Where to celebrate Burns Night in Glasgow

Head along to Òran Mór from Friday 20th January to celebrate Burns Week. You’ll be piped through the Bell Tower Entrance and welcomed with a dram. A three-course menu will be prepared, consisting of cock-a-leekie soup, haggis with bashit neeps and champit tatties, then cranachan, shortbread, coffee and chocolates (veggie versions of the courses are offered). This will be served at 8pm in the main auditorium and followed by a Toast to the Lassies as well as performances by Dave Anderson and friends. Tickets are priced at £55 per person. If you’d prefer something a little more low key, you could pop into the venue’s Whisky Bar for a few drams. It has over 280 malts and 10 large artworks depicting Burns’ poem Tam O’Shanter, so is the perfect place to raise a glass to the writer.

Do something good this January by buying a ticket that’ll help fund Beatson Cancer Charity. This annual event is always heaps of fun and a great option for bringing friends, as you can book a whole table of 10 or individual tickets. Held at the swish Hilton Glasgow, the entertaining event welcomes special guests including guest speakers and the ceilidh band ‘Well Plaid’. In addition to dancing and eating, there’ll be opportunities to win prizes on the night (20th January) as well.

It doesn’t have to be Burns Night to tuck into haggis, neeps and tatties here. The sister restaurant to the popular Rab Ha’s serves the dish throughout the year. It costs just £10 for a hearty plateful, with a veggie option available. And if that’s not enough haggis for you, you can order it in the form of bonbons (with an Arran mustard and whisky cream) for your starter. Other traditional dishes include creamy Cullen Skink and steak pie — all freshly homemade. Found in Merchant City, Babbity’s is a handy spot to pop in and enjoy a tasty Burns Supper after work.

Tuck into an alternative take on the traditional Burns supper at Pizza Punks. The brand has a non-conformist approach to its menus, creating handmade in-house artisan sourdough pizzas that celebrate high days and holidays such as this one. In past years, the St Vincent Street restaurant has served a special dish topped with the haggis works (smoked mozzarella, roast potatoes, turnips, crispy kale, haggis and a whisky peppercorn sauce) to celebrate the bard and we look forward to seeing what they’ll surprise us with this year. It’s a great way to enjoy these seasonal ingredients in a funky laid-back setting and if your mates don’t fancy a taste of the meat pudding, they can order whatever they fancy from the huge range of toppings.

Include your kids in the celebrations by bringing them along to Artie’s show at the Hyndland based arts hub and hospitality venue Cottiers. The musical performance from the Singing Kettle focuses on Scottish songs, like Shove Yer Granny, A Plate o’ Tattie Soup and The Big Ship Sails through the Eelly Alley O. Suited to younger children, the show is very interactive and will have them singing and dancing along, learning about the bard and Scots’ culture in the process.

This sophisticated brasserie and bar in the Merchant City has created three courses of traditional Scottish specials to honour Rabbie. On the 25th January for one night only, they’ll be serving up supper filled with local ingredients; tuck into mussels from our own shores, the classic of haggis, neeps and tatties and that quintessentially Gaelic pud, cranachan. You can opt for just the three courses, or go for a whisky pairing, which will add in a glass of Glenfiddich whisky per course (an IPA experiment, a 15-year-old and a 12-year-old bottling), so you can raise a toast not once, but thrice over. The food alone will set you back £30 per person, with the drink package an add-on £18 each. Housed in a grand period building, Browns provides an elegant backdrop for your January celebrations.

Fancy combining the ultimate traditional Scottish night oot with some spice? Come along to Mharsanta Restaurant & Bar in 2024, on either the 25th or 26th of January. On arrival at 7 pm, you’ll be presented with a dram of Aberfeldy 12-year-old whisky, followed by the ‘Address to Haggis,’ (Burns’s most famous poem) kicking off the culinary spread. Guests will be able to take their haggis with neeps and tatties or in a pakora and vegan diets will be especially well catered to (do order the plant-based choccie brownie for pud). Tickets are priced at £41.50 per person and promise to take diners on a journey through Scotland’s rich and diverse current culinary landscape.

As a proudly Scottish eatery, Fanny Trollopes loves to make a big deal of Burns’ night. You’ll often find the venue announcing a tasting menu as a homage to the bard. But you can get fantastic national scran here any night of the week, in a homely art-deco meets cruise ship dining room, with friendly and personal service. Arguably the closest thing you’ll get to a gourmet home-cooked meal in the city, the chefs cook up seasonal courses such as pan-seared scallops, lamb rump, smoked pork belly and a selection of local cheeses with homemade chutney and oatcakes.

If you’d like to bring in your Burns’ night jubilations with a large dose of trad music, then this is the place to be. Food is served right up until 1 am (even on Burns’ Night which falls on a Thursday this year) so it’ll suit late-night revellers down to the ground. The menu caters for those who’ve had enough of haggis, but still want something decidedly Scottish to eat; try their beef and Bovril stovie pie, made with port braised ox cheek, Bovril jus, Lorne sausage, panko onion crumb, crisp puff pastry, seasonal veg and your choice of either hand cut chips or creamy mash. The venue has its own unique cocktail list too, with libations like the wintry Apple Pie (Jack Daniels Fire, amaretto, lemon, caramel, apple juice, egg white and a cinnamon sugar rim).

The annual Burns Dinner at Stravaigin is always something special. With treats like live music, ceilidh dancing, guest speakers and top whiskies, it’s always a blast. Even the restaurant’s name is apt for the event, being an old Scots word that means ‘to wander aimlessly with intent’. As such, the venue, which comprises a ground-level restaurant and cellar-based bistro, encourages its patrons to be adventurous in their culinary tastes and take a road less travelled. Ingredients come from near and far but are sustainably sourced to ensure a delicious eco-friendly fine-feed. Stravaigin has been a fixture in the West End since the 1990s and has previously received the Michelin Guides Bib Gourmand on multiple occasions.

But what if your window for dining is earlier in the day? Cranachan has you covered with its menu of brunch dishes and afternoon teas that will allow you to indulge in Scottish fare ahead of teatime. Get your haggis fix without the meat by ordering Veggie Eggs (toasted muffin, two soft poached eggs, vegetarian haggis and Hollandaise sauce). Or go for the national morning staple of creamy porridge, or get The Big Yin (a huge home baked scone).

For a hearty and hot lunchtime dish get the Cullen skink, or treat yourself to a tiered tea, which includes a mini cranachan, the restaurant’s signature dish and Scotland’s favourite pudding. The cafe is located within the Princes Square shopping centre, so you’ll be protected from the elements on arrival and departure (because the Glaswegian weather in late January can be less than friendly). And you can combine your trip with some boutique shopping.