Wee Cucina

Giffnock is becoming a bit of a foodie destination now that Whole Foods is established, but there is definitely more to the area than that. Just across the road, Wee Cucina is a bit of a find, and deserves to get a bit more exposure.
£12 gets you either 3 smaller tapas dishes (which are big enough for 1 person, the portions are pretty decent) or 2 main dishes for most of the day, which is a pretty good deal when compared to some of the other restaurants in the area. The name is apt; it is quite a small place, and was pretty much full when we were there on a sunny Saturday afternoon. There was only one waiter, but he was managing the place brilliantly and made sure that everyone was attended to.
The food was excellent across the board; the prawns were amazing, with the sauce requiring a big bit of bread to soak it up. The bruschetta was also lovely (nice and fresh, with a good amount of garlic butter), as was the pasta (rich without being too filling, with loads of beef strips) and the chorizo stew. The pizza, although still good, was probably the weakest link — this was a smaller tapas one, so a full sizer may be better, and I went for a type of pizza that I wouldn’t go for normally.
For someone that lives so close, it’s a shame that we’ve driven past this place on our way to worse restaurants in the city centre or the West End. Having finally tried here, we’ll definitely be back.

I’m so angry I haven’t been here sooner! Right down the road for me, serving up reasonably priced, delicious Italian food, I’m depressed at the thought of how many tiger prawns I could have scoffed here if I’d only visited sooner. Thanks to Kate J’s review, I added this to my «visit immediately» list.
We visited on Saturday for lunch. We showed up without a booking and were shown a table by the bar. The restaurant is small, probably only seating 20 people. It was pretty busy while we were there (around 1pm) and filled up by the time we left. They had a couple of deals on: 3 small plates, or two large plates for £11.95.
Graeme went for the 3 plates and I went for two. We shared everything between us, and tried the pan fried tiger prawns, bruschetta, caruso pizza, italian sausage & bean stew as well as the spaghetti with beef fillet strips.
The prawns were AMAZING. Seriously. I tried one. I tried another. Then another. That was my share all gone. (There were 6 prawns in total, good sized so a very generous portion). But I wanted more! I ended up eating the broth served with it with a spoon, it was that good. I could happily have changed my order to 3 x prawns. Ohhhfftttt.
The bruschetta was super fresh and the tomatos had shed-​loads of flavour. The Italian sausage stew wasn’t really my thing but Graeme really loved it. By this time I was far too engrossed in eating the spaghetti with beef fillet strips — again, an absolute winner. Full of flavour, loads of beef and really delicious spaghetti. Mine never tastes as good at this at home! While I couldn’t really taste any chili, I would say it was to the detriment of the dish. It was pure heaven in a bowl.
The pizza was really tasty as well — served up as small portion about 15 cms wide, it was a great size with plenty for sharing.
After that, we were well stuffed. A couple of the dishes attracted supplements (£2 on the prawns and another £2 on the beef fillet pasta) but I think it was well worth it. With a bill coming in at around £30 for lunch for two, with soft drinks, I thought this was pretty reasonable for Giffnock (which can be expensive). The food really knocked me off my feet with how good it was, I was really surprised. I can’t wait to go back.
An additional note for the great service by the one sole waiter, managing a restaurant of 18 diners. He was totally calm and collected and made it seem effortless!

Wow! It looks like this wee gem of a place hasn’t been reviewed before. Perhaps the locals don’t want other people to find out about in just in case they can’t get a table…
They offer a couple of different deals, before 6pm you can get 3 small plates of food or 2 large plates of food for about £13 with a glass of wine, the small plates are a bit like Italian tapas.
We were in a bit later so I went for 3 small plates and the pinot grigio was so tasty I ended up having 2 glasses… Hic…
The boy ordered Parma ham and mozzarella crostini and penne with chorizo and chicken in a creamy tomato sauce. He got 3 generous sized crostini and they were very tasty, his main was delicious. It was really well seasoned, contained good quality ingredients and had a great consistency. I didn’t opt for a starter because I knew that they have home made crème brûlée on the menu and its one of my most favourite things (I think I was a hobbit in a former life, I was totally stuffed and still had room for the crème brûlée).
I went for the tapas option and had mussels in garlic and white wine sauce (amazing by the way!!!), Cajun chicken with an amazing creamy dipping sauce and home made mozzarella sticks (logs). Everything we had was made to a VERY high standard and was all most definitely home made. We also got complimentary olives, bread and vinegar whilst we were waiting for our food!
As I mentioned earlier I have a pudding stomach and I was most definitely trying the crème brûlée. It was just the right size with a really crunchy perfect top that I had to smash with my spoon to get into the most amazingly velvety smooth custard. Every bite was delightful and I only have 2 teeny tiny complaints about the whole experience, the mussels only come in one portion size (incredibly generous for a tapas sized portion) and 2 the crème brûlée was far too tasty and I could have easily eaten another :-)
All that and 4 drinks came in at a very reasonable price, the staff were brilliant, really attentive and really came across as enjoying their jobs. Nothing was too much trouble at all. They were really attentive without being annoying.
This was our first visit and we will be back again very soon