Pakoras on Argyle Street
Monday in Glasgow is quieter, and the rain is the steady kind, not the gale. I walked west out of the centre along Argyle Street to Finnieston, the stretch of the West End that has the best late dining in the city, and the old crane still standing over the river as the landmark.
The pakora bar I came for is Murphy's Pakora Bar at 1293 Argyle Street. Its own site lists the hours as Sunday to Thursday four until ten, Friday from four until late, and Saturday from noon until late. Today is Monday, so you won't find it open, and I've noted that clearly. The menu is pakoras and small plates, and the kitchen runs a drinks list alongside. Book ahead if you want a table on a weekend, since the site has an online booking form.
A few doors along, The Finnieston is the seafood room, with a menu that changes with the seasons and sources Scottish shellfish. Its own menus page says the lunch menu is off until January, so the evening carte is what's on. The bar is a gin house too, with over sixty gins on the shelves, which is a fair thing to know before the pakoras arrive.
If you want a late bite on a weekend, the Finnieston end of Argyle Street is where the places stay open. I'd go to the pakora bar first and the seafood room second, and walk home under the crane while the rain eases.
Argyle Street, a Monday
Nothing in the window says open, so I read the hours on the glass the way you read a letter from someone who is always kind and always late.
The crane stands over the river like a patient man who has seen the whole trade pass, and the arch beyond it holds the grey sky up with the stiff confidence of steel.
Rain writes the same sentence on the pavement again and again, and every puddle keeps a little window of its own.
By Friday the lamps will be lit at the door. Today I hold my hands in my pockets and I count the things that are still open.