The Tickled Trout is in the Glasgow suburb of Milngavie. It is surrounded by Roman history. Antonine Wall, a fortification built after Hadrian’s Wall, is nearby, a bath hose was discovered just a mile away, and several altars and religious inscriptions from the period are also located a short distance away. The pub’s origins are more recent, its land originally purchased to be the site of a fruit and vegetables shop. Its decor reflects its rural surroundings, so expect to see plenty of open fires, stone floors and wooden beams.
The food menu is headlined by pub classics but still caters for a broad range of tastes. To start, options include a king prawn cocktail, duck and orange parfait, and deep-fried Brie bites. The sharing starter is a whole baked Camembert drizzled in orange blossom honey and served with dipping bread.
For mains, the pub setting is reflected in the likes of sausage and mash, pie of the day, gammon steak and duo of lamb. There’s also dishes from further afield, such as chicken and vegetable Penang curry, aubergine parmigiana and mac and cheese. Steaks and burgers are the two grill options. The former is either a 10oz rib-eye or 8oz sirloin, while the latter is beef, chicken or butternut squash and chickpea.
The Tickled Trout also serves pizzas. You can choose from margherita, pepperoni or sticky hoisin, an inventive combination of the Chinese dipping sauce with the traditional Italian tomato base. Lighter bites come via a range of sandwiches: fish finger, roasted vegetable or steak.
Sundays call for a roast. The meats are sirloin of beef, turkey breast, pork belly or lamb rump. The first three of these can be served together in the Sunday trio. For vegetarians, there’s a candied vegetable roast. All roasts are served with roast potatoes and unlimited gravy.
The Tickled Trout is part of Vintage Inns. All 186 pubs in this network are dog-friendly and many can be booked for Christmas dinner.