Oh. My. Flock. Was this pop up one of the best I've ever tried? Yes, yes it was. Flock Pop Up by John Traynor (formerly of the Porter & Rye, Lebowski's Group) showcases Scottish food in relaxed settings. This one was hosted at Seb & Mili which is a fab cafe in the city centre and it made for a great dining spot in the evening - relaxing and comfortable. The 8 course menu was £35pp and actually, in the end, I think it was underpriced for all the delicious food we scoffed. Starting with warm bread and a piece of crispy chicken skin, I was immediately impressed. The chicken skin was crispy yet still a little chewy, and tasted all the better for being topped with liver pate. Moving onto the next course (which was fabulously introduced by the front of house staff) which was beetroot with crowdie cheese. There was a lovely granita through the dish which really elevated the dish from being just beetroot and cheese. Scallop ceviche was one of the stand-out dishes for me - I love scallop, and this was so soft and delicate and really did justice to it. It was a refreshing dish too, so even though we'd eaten a bit by this stage, it felt like a nice intermission before diving into the heavier dishes. I really liked the pumpkin seeds with it which were a bit unusual with a ceviche. The only dish that I didn't love as much as I hoped was the duck, and I think that's purely because it was served warm rather than hot. It was a large slice of breast with the skin still on, and absolutely delicious flavour combinations (gingerbread with duck?! Yes!). But for me, I would have liked it a little hotter. The final main was a 60 day aged rump steak by Rodgers Butchers. This was the best steak I've had in my life. And I've had a lot of amazing steak. It was just so soft and buttery, delicate and mouthwatering. I lingered over this dish because I just didn't want it to end. It was served with a stack of barley risotto and kale which I appreciated as something completely to what you normally get with steak while being very Scottish and modern. Onto dessert. If you've ever read a review of mine, you'll know I pretty much never have dessert. I just don't have a sweet tooth and have some issues with dairy so avoid it. The first dessert was a popcorn panna cotta which was very mild in taste and a nice fresh way of leading into the chocolate mousse. The granola crumb was excellent. Finally, chocolate mousse with peanut butter ice cream. I actually preferred the ice cream to the mousse, it was chunky PB with a massive amount of flavour. Just delicious. So what else can I say about Flock Pop Up? We had a fabulous night - it was relaxing, intimate and the food was well paced. We were actually in a hurry as we had a gig to go to, and so managed to scoff all that food in 75 minutes. Other tables were taking their time which is understandable! I loved the attention and respect that was paid to local Scottish produce and really felt like that was the champion of the night - everything was sourced locally, from the duck to truffles and beef, and it was really nice to see a chef do Scottish food in such a modern way. read more

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Gosh, I really want to give this pop up more than three stars as I'm well and truly appreciative of the fact that I won a dinner for two, but my experience here was just a-ok. Set in Seb and Mili's, Flock Pop Up set up shop to give diners a casual yet sophisticated dining experience showcasing Scotlands local fare at an affordable price. Even though it was casual, Sophie K and I decided we were going to dress a step above casual and we felt as though we fit right in with the rest of the crowd there. Our reservations some how got mixed up but they were able to accommodate us which was great! We were sat as soon as we got there an were brought the menu which laid out what was on for the evening. We knew it was BYOB as Sophie K noticed it on Twitter, otherwise, we wouldn't have known to bring anything to drink. No worries. First out were warmed rolls and smoked butter. I am a huge fan of anything and everything smoked, however, this butter left me wanting more smoked flavour. If anything, it was more of a knob of butter with a bit of smoked salt sprinkled on top. I couldn't really taste the smoked salt once I spread it on the bread. None the less, who doesn't like a warm bit of bread? Next up was the crispy chicken skin with liver pate. Normally, I would pick the skin off any meat that I eat, but I figured I would give this a go. The taste of the chicken skin brought back memories of my tubbier childhood days where I would eat the skin off of chicken and quite enjoy it. The liver pate, although not a favourite of mine, was almost unnoticeable given the chicken skin was so flavourful. Not a negative, but a positive as I don't normally eat liver pate either. (I'm such a bore). The next course was the beetroot with crowdie cheese. This course was made by the cheese as beetroot on it's own is pretty flavourless. I ate this plate in a hurry as it was pretty tasty. The next course was the scallop ceviche. I'm not exactly sure where to begin with this one. Of all the dishes, this one was probably my least favourite. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love scallops, but I've discovered, unfortunately through eating this dish, that I'm not a fan of raw scallops. Besides the fact that there was a huge amount of scallops on the dish, the frozen apple confused me and brought nothing to the dish. The duck was probably my favourite dish of the night. The only thing I will mention about all the dishes, especially the meat dishes, is that they were barely luke warm which was a little off putting. The duck was perfectly cooked, but lacked temperature, so it was a little strange eating it. Everything about this dish was perfect, including the blackberries and the gingerbread puree. I would eat this dish over and over again. The steak was indeed another tasty dish, but again, it was a little too cool for my liking. Instead of it feeling like a sophisticated dish, I felt like it was needing a roll and ju to turn it in to a steak sandwich. I wasn't a fan of the pearl barley risotto, it tasted too much like a scotch broth, without the broth and the steak could have used a bit more ju. Along with the duck, the desserts made me happy. While I've never had a pana cotta, this one had the texture of a hard boiled egg white, which was a bit odd to me. It did, however taste like popcorn which was amazing. The lemon curd stole the show and I would have gladly eaten my body weight in it if given the chance. I also absolutely loved the chocolate mousse and the peanut butter ice cream. By far my favourite of the two. The wee touch of banana also made the dish interesting. Over all, the meal was good, but there were just a few things that made this a three star versus a four star experience for me. The food came out rather quickly which was nice, but all of the food was either cold (meant to be) or just barely warm when it should have or could have potentially been piping hot. The wait staff and the chef were all very lovely and accommodating, which is always great and the location of the pop us was cozy. read more

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I really don't want to rain on anybody's parade, nor do I want to sound like a negative, ungrateful snob, but I left Seb and Milli's cold and utterly disappointed. Full, yes, but that yo-sushi dissatisfied full. My heart is telling me to give 2 stars, but my head is telling me 3 stars. Upon seeing the menu, and even before that when Amigo Carolyn E. asked me if I wanted to join her because her marathon guy was busy, I was super excited. The food sounded delicious. This was a BYOB event, but with corkage fees. I was lucky enough to be following both Flock and Seb and Milli's on Twitter because otherwise we wouldn't have known. There was a decent number of knives and forks on the table, but a quick calculation reminded us that we had to keep our forks and knives for all courses, rather than having enough to have a fresh set of cutlery for each course. Here's what we had: warm bread with smoked butter, it was delicious. I love butter (although it was lacking smokiness if you ask me) and the bread was warm and delicious. This was followed by the stater of crispy chicken skin with liver pâté and some flower petals and lemon zest. I could've happy had more of this. The chicken skin was crispy and wonderful and it all just worked so well together! Then came the salt baked beetroot with Crowd Cheese. If you like beetroot, this dish was really something else. I missed the Sangria Granite, but otherwise it all worked lovely with the cheese especially. Part of me was terrified that it was tomato, because that's what it looked like, but all was well when it turned out to be beetroot. This was followed by the Scallop Ceviche. I was a little worried about this. Don't get me wrong, that plate itself should have cost 35 pounds (the price for the 8 courses) because that's how many scallops there were on my plate. It must have been at least 4 whole scallops - sliced. My issue with the dish was that I was already so cold and the dish was a lot of more cold things I was introducing into my body which was all a little bland. I am not sure what the pumpkin seeds were adding and the "frozen apple" didn't help the texture or the taste but it all kind of became cold and meh. Next came the duck dish, which was lovely. The duck confit was steaming hot, so I tried to savour every bite of it - not only because it was warm but because it was so delicious. Otherwise, the duck was only a little on the overcooked side and for the most part, cold. The gingerbread puree was definitely gingerbread, but I personally didn't need it to make the dish lovely. The steak was what I was so excited for, but probably left me most disappointed. The food had been coming out in a timely manner, and the steak came to us cold. There was also quite the difference in cooked-ness between Carolyn and my dish - mine felt quite rare and hers looked a little well done. The sprout leaves were green and added some lovely colour to the plate, but didn't feel cooked. Unfortunately, I really didn't enjoy the texture of the barley risotto. I wish it had just been a normal bit of risotto, but I don't think I'll be using barley to make risotto any time soon. For me personally, it just did not work. Before we were served the deserts, Chef John Traynor (of Porter and Rye and Lebowski's apparently) came to chat to us, which I thought was an amazing touch. He explained that what he wanted to do was to bring the best Scottish produce to a casual setting. I appreciate this, but I wish he had been able to give me a more insightful answer when I asked about his inspiration. Finally, on to the desserts. Popcorn Panna Cotta, which was a little bland. It tasted like popcorn but the texture and the faint popcorn taste didn't do much to excite me. This was followed by a chocolate mousse with torched banana and peanut butter ice-cream. By this time my fingers were purple because I was so cold, so ice cream was probably not on my list of things I wanted at this point but I would order the peanut butter ice cream over and over again and I am sure it has made an appearance in my usual food cravings. Not too sure about the banana, but the chocolate mousse was also delicious. So, in conclusion, the food was good, but I just wish that it had been warm. It would have made such an incredibly big difference to both the duck and especially the steak dish if the food had been hot. It would have definitely been more enjoyable and I wouldn't have had to send back the steak plate with almost 50% of the food still on it. It's just the execution of this pop-up that makes this a generous 3 star review when I really wish I could give it more. read more

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Pop ups seem to be increasing in popularity in Glasgow; whether it's people not being able to get food truck licences, to the realisation that this is a way to get yourself known prior to setting your own place up, there seem to be more and more popping up (sorry) as the months go on. While I've been to more than a handful, I can only say that I've really enjoyed the food at one or two, with the rest sacrificing the quality of the food on offer for a cracking or interesting location. This, however, was really good food, and for what you got was a bit of a bargain. When he was with the Lebowski's Group, John Traynor used to run occasional one-off nights at LUAC, where he did interesting things with local ingredients and a good deal of imagination. This has continued into this Flock pop up, where he has got hold of the best local produce and tried to do the best with them at a reasonable price point. Where most pop ups are communal eating out with a wooden fork affairs, this was definitely aiming for something a bit more refined - while everything was relaxed and chilled out (the staff were great) the food was delicate, well thought out and really tasty. 8 courses sounds like a lot, but we managed to work our way through everything, and as we were short for time we even did this in about an hour! The dishes were just the right size in terms of portions, and the balance across the menu worked really well. In terms of stand-outs, it's difficult to pick one as all of the courses have their strengths, but the steak main was seriously, seriously good (some of the smoothest, butteriest steak I've ever had), the 3 starter courses were fantastic, and the desserts even made me like something that had peanut butter in it! Throughout there was a great deal of thought and care gone into all of the food combinations, and if one of the fancier Glasgow restaurants had put this on as a tasting menu none of the dishes would have felt out of place. What seals it is the price. Had this been in a fancier Glasgow restaurant there would have been a significant hike in the price, and you would have probably had to have made an effort and got dressed up. For the price, this is a fantastic deal, and if John runs one of these nights again I would jump at it for the quality of the food alone. Definitely a pop up to keep an eye out for. read more