Wudon Restaurant, Glasgow – and Guest Bloggers Wanted!

Let’s start with that second part, shall we?

I’m taking part in NaNoWriMo this year. The first rule of NaNoWriMo is: you *do* talk about NaNoWriMo. So here I am, announcing my intention to write a novel in just one month, which will of course propel me to international literary stardom. The idea is that you write every day in November, averaging 1666 words (or more) until, at the end of the month, you have a 50,000 word novel (or longer). I am committed to it and excited about it, while still feeling all the usual (close your eyes, mum) I’m-not-good-enough bullshit. I am good enough. I love to write. I want to write more. I want to write so well that people will actually pay me to write, and I never have to go into the office again. Sorry colleagues. I do love you, but you know exactly what I’m talking about. You guys play the lottery every week, we all know it’s not for the thrill of the gamble…

So, that’s it out in the open. I have booked the last week in November off work to create myself a little writer’s retreat in my flat while I finish up the novel, which is currently only a shadowy idea in my brain. It’s been lingering there for a while, this idea. There’s a character. She’s pretty awesome. That’s all I have to say about her for now, but hopefully one day you will be able to read all about her in hardback, paperback or e-reader format. I may as well dream big. I may as well believe that I can do it. I may as well launch myself into it absolutely; heart, soul and typing fingers. I am IN LIKE FLYNN but less seedy and I’ll never play Robin Hood. Probably.

NaNoWriMo will be taking up all my creative energies in the month of November, so I thought I’d shout out and see if anyone fancied helping a sister out and giving me a guest post. I’d like to keep it food based but otherwise it’s up to you what you’d like to do. You see the social media buttons to the right, there? Click one to get in touch with me – preferably the email one, but I’m wired for sound on Twitter and Facebook too. Shoot me a line and we can work something out. It will mean a lot to me to be able to continue providing fresh content even while my brain is engaged elsewhere. Thank you, in advance, for helping me do this.

A barman recently asked me, as I purchased some beers from him, ‘Are you a writer?’.  All I could think to say was ‘I’m a blogger,’ and then I felt like a yuppie ass. Next time, I’ll be able to say ‘Why, yes, you must have seen my interview in The Guardian…’.

Now that’s over, I’d lie to share just a few photos from a recent dinner I had with the magical Amy from Wicked Good Travel. Amy recently moved to Glasgow and we’ve been rocking it out, food blogger style. We went to see a David Bowie tribute act together a couple of weeks ago. It was a legendary night. Anyway, on a separate occasion we went out to dinner, to Wudon noodle and sushi bar in the West End of Glasgow. I’d been eyeing up the menu for a while so it was good to finally get my act in gear and try the place out. Let me guide you through my own culinary choices for the evening…

We started with some edamame, and I ordered a Cucumber Saketini. I’d been looking forward to it a lot since spying it on the menu. It was refreshing, as promised, and ideal for someone who doesn’t have a very sweet tooth when it comes to drinks. I did find it a little plain, perhaps only when combined with the super-salty edamame, but enjoyed sipping my way through it. Next time I’ll go for something sweeter to feed that sugar addiction.

I then proceeded to order enough food to feed a small nation. Sometimes I get carried away… My order was:

Jing salmon – steamed salmon with ginger, spring onion and soy. The salmon flaked apart into well-seasoned chunks, as you can see in the photo, and was deliciously soft. I would suggest (despite feeling like I should only say positive things) that it was a little over-steamed? I wolfed the lot, nonetheless.

Ap Soong. This is finely chopped duck, carrot, spring onion and rice noodles, beautifully flavoured with some mystical combination that probably contains soy, garlic and ginger and at least one secret ingredient. It was delicious. It’s served with iceberg lettuce so you can wrap the duck up into crunchy parcels, which I did make a bit of a mess of but man, they were excellent. This was my favourite part of the meal. I also ordered some wok-fried ramen, which you can see at the back of this photo. They were dressed with (I think) soy and sesame oil, and had shredded seaweed perched on top for a wee extra something. I did take a photo of them separately but given that I was pressing my phone into service instead of using a real camera, that was just one of the photos that didn’t make it.

We also ordered some sushi to share, and went for Spicy Uramaki, which is samon rolled in sushi rice, then rolled in shredded seaweed, and topped with black fish roe and spicy kimchi sauce. This was too exotic not to try, as far as I was concerned.

Don’t you love their crockery, too? There was heavy temptation to slip some in my generously sized handbag, but you will be glad to hear I resisted. The sushi was good, I particularly liked the shredded seaweed instead of the usual nori sheets, and the spicy sauce was a real sinus-tingler, especially when you combine it with wasabi as we both unashamedly did. I think I can say, though, that black roe isn’t my favourite thing. Next time I’ll try the Japanese Rose, or maybe the Asparagus Tempura sushi, or maybe the Caterpillar sushi (does not contain real caterpillar).

The menu at Wudon is huge, with lots of separate sections to check out, so I can recommend a bit of research online before you go. And go you should – alright, I had a couple of nits to pick with my meal, but they were pretty minor. The service is friendly and not at all pushy, the restaurant is spacious, there is a lot of food to choose from – give it a try!