Emma The Corona has been around for very long time – 1912 to be exact and at the end of its previous incarnation it certainly looked like it! Sticky floor, scuffed leather, paint-peeling off the walls and possibly the smelliest and most flood-friendly toilets in Glasgow.
Its all change now under the ownership of The Butterfly and The Pig and it shows. The place has been transformed from an empty depressing end-of-life pub into something full of life and cosy with a shabby chic twist (or Eastern Bloc Chic as we call it) – wooden tables, embroidered linen, quaint old-fashioned wallpaper – we love it (we’ve since found out that it’s called “toile de jouy”), it reminds me of trips to my grandparent’s, or of many happy holidays in eastern Europe.
The Butterfly and The Pig @ The Corona is a fair size and is split into two sections, one for drinking and one for eating, You can eat in the bar but the dining section has candles and is a lot prettier for a meal.
We ventured towards the standing menu and were seated quickly and a jug of water appeared with a wine list – we went for a house red and house white to sample them and both were fine for house wines.
A huge portion of tiny savoury fish, deliciously moreish with garlic mayo dip and salad with mustard dressing. This is the sort of thing we love ordering in Spanish tapas restaurants but this portion was about about the size of 3 tapas!
Surprise surprise another big portion – black pudding, bacon, cheese, apple, fried quails egg on a crisp salad – more cheese would’ve been good but good crispy bacon and apple slices which are heavenly poached. The black pudding was cooked to be crispy, we’d have preferred it to be cooked less and so more moist.
Huge mash, big fish, buttery smooth mash – perfect – my only complaint – actually too big a portion so we had to leave quite a bit! The waitress told us the mash is made from 4 potatoes!
We’ve been doing a fair bit of burger comparing recently, and the option of a fried egg as a topping swung it. A big burger with a soft floury bun and yes, egg on a burger works! We also had cheddar, onions and jalapeños, which were pretty nippy. We enjoyed this and the chips werte good too. Again the only problem was that the portion was too big and we had to leave some, so go easy on the toppings.
We were both utterly stuffed…but we were only a few feet away from the cake display, and so given a few minutes rest it was onwards and upwards…
It looked and tasted home-made. A big slice of moist, fruity, nutty, lovely cake which we had to wash down with…
A white coffee (£2.30) and espresso (£2.30). A good quality white coffee – the spoon didn’t sink! Both were served with coconut ice rather than tablet or biscotti etc.
We really enjoyed our meal at reinvigorated Corona, the Butterfly and the Pig are doing a great job as we’ve never seen this building so busy before (and it’s all ages who are drinking/easting), the food was great and the portions enormous; we were stuffed! The staff were very helpful and friendly too, food arrived quickly and those oft-flooded toilets were in tip-top condition.
It’s only a matter of time until we’re back for dinner again, and we’ll make sure to skip lunch next time!
TL; DR
+ quaint, cosy interior
+ food portions huge
+ food tasty and good value
+ staff friendly and helpful
+ toilets clean
– black pudding not cooked to our liking but we are picky about our black pudding
We dined as guests of The Butterfly and The Pig @ The Corona
