Is this the best place in Glasgow for ice-cream? University cafe owners talk on their history

Opened by Pasquale Verrechia in 1918, it is a place tethered to the past which continues to serve the present local community.

When I arrive there is a queue at the counter where Gino, Pasquale’s grandson, is taking orders.

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The rain outside is torrential so there’s more demand for rolls and sausage than their vanilla ice cream cones, made to the family recipe.

Gino’s son Americo is in the kitchen, staff set plates of comfort food on the narrow table between two friends dissecting local news.

A group of students flip down the seats to occupy one of the compact wooden booths, studying the menu with some seriousness.

They will find that pretty much everything comes with chips – glorious planks of potato that you can depend on – except maybe the spaghetti bolognese.

I order pie, beans and chips, the Glasgow culinary equivalent of a hug on a day like today. The cafe itself is bedecked in kitsch nostalgia with some Art Deco flourishes. The current exterior with its distinctive sign dates back to the late 1940s. I ask Gino about the room itself, where does the look of the place come from?

“It goes back to the beginning. My grandfather was a ship carpenter on the Clyde. These booths, you see the chisel marks on the wood, they were shaped by hand, that’s why we don’t touch it, that’s the way it will stay. People have been coming here their whole lives and they like it. New students from the university will find us each year. It’s been like that since 1918,” he says. Meanwhile, Byres Road is all change.

Gino says softly: “My grandmother would say ‘if you can’t get it on Byres Road, it’s not worth getting’, look at the shops, that’s not the same today. Then you go in the pub for a pint and they offer you a cappuccino.”

He fixes me with a playful look, then smiles.

The University Cafe’s first generation was the golden age of a style of local hospitality. It is one of the last faithful examples of that time.

“During my grandparents’ days, particularly during the 1930s, there were a lot of cafes on Byres Road, you had The Continental, The Grosvenor, The Garden, all kinds of places,” Gino says.

I’m reminded that in Cafe Gandolfi on Albion Street there are photographs, mounted on the walls 40 years ago, that chart a visual history of old local cafes, most of which have faded into memory.

“I’m a bit annoyed about that,” Gino says.

About the relentless march of progress and the failure to recognise the value of our cafe heritage?

“No, I’ve seen the photograph on the wall, he took it on a Tuesday when we were closed. All the places were closed on a Tuesday in the West End, so we had the shutters down.” Another smile.

The family business has found its enduring place in the world, with fish teas, macaroni and other hot dishes in the cafe, traditional sweets behind the counter and the fabled ice cream menu.

Heritage options start with a wafer – two scoops of smooth, super sweet ice-cream sandwiched between wafer slices – moving up to a double nougat with two generous slabs of chocolate nougat added.

The banana split sundae is a classic of the genre. It’s the best place in Glasgow for ice cream.

I walked to Partick from Bath Street specifically to order a cone during a particularly hot day this summer having resolved to accept no substitute.

The fish and chips takeaway side of things runs from next door. Anthony Bourdain enjoyed his fish supper there so much while filming for his first television series A Cook’s Tour that he returned with a CNN crew years later for his hit show Parts Unknown. The rain has stopped and a queue is forming again at the counter, so Gino returns to work and I return to my pie, beans and chips.

University Cafe is at 87 Byres Road