Takeaway review: Glasgow's Kcal Kitchen misses the mark

So, for my turn at the Glasgow Times Takeaway review, I decided that if it’s good enough for Hollywood royalty, then it was surely worth a shot for a Wednesday office lunch.

The West Regent street restaurant’s menu is health-focused with ‘clean’ versions of junk food classics as well as salads, juices and protein pancakes.

Usually, anything that specifically mentions calorie content or gym bro jargon like ‘gains’ would leave me cringing, but it’s all in the name of research.

I avoided their much advertised  'Not so KFC chicken" or protein shakes and went instead for a simple Sweet Potato and Chickpea ‘Goodness Bowl’, Chilli Salt Sweet Potato Fries and a ‘Tropical Twist’ juice made from mango, pineapple, strawberries and orange juice.  

I ordered through Deliveroo and waited a full hour and 20 minutes for my delivery which, in hindsight, should have been the first sign that celebrities aren’t always right.

I’d like to preface this next bit by saying I am by no means a fussy person. I love food and it’s not often I find fault when ordering from a restaurant. Unfortunately, there’s no way to dress up my lunch from Kcal Kitchen.

The Sweet Potato and Chickpea Goodness bowl was simply a shallow tray of roasted vegetables. Slightly undercooked sweet potato, chickpeas, large chunks of red onion, broccoli and peppers with just a scattering of sesame seeds to act as seasoning. There was no taste of the promised Maple and Tahini sauce.

They did include a large lemon wedge which I assume was meant to add some zing, but only served to make the whole thing even soggier.

Speaking of soggy, there was no bite whatsoever to my small portion of sweet potato fries. This is likely because they would not have been deep-fried (to fit in with the healthy ethos of Kcal) but surely some sort of texture could have been achieved in an oven or air fryer.

To their credit, the seasoning on the fries was good. I’m a big salt and chilli fan and found it a great mix of warming, savoury spice. It’s a real shame about the lack of bite.

I can’t review my juice because, sadly, it never materialised. My Deliveroo courier helpfully suggested I contact the restaurant for a refund which, given the fact that a Tropical Twist will set you back £4, seems like a reasonable course of action.

I can understand the argument that I should perhaps have ordered one of Kcal Kitchen’s signature burgers or impressive sounding protein pancake stacks if I wanted wow factor, but in my opinion, even the most basic menu items should be treated with the same care and attention to detail as the more Instagram ready offerings. Especially given that the whole order still came to a total of £14.20

I really wish I had better things to say about Kcal kitchen and hope that others will get to experience the quality that keeps A-listers coming back.

This time around was just a bit of a flop.

Where?

City Centre

Type of food?

Healthy brunches and lunches

Price:

£14.20

Delivery time:

1hr 20 mins (via deliveroo)

Rating *