed this out for him at his tablet, and completely weird in general terms of behaving in front of customer. There was only 2 other tables when we came in, and one additional later on, but my request about table location was completely ignored from the start.

The waitress that served us was friendly, but stressed and kinda lost as that was her first (or one of the first) shift. I don’t mind that - she did her best but was under overwhelming amount of stress I guess. Like, don’t get me wrong, I don’t have any high expectations from waitresses in general and I treat them always with understanding and respect as this is hard and often demanding job. She did fine but few fails happen and she completely lost her track.

Getting back to the table - placed next to the bar, hence there was definitely some drama, you could see and feel even being on the other side of it as the guest. The tension between staff and manager was ridiculous, especially that they have only 4 tables and no big groups.

I told my partner that something is not right from the very beginning and unfortunately I can confirm that now.

After second course I knew that our diner is ruined and all that money spend are not worth it this time.

Food selection was alright, can’t expect much for £25 pp, the messy serving and badly smelled seafood is something that I could have expected anywhere but here.

Around 6pm the other manager came in and he served our desserts. Completely different level of service straight away. Big ups for you buddy.

Such a shame, as 111 was my favourite place on culinary map of Glasgow. Always first place where I took my guests. I paid £130 and I feel literally scammed by such poor experience.

Total trust Sundays are not worth your...