La Pastina Deli,180 Byres Rd, Hillhead, Glasgow G12 8SN
Open Monday to Sunday 08.00-17.00 (check their Instagram as time can change)
Byres Road is certainly living a vibrant renaissance. After years when it seems everything was closing and moving in some new trending parts of the city, I feel it is retaking the space she deserves.
The old glorious days are coming back! Even if road works are all over the street you can start seeing the huge improvements. The new University buildings made space for a much brighter walk connection to University Avenue on one side and to the Kelvingrove Museum on the other and new, larger and modern pavements will be ready soon as well.
Alongside some Glaswegian institutions like The University Cafe, Kember and Jones, Tinderbox and Little Italy (just to mention some) there has been a number of interesting new openings.
Despite Covid, despite Brexit, despite all odds. A new injection of life, a unique vibe again.
I am talking about Le Petit Coq down below, La Parada, Ting Thai Caravan, Santa Lucia Deli just at the cross with Highburd Road, Pasteis de Lisboa, Minted Icecream, Juice and numerous tea shops, the Crabshack, Kapao and 1841 in Vinecombe Street, Koko house in Great George Street, a new Six by Nico and its sister patisserie Valaria. Surely I am missing some. I told you, it has been buzzing and it is becoming difficult to keep up with it.
La Pastina Deli is among them too.
Opened in August 2021, when the first Covid restrictions were leaving our lives.
Chef John Traynor welcomes me with a firm handshake. (How good is that after Covid?)
I always like to ask my ritual question about the beginnings.
So how did it start?
"I left school I was 16 and worked in restaurants since then. I started at the Hilton hotel in Glasgow, worked in a few other important places and then I worked for over 5 years for Dawn Fresh Fish as a chef in recipe development. They made products for big supermarket chains like M&S, Tesco, Aldi.
It is what I am doing all my life. I cannot do anything else- he laughs.
I always dreamt to work for myself. Alongside my job, I did a lot of private dinners until the end of lockdown. They went really well and then I decided to open this place with my business partner.
It was a big jump and it all happened in a period when both me and my wife took important life decisions. She started her course as a student nurse, I opened a brand new business during the pandemic.
She always supported me through my carrier and she has been the one to tell me to me take the jump!
We are still in the early stages, 2 years is not long for a business but it has been great at the moment and I can't be prouder.
A question that John hear a lot is "why you opened an Italian Deli"?
I am always so proud to see the love for my country of origin, especially when the product is respected and used well as in here.
"Byres Road had its fishmonger, its butchershop, a cheesemonger, a Spanish deli but nothing Italian in the way I had in mind. Glasgow has also a big and established Italian community. These elements drove us in the direction of opening an Italian deli.
When we first opened we had lots of Italian products on display on the shelves and our focus was more on handmade fresh pasta, Italian cured meats and cheeses, rather than sandwiches.
Back then, they did not represent a huge part of the business.
We were making over 10 different shapes of fresh pasta every day including also ravioli and agnolotti, pasta sauces.
The response has been amazing, I am grateful the business started really well.
After the first six months, we started noticing that these products were selling really well on the weekends but not as well during the weekdays. The demand for sandwiches was instead growing every day more. Maybe a change is needed?
So I decided this was the path to follow and I start focusing more on them and after six months we completely changed our concept.
High-quality sandwiches made fresh at the moment. Some of the best sandwiches in Glasgow.
"In August 2022 we turned one and we decided to do sandwiches, not the deli meats, not the cheeses.
We expanded our sandwich menu and we now have 16 sandwiches plus 5 focaccia sandwiches.
The price range can vary from £5 to £9.50. The 9.50 sandwiches are really big ones, some of them have even 4 meats and 2 cheeses. I am a big man and sometimes I share the sandwich with my wife because they are really something different. "
I think John that apart the quality of the ingredients you use, a big reason of the success of your sandwiches is the bread you use.
"It is all about fresh produce and the best quality of fresh produce we can get. It is all about it.
We bake our focaccia here and all the sweets.
It has been over a year since I am doing it. It means an earlier start for me like 5.30 in the morning to start all the process but I am happy and proud to say everything is freshly made and also business wise it gives me peace of mind as I got more control over it.
We buy our bread from a small bakery that does our ciabatta and sourdough even on a Sunday. It is still warm at the time when they deliver it.
For me having great bread is too important. If the bread is not made in the morning or is mass-produced is not the same. This is also the reason why our sandwiches can hold so much!
Our bread is structured, it is real bread.
We like to offer different options of bread to our customers.
When they order a sandwich we always ask "Do you like your bread soft, chewy or crunchy?"
Soft is focaccia, chewy is ciabatta and crunchy is sourdough. Depends on your personal taste.
Some sandwiches I think work better if done with a certain bread. For example "The Classic" goes better on sourdough, "The Bourdain" is better on ciabatta because this type of bread can hold all the ingredients better.
My favourite will always be the focaccia tho, he laughs.
The Bourdain became now a signature sandwich.
"Definitely. It has been the number 7 since the beginning.
The big sandwiches came from when I was on holiday. I struggled with sitting down, I had too much on. Even on a holiday I cannot stay calm and read a book and switch off. I tried to read Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential but I could not sit and focus! Then I did some research and found out about those massive sandwiches and this is where our " the Bourdain" is from.
It was inspired by the famous Muffuletta sandwich, really popular in the US.
I said "Why not do that? we have all the produces we need here!"
Also the other sandwiches are doing well. The one with 'Nduja is popular, I guess it is due to the love for spicy food younger generations have.
"The Morta" with mortadella and burrata is also among the bestsellers. We recently introduced "The Manzo e Pepe" with cacio and pepe mayonnaise too. I like to understand what is going on on social media and try to follow the trend.
But our menu is always a work in progress. I love always to introduce something new!"
Comments